I loved this article! It is quite refreshing to see someone who is so passionate about the ordinances that Christ gave us.
I agree with the author that baptism should take place as soon as possible. I personally do not hold to the "let's make them a disciple first, then baptize" teaching. I am not saying that those who do this are ungodly; I just think they are misinterpreting Scripture. I believe that immediate baptisms would alleviate many of the problems that have been created because of our "traditions" that intervened. Furthermore, baptism is the public profession of faith, so why put it off?
Also, I have no problem with observing the Lord's Supper weekly. I do not believe that we should become legalistic in either direction though (not that the author is doing this...it's just something we must be careful of). In fact, I do believe it would be best to observe the Lord's Supper more frequently than we presently do. Having said that, we definitely need to teach and preach the greatness of both these ordinances!
With the onslaught of easy-believism, and so-called free will conversions, early baptism can be as devious a practice as any other ill in the church.
In NT times, a public baptism could cost one his life. At best, in this society, it could cost a little ridicule.
Why do we have so many social problems in many Baptist churches to-day? One factor is that we push baptism on early converts who may not be converts at all. We push from the pulpit. The push should come from the convert. The convert should be baptized because he is convicted, and not to add some prestige to the preacher or add numbers to a church.
On the Lord's supper, my churches, down through the years, varied between weekly, bi-weekly and monthly to quarterly observances. I had no argument with any of them, although I preferred a weekly observance, if for no other reason than the fact scripture demands that a person look inward each time they observe the supper. It is never harmful to look within ourselves.
On the communion issue, I'm not a stickler for every Sunday communion, since I think the support of it (as an absolute) is a little weak (Acts 20 as far as I know). But it seems to make sense. "As oft as ye do it" doesn't seem to favor putting it off for as long as possible.
Jim, I don't believe in pushing baptism on folks the way some people do it. But on the other hand, it is a command for the new believer. Why should they put off obeying God's command? I don't think we ought to be complicit in encouraging anyone to delay what God has commanded. I agree with you that some push baptism on converts who may not be converts at all. But to me the problem there is not really baptism, but the whole conversion issue (easy-believism in particular). We should not baptize people who give no credible evidence of conversion. We should not delay baptizing anyone who gives credible evidence of conversion.
Another problem is the lack of church discipline once an extended knowledge of the person as a church member gives no evidence of God's work in his or her life.
3 comments:
I loved this article! It is quite refreshing to see someone who is so passionate about the ordinances that Christ gave us.
I agree with the author that baptism should take place as soon as possible. I personally do not hold to the "let's make them a disciple first, then baptize" teaching. I am not saying that those who do this are ungodly; I just think they are misinterpreting Scripture. I believe that immediate baptisms would alleviate many of the problems that have been created because of our "traditions" that intervened. Furthermore, baptism is the public profession of faith, so why put it off?
Also, I have no problem with observing the Lord's Supper weekly. I do not believe that we should become legalistic in either direction though (not that the author is doing this...it's just something we must be careful of). In fact, I do believe it would be best to observe the Lord's Supper more frequently than we presently do. Having said that, we definitely need to teach and preach the greatness of both these ordinances!
With the onslaught of easy-believism, and so-called free will conversions, early baptism can be as devious a practice as any other ill in the church.
In NT times, a public baptism could cost one his life. At best, in this society, it could cost a little ridicule.
Why do we have so many social problems in many Baptist churches to-day? One factor is that we push baptism on early converts who may not be converts at all. We push from the pulpit. The push should come from the convert. The convert should be baptized because he is convicted, and not to add some prestige to the preacher or add numbers to a church.
On the Lord's supper, my churches, down through the years, varied between weekly, bi-weekly and monthly to quarterly observances. I had no argument with any of them, although I preferred a weekly observance, if for no other reason than the fact scripture demands that a person look inward each time they observe the supper. It is never harmful to look within ourselves.
Cheers,
Jim
On the communion issue, I'm not a stickler for every Sunday communion, since I think the support of it (as an absolute) is a little weak (Acts 20 as far as I know). But it seems to make sense. "As oft as ye do it" doesn't seem to favor putting it off for as long as possible.
Jim, I don't believe in pushing baptism on folks the way some people do it. But on the other hand, it is a command for the new believer. Why should they put off obeying God's command? I don't think we ought to be complicit in encouraging anyone to delay what God has commanded. I agree with you that some push baptism on converts who may not be converts at all. But to me the problem there is not really baptism, but the whole conversion issue (easy-believism in particular). We should not baptize people who give no credible evidence of conversion. We should not delay baptizing anyone who gives credible evidence of conversion.
Another problem is the lack of church discipline once an extended knowledge of the person as a church member gives no evidence of God's work in his or her life.
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