Year-long writer's block? An update of sorts...

I'm under no delusions; I know I don't have denizens of adoring fans out there reading my material.  However, such a long absence  on my part does require an explanation. ("There is no time to explain, allow me to sum up." - - Indigo Montoya).

Since I last posted there have been some major changes in my life.

• In July my wife and I had our first daughter, the lovely Norah.  She is now 8 months old, crawls all over the house, growls like a dinosaur, eats electrical cords, poops on two three four pairs of clothes a day and is a source of love and entertainment in our household.
• In early January my wife's father passed away.  He had been dealing with several illnesses and injuries and everything caught up with him rather quickly.  He is very much missed.
• Also in January I handed in my resignation as youth pastor at the Baptist congregation where I had served for 5.5 years.  For a lot of reasons it was simply time to move on.  I am truly grateful for my experience there.  
• In February we moved to my wife's hometown,  Nashville, TN.  More stress with packing up, saying goodbye to old friends and getting reacquainted in new surroundings.  I am currently unemployed, but money is coming in thanks to some quick thinking by my dear wife.
• For reasons talked about in posts on this blog, I am no longer comfortable being a Baptist youth minister (or a Baptist at all).  My wife and I are working together on what God is calling us to (I'm strongly leaning towards the Catholic faith, my wife is leaning the other way, but we are both leaning on each other in love).  It is an exciting time even though I feel adrift.
• My name actually isn't David Peru (sorry, sorry).  For fear of losing my job I didn't post with my real name at the time.  That isn't so much a concern anymore.  My name is Michael.  Sorry for the deception.  

So there it is.  Life has changed a lot for me these past few months and my writing will reflect this.  As I am settling into a routine now, I hope that I can post regularly again.  I will still discussing my faith journey and other information, thoughts and questions relevant to that.  I will also post random, goofy nonsense (you don't work in youth ministry for 12 years and not exhibit symptoms of ADD).

I also have a new aspiration for some of my posts.  Since resigning as youth minister I have made it known to a very select (and very dear) few people in my life that I am interested in the Catholic faith.  Since most everyone I know is a biblicist Evangelical, it is understandable that they ask a lot of questions and bring up a number of concerns about the Catholic Church.  Some of my posts will be the result of the ongoing questions and conversations I am having with friends and family members.  I hope some of these posts can be a resource for them, providing a useful launchpad to help them find answers to their questions.  Any feedback or additional guidance that could assist me or others with that mission in the form of comments is most welcome.  Even more, I will appreciate your prayers as my journey continues.

Rope-a-Pope

In the few conversations I've had about my interest in all things Catholic, I've noticed most people tend to have strong reactions to the pope (most of you long-time Catholics are rolling your eyes and mentally saying to me "no ____ Sherlock!").  It is understandable; the pope seems like such a “different” type of leader compared to Protestant pastors and speakers and musicians.  There are of course many rumors about Popes: rumors that they cannot sin, rumors that they are “worth more to God” than other people, rumors that they can invent doctrines and add books to the Bible, rumors that every Catholic has to pray to the pope and that then the pope delivers those prayers to God and on and on and on.  And on top of all that, the current pope sure looks an awful lot like the evil Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars. I’m happy to say that those rumors are simply that… rumors  (although Pope Benedict does look like the Emperor, I'll give you that one).  

Baptizing my Baptist Views Baptism: Appendix

Baptizing my Baptist views of Baptism: Appendix

Posted on November 17, 2011 

This is not really a section like the others.  I have listed most all of the verses from other sections here but this time with more notes and more “symbol only” explanations along with some strong counter-attacks from the baptismal regeneration side.  This would be a long read from start to finish so I would only consult each verse, on at a time… if you read it in another section of this series and would like more information on it, come here and you might find it.

One personal note:  I originally wrote these notes for my own personal benefit.  They might not be worded as charitably as they could be and while I do intend to change some of that, I have not had the time to do so just yet.  Also, the sheer volume of this post meant that I wouldn't have as much time to edit this nor did I have the time to write as carefully.  Perhaps I shouldn't have posted this at all.  Please take everything here with a grain of salt and forgive me if I seem to arrogant, boastful, uncharitable or way, way off my rocker...

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptism: Pt 6

Pt. 6: John and Jesus

“And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. And this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.  I baptize you with water, but he  will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptism: Pt 5

Pt. 5:  The Mother Load

This section needs little in the way of introductions.  This is basically the rest of the New Testament’s teachings on baptism.  This covers passages from the Gospels, the Epistles of Paul and Peter and accounts from the book of Acts.  I have bolded some parts of the verses, not to prove a point, but to help point out the more relevant sections.  I have also included some general comments on these verses because (at first glance) some of them may not appear to be that forceful but when you look a little deeper what it says about baptism becomes more apparent.  

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptism: Pt 4

Pt. 4:  Foreshadowing

While baptism in the OT is not called baptism and while it does not have the same symbolism and meaning as it does in the NT, it is nevertheless foreshadowed there.  Sometimes it is mentioned as a part of a ceremony in the Law of Moses, other times foreshadowed by an event, and still other times seen in the future in prophecies.  While these verses do not, strictly speaking, prove baptismal regeneration they do set the tone for the teachings of the NT that very well may.

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptim: Pt 3

Pt. 3:  Rules, Schmules

This section won’t be long, but before getting into the Biblical passages themselves it might be helpful to lay out a few ground rules to keep in mind when approaching the Scriptures on this topic.

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptism: Pt 2

My eventual goal with this series of posts is to present many of the passages in the Bible that speak of baptism.  That is, after all, the evidence that most needs to be looked at and what first got me to this point.  But first it might help to put baptism into a little bit of context.

Baptizing my Baptist Views of Baptism: Pt 1

I wrote this series of posts on baptism several months ago when the topic was of great interest to me (well, it is still of great interest to me, but you know what I mean).  For a Baptist who firmly believes that baptism is only a symbol, to seriously consider that a physical rite like baptism could impart a real, spiritual grace is akin to a materialist suddenly having an undeniable encounter with a ghost, fairy, angel or the Loch Ness monster.  The world very quickly turns into a much bigger, scarier and more wondrous place.  

This series of posts may be a bit of overkill and I do not mean to insult anyone who thinks differently than I do on this topic.  I have had two godly examples in my life who have differed on this issue.  One is my father (a dedicated Baptist deacon) and my late father-in-law (a dedicated deacon in the Church of Christ denomination).  They were both godly men, they both believed the Scriptures, they both attempted to read the Bible honestly and without eisigesis - yet they both disagreed on the meaning of baptism.  My father believes it was merely a symbol while my father-in-law was adamant that it was necessary for salvation.  I do not doubt either man's intentions or integrity and neither do I intend to do so to anyone else who has a divergent viewpoint.  

I originally wrote these for my wife who has had a hard time deciding what she truly believes on the doctrine (being raised Church of Christ and marrying a Baptist youth pastor will do that to you).  My attempt has been to address this to a relative newcomer to the topic, but to also do so in a way that was as thorough as I could make it..  So if I gloss over certain details, leave out historical evidences or use imprecise terminology it is because I attempted to make this easy to understand.  If you find it difficult to understand, chalk that up to the complexity of Scripture and my inexperience as a writer.  


Pt. 1:  How did I get here???Someone who grew up Church of Christ, Catholic or Lutheran might not realize how big of a shock it is for a Baptist to first realize that baptism might be a normal requirement for salvation (for the sake of trimming down on these already long posts, the belief that baptism is connected with salvation is called "baptismal regeneration."  Don't you feel smarter already?)