Subject: Why would someone get rebaptised? |
Bible Note: Well Joe, you know what happens when we ASSUME something. You say in your post: So how do you interpret the "household baptisms" cited from Acts in my previous posts? Only the head of the household is recorded as believing, and yet the whole household (which some reasonably assume would include slaves, spouses, and all children--even infants) was baptized, with no indication of saving faith on their parts. If I remember right, didn't you say in a post of yours a while back that we have to go on what the Bible says, not what it doesn't say? It might have been on one of Tim's posts but I thought it was yours, seeing as I read both of yours very carefully; that part seemed to stick with me. Personally speaking if it were my whole house there are seven of us, with no slaves, with the exception of me of course, and the youngest is 32 years old. Now since you started with the word assume, lets assume that since they were all baptized, in the verses in Acts, they must have all believed. It is not true today in the U.S.A. but in most of the Middle East today, according to missionaries that I have talked to, believing in Jesus Christ is one thing but confessing him by the act of baptism is like signing a death warrant. The new believers are being baptized and as a result many they say, and not a few have been killed as a result, even by family members. Those being baptized sure aren't man pleasers they are doing it as a testimony to there true faith in Christ. I Corinthians 7:12-14 points emphasis to word Holy, which as you correctly stated means set apart; Jesus himself tells us how this is done. John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. The whole key here is exposure to God word through the believing spouse. i.e. exposure to the Word of God through instruction form the believer. Put the shoe on the other foot what if both parents are unbelievers, now what happens to the children are the clean or unclean? It is the action of God's Word that does the cleaning. John 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. To me it all point to the one thing, The Word, Living or written! |