I get asked a lot why I am a Baptist. The questions is simple to answer, but the explanation of the answer is a little more complicated. There is also a lot of differences between Baptists. The whole thing can be boiled down into a few basic principles.
First, there is only One, True and living God. He exists as part of an inseparable triune in the Holy Trinity. The idea of who God is, and how He exists outside of the human concept of time and space. He is holy, sinless, omnipresent, and omnipotent. Baptists also believe that there was a time when man and God communed together. Then there comes another major point to Baptists faith. Sin.
Baptists believe that sin came into the world through the original sin committed in the Garden of Eden. This caused a separation between God and man, because God is holy and at that point man was not. To close this gap between us and Him, man was forced to make sacrifices of animals to pay the price of that sin and the sins they committed daily. This was not perfect or complete. So, God did the unthinkable. He sent His only son to die for the price of all mankind’ sins. Baptist believe all of this.
The person of Jesus Christ came to Earth, lived a sinless life, and died on a cross to make a permanent, all encompassing, payment for the sins of man. Baptists also believe that Christ rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven. There He remains, but He sent the Holy Spirit, the third part of the Trinity, to Earth to live in the hearts of men who accept the salvation of Christ.