Monday, November 19, 2007

The Southern Baptists



In no way do I want to be disrespectful to my friends of other faiths, but I just gotta blog about something kind of funny. I love the Southern Christian people. We are surrounded by people who are not afraid to talk about their faith and this is not only refreshing but faith promoting. The picture above is the Historical First Baptist church in downtown Knoxville.

But, on with my entry. (Please don't be offended anyone) In the South, we are known as the Bible Belt. I never quite understood what that meant until I moved here 4 years ago. We literally have a different church on every corner. (as opposed to different LDS ward buildings in Utah) On some intersections you can even find two different Baptist churches across from one another. I have no idea how many different sects that there are in the Baptist church. Here are the ones that I have learned of: Southern Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Calvary Baptist, First Baptist. Some of these could just be names of congregations, I'm not totally sure. The point being that we are the Bible Belt because people around here really read their Bibles.

From what I have learned about Baptists, the most important thing one can do is be "saved". Besides that, it doesn't really matter what you believe and as a Baptist you can go to whichever church you want, picking a preacher that you like. Agreeing with all the doctrines preached is a huge bonus, and the main reason that the number of congregations are always growing. Being a Mormon, however, is not acceptable to people of the Baptist faith. The Baptists don't consider us to be Christian because for some reason their preachers have taught them that our being saved is not the same as theirs. I still have yet to figure that out.

Here is an interesting website I came across tonight: Knoxkoupons. I can make no sense whatsoever as to why there is a website that totally focuses on church congregations with the title having the word Koupon in it. I am also unsure as to whether or not I should be saddened by the fact that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not on the list.

So, onto the funny part. As I have mentioned before, we have a funny way of talking here in the South. I never really thought about the origin of our vocabulary words until I was recently enlightened in Sunday School. Here are two seperate Bible references that we studied within the past couple of weeks.

Rom. 8: 18
18 For I reckon that the asufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the bglory which shall be revealed cin us.

Rom. 12: 14
14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

So, I got an answer to a question that I had never bothered to ask just by going to Sunday School. (this could be some kind of motivational "attend your meetings" speech) The question: Where do Southerners get their vocabulary? The origin: The Holy Bible. Two Southern phrases from tbe Book or Romans: "I reckon" & "Bless his heart".

Our family especially likes the Southern phrase, "bless his heart." You can almost get away with murder, as long as you are willing to say "bless his heart" after you kill someone. For instance, "Oh honey, you are getting so fat, bless your heart."

9 comments:

Lindsey Rose said...

This is a good one. I am not sure the Baptists or any other southerner even know about their ties to the bible. I am glad that you have enlightened us on the subject. This is really funny. :)

Gina said...

Awesome post! Bless your heart!

Ader Family said...

good one thanks for the insight.

Lori said...

I love the southern Bible quotes. I wonder if there are more? This must be a more celestial part of the nation.

Laura said...

Can I hear an AMEN!!!

Anonymous said...

The country was founded on people that read their bible, it is no surprise that many of our phrases can be traced back to the bible.

If you are curious why Baptists are skeptical of mormon salvation than ask yourself the question:

Does my salvation come from God's grace throuh my faith in Christ Jesus? or is it more complicated?

Unknown said...

I wish that you anonymous person would come out of the closet. I am an adult and am totally o.k. with open discussion. I won't hold your attitude or your beliefs against you.

If I knew your name I would apologize to you for making the offensive comment that all Tennesseeans shop at Wal-Mart back in my This is the Way We Do It In The South entry.(which whether you like it or not, they do, I bet you can't find one person in Tennessee, or even in this whole great country, that hasn't spent at least $1 at a Wal-Mart.)

The intent of my blog is not to offend people.

As for my eternal salvation. Copy and past this link and feel free to tell me what you think, even if you wish to remain anonymous.

http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=bbd508f54922d010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&index=19&sourceId=ce49f73c28d98010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____

P.S. I hope that the reason that you read my blog is that it at least makes you smile once in a while. If not you may want to consider some therapy to figure out why you continue to read something that offends you so.

Unknown said...

If by chance the link above gives you the same error page that I just got. Hit "S" under topics, then "Salvation" and then go to additional information.

Gina said...

Way to handle that anonymous comment!

No matter how humble or wonderful our church and it's people are, some folks will always be against it. I wish we could all just respect each other's choices and love each other, no matter what religion we choose to partake of.

Kudos, friend.