"Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)
So....baptism. This is something that's been weighing on my mind for a while now but even more so since spring retreat. At spring retreat one of the baptisms was a guy who was being baptized for the second time. His story was basically that he was baptized as a little kid but that now, as an adult, he finally knew what he was saying yes to and he really wanted to live his life for God. I even saw my own dad be re-baptized with basically this same rationale. And I started thinking about my own story...I mean, I was baptized at the age of 9 and I can tell you 100% that I did not fully understand what I was saying yes to...nor did I let it affect my life at all. So I decided to to do some digging on this subject and I've found widely differing views. Some say that it's really a matter of the heart so if you've already been baptized once there's no point in doing it again when you can just go to God, others say that if your heart wasn't really in the right place to begin with but now it is that re-baptism is acceptable, some just throw out a straight up no way no how because it's not found in the Bible. I did come across what I find to be a particularly interesting quote during my "research":
“A man who knows that he is saved by believing in Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best protester against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be baptized until he is saved.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
I like that he says, "he holds that he has no right to be baptized until he is saved." I mean, who's to say exactly what point we're "saved"? I can tell you when it is that I recognize as being when I was saved and it certainly wasn't when I was 9 years old and got baptized, it was 11 years later when I finally claimed my faith as my own for real. When I realized that I NEEDED God and that it couldn't be just a casual, when it was convenient for me type of noncommittal relationship. So does that mean that I had no right to be baptized the first time? I think maybe. BUT I have indeed been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit...it was the repent part that I missed when I was a kid. I still haven't come to a conclusion about my own life and maybe being baptized again...I do know that I repented, God wrapped his loving arms around me, and I'm a child of the One True King...and that's really awesome.
In other news, we've had quite a few kids in our congregation getting baptized lately...don't get me wrong, I love seeing baptisms. But I wonder about these kids...do they really know what they're saying yes to? Are they ready to really live for God? Are they really ready to make such a big decision at such a young age? I certainly wasn't. Our church even did a class tonight for parents and kids talking about baptism...I really wish I could have sat in on it just to find out what exactly they were teaching. Were they telling people to encourage their young kids to be baptized right now? Were they making sure that parents understood their part in making sure their kids really understand the decision they're making? I guess I'll find out if a bunch of kids start getting baptized all of the sudden...
Really though, if you have thoughts on this subject please comment! It's intriguing to me that people actually read this, but I'd like to know what you're thinking too :)
No comments:
Post a Comment