[vladimir998]

“Actually, I’m not a baptist.”

Alright, even though you attend a Baptist church you say you’re not a Baptist. You’re still a Protestant. You’re still a Christian. And?

“The church I happen to go to now affiliates itself with the baptist organization. I don’t.”

That’s like saying, “The county I happen to live in now is part of the State of California. I don’t live in California.”

[cuban leaf]

That’s like saying, “The county I happen to live in now is part of the State of California. I don’t live in California.”

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I have a hard time finding an analogy for my situation because we are talking about something spiritual. I guess it’s like going to MIT engineering school and saying you are not really an MIT student, per-se. Rather, you are an engineering student first. What school you go to is not all that relevant as long as they have a good engineering program. So would not relate to MIT so much as relate to being an engineering student. What school I go to is relevant regarding the quality of the school, and that’s about it.

And since I’ve gone to so many “schools”, I prefer to focus on what my degree is in, rather than what school I’m getting it at.

I’m a Christian that attends a Babdis church.

[cuban leaf]

That’s like saying, “The county I happen to live in now is part of the State of California. I don’t live in California.”

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An even better way of saying it is that I am an American that lives in KY, but I’m not a kentuckyan. If my state does something really bad, I’ll move, as I moved from Seattle a few years ago. My citizenship is not dictated by state. It’s dictated by country. You can see it in my passport.

Same with Churches.

[cuban leaf]

That’s like saying, “The county I happen to live in now is part of the State of California. I don’t live in California.”

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I should mention that there is a reason this is a big deal to me. When you tell people who are not christian that you are a catholic, protestant, baptist, etc., they pidgeon hole you into some “quaint” organization. But when you say you are a “Christian”, they tend to take it more seriously. If they are strongly anti-Christian, they bristle, while if you are a “baptist”, they see it as quaint.

It’s why “they” will often ask me, after I say I am a Christian, “what church are you a member of”. I won’t let them drill down any further or, conversely, dilute the point. I go to a church near my house that is filled with Christians. That is all they get from me.

Same with Churches.