where i'm standing...

In class today, we discussed the Anabaptists. At one point, Mike Rusten asked what denomination we think we would have been if we lived in the time of the Reformation. I quickly answered that I most likely would have been anabaptist but after thinking about it a minute longer, I changed my mind. I think I would have been Zwinglian. Stephen asked me about it saying that as we are baptist now it would be more sensible to say we'd be Waldensian because their beliefs were closest to our current beliefs. But I responded with a question: Are they really?

Do I really consider myself baptist? Sure, I was raised primarily in the Baptist church amd my parents are Baptist but I have had a lot of time lately to learn and grow and determine where i stand. I am no longer sure that I qualify to be considered baptist. The following are my reasons why:

1. Baptists are most commonly arminian. No, they are not all but when you use the term "baptist" in many circles people jump to arminian.
2. I don't agree with their stand on the gifts. Most baptists tend to be cessationist. That means that they believe the gifts were only for the New Testament time and that they died out a long time ago. We no longer have them today.
   
3. I don't agree with their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11 -- specifically in regards to head coverings and submission
4. I'm not sure that I agree with their beliefs on infant baptism. Don't call me a heretic yet! I'm still studying it and I plan to formulate my own beliefs according to Scripture so I could go either way on it but I definately don't have the animosity toward paedo-baptists yet. I could go either way at this point.
5. Finally, I'm not sure what their view of the end times is but I hold an unusual view concerning the end times so I doubt it's baptist. i tend to hold the midtrib, amil position... i'm still learning about it but that's where i am right now.

So there you have it. why i'm probably not a baptist. I'm probably more of a non denominational leaning I think. I don't know. You be the judge.