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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Communion for Children
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
... which is one reason we don't delay adult baptisms. Any baptisms, really. Just as long as the person isn't doing it "to pay Pastor back for helping me with my immigration documents" ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Interestingly, many people in Baptist churches have tended to regard Believers' Baptism not as the "entry point" or "first step" on the Christian path, but a sort of "GCSE" or other examination which is only for those who have attained a certain "level" of faith.
This idea has been reinforced by churches which insist on the successful completion of a lengthy "discipleship course" before baptism can be administered, and by ministers who don't want to baptise too quickly in case the candidates "fall away" after a short time; this is seen as "cheapening" the sacrament. Result: quite a lot of folk in Baptist churches who have never been baptised because they've never felt "good enough" or that they "knew enough".
Of course, if it's an "open" Baptist church that doesn't preclude them from taking Communion. (The corollary would be closed Baptist churches which won't offer Communion to those who have been baptised, but only as children).
[ 05. January 2016, 17:05: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Youch! That's really interesting, though, that they would think of it as cheapening the sacrament. We Lutherans are similarly unhappy when someone falls away, but we tend to hope rather that the effect of baptism will pop up later in life, rather like spreading bamboo. Having had several in my family "fall away" and come back, there might be something to be said for that idea.
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Youch! That's really interesting, though, that they would think of it as cheapening the sacrament. We Lutherans are similarly unhappy when someone falls away, but we tend to hope rather that the effect of baptism will pop up later in life, rather like spreading bamboo. Having had several in my family "fall away" and come back, there might be something to be said for that idea.
But Baptists, at least in these parts, would not think of baptism as a sacrament, nor would they think baptism has any "effect"bat all. They would call it an ordinance, and would think of it more as a symbolic testimony of something that has already happened.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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