SOUL LIBERTY
Shaping one's own relationship with GodSoul Liberty is the deep conviction that every man or woman can enter into direct relationship to God without outside mediation. Baptists resist anything that appears to oppress freedom of the soul.
Our practice of believer's baptism arises out of our insistence upon soul liberty. No one can decide for another, not even the parent for a child, a persons's relationship with God. Thus, we baptize only after an individual has made a personal decision of faith.
"It is easy for us to yield our itegrity and responsibility to some accepted authority: beloved pastor, honored teacher, influential book-even an edition of the Bible, respected parents or dynamic church. These all have their proper role of influence, but the final choice of belief and practice must be made in the secret of the soul's naked presence before God alone"–Brownlow Hastings, 1981
