In our Bible study yesterday morning, I got a chance to tell about the early Christians being baptised nude for about the first 3 or 4 hundred years, until the fall of the Roman empire. My point was that both historically and Biblically Christians were baptised by immersion.

He was asking about if he got a convert at the nursing home where he was taking the study that afternoon (and another at our church that night, all on the same Watkins material). Would he have to insist that the convert be immersed. He said it might kill them. My point and our preacher's point (who was at the study) was to leave it in God's hands.

I mentioned that some early redestinationists were baptising babies. Because some of them seemingly died from it, they started pouring or sprinkling water over them. This is how this got started, sorta like the Biblical stories in the OT of folks reasoning and getting condemned for it.

Ralph

Culture has more to say than tradition. True, baptism was usually done by emersion, but when you are in countries where water is scarce, they get only a few inches of rain a year and they have to haul water long ways for a one day supply, you don't do emersion!

Sprinkle of very valuable water is the best you can do.

As for people who are physically disabled or are too old and fragile and not able to be emersed, then sprinkle is perfectly acceptable.

God is looking at their hearts, not on our hearts trying to "do it right" for God. God does not need our help. We do what we can, God takes the rest.

Even the thief on the cross accepted Christ and died without baptism. And we all know what Jesus said to him.


Boyd Allen
"May the Lord protect our nudity from the sight of those who will not benefit, and may he allow us to be seen by those who will."

After 2 1/2 years away, I finally went back to my old church for a business meeting, to see just how badly they were screwing things up... uh, changing things around.

Well, that whole trip is another story (a LONG one), but during the two hour conversation that my dad and I had with the associate pastor, a friend of sorts of mine, baptism was one subject that came up. He said that the head pastor had been known to "sprinkle" those bed-ridden who wanted to be baptized. I guess even a die-hard Baptist (who grew up Catholic, by the way), can be a litle flexable when it's necessary.

Now if they would just get away from all this legalism crap they're getting into...

Later
God Bless
Kevin