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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | baptism important ,why the delay? | 1 John 5:6 | Makarios | 113703 | ||
Greetings Arrow1, Why is it that people wait so long after conversion to be baptized? Part of it has to do with a person making the choice to be baptized. If you believe in "believer's baptism", then you also believe that a person has to express faith in Christ and a desire to be baptized prior to being baptized. This, I believe, may be part of the answer to your original question. When the early church spread the gospel, they had the command of Christ, as given to them by the apostles, fresh in their minds and hearts. Therefore, they did not think twice before doing what was so "unpopular" at that time - being baptized, or publically identifying themselves with Jesus Christ. And they most certainly would baptise a person right after conversion, to show that a "new birth" has happened in that person. Blame it on the system, blame it on denominationalism, blame it on your local pastor, or you can blame it on the one who came to Christ himself. Perhaps the absence of physical Christian persecution in this country makes the timing and place of water baptism more trivial than it really should. But the beautiful thing about baptism is that it still endures to this day, being a true fulfillment of The Great Commission by the disciples of Jesus past, present, and future, passing this Great Commission on, person by person, until Christ returns. One baptizes another with water, and another baptizes another with water, and the chain has been unbroken to this day. Blessings to you, Makarios |
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2 | baptism important ,why the delay? | 1 John 5:6 | arrow1 | 113726 | ||
So you are saying that today we have the Bible, and when a mature Christian shares his faith with a non-christian, he does not have the commands of Christ fresh in his mind and heart and is incapable of baptizing a person right after conversion to show a "new birth" has taken place. That makes absolutely no sense | ||||||
3 | baptism important ,why the delay? | 1 John 5:6 | Hank | 113730 | ||
Arrow1: Given: That baptism is a command of the Lord Jesus Christ and should not be taken lightly or put on the back burner. That said, I think we are reducing this whole argument to a point of sheer absurdity when we nit-pick about exactly how long it should be after the believer is saved until he submits to water baptism. I've never personally known of anyone taking a brand new believer down to the creek or to a swimming pool and baptizing him on the spot, although there is no law against it and no particular reason why it couldn't be done. I do agree that some churches and some Christians have waxed lax in regard to baptism. Being a direct command of our Lord, it has never been an option for a follower of Christ. But there are other commands of our Lord too. What would you say to the notion that we put baptism on hold for a while and address a few other biblical topics for a change? By the way, if you would still like to read more about baptism, just type in the word in Search and you will have enough additional reading material on baptism to do you at least until a week from Thursday :-) --Hank | ||||||