My brain is hyperactive. Since I was very young, I have tended to notice nearly everything and then spend great amounts of time and much mental effort trying to sort and process everything. I often feel like a ministerial version of Charles Xavier in the comic-book invention Cerebro, holding the sides of my head and gasping in pain at all of the voices.
So many denominations, so much variance in positions of theology, so many different philosophical views, so much point and counterpoint.
Because of that, moments where everything becomes quiet and crystal clear are precious to me, so very, very precious. I had one of those moments a couple of days ago, and I am still basking in the glow of it.
It had been a Cerebro kind of day. I had gotten an unsolicited, argumentative email from a proponent of baptismal regeneration, the belief that people are saved through baptism.
Whether you agree or disagree with that doctrine (I firmly disagree), please understand that the man who sent it is part of a small group of like-minded men who have the charming (please read that word as I intend it: dripping with sarcasm) habit of bursting into the services of churches with whom they disagree and causing a scene. They shout the preacher down, wave video-recording devices in people’s faces and make general all-around donkeys of themselves.