Baptized in the Jordan

[John81]

If the prospective member claims salvation and was dunked, but is coming from a church of another denomination, many IFB churches around here require another baptism. One church I know has decided to baptize all new members. The feeling is that someone baptized in a non-IFB church has prOBably not been scripturally baptized.

I don't agree with that policy. It's wrong to require someone who has been scripturally baptized to be baptized again just because they didn't witness the baptism or perform it themselves.

For someone who was unscripturally "baptized" (sprinkling, pouring, sprinkled as a baby), then by all means, require a scriptural baptism.

[chev1958]

I used the word "many" when I should've used the word "some." I think the point those churches are trying to make is that there's so much confusion with what baptism is that it's just easier to do it again. However, much of the discussion around these parts focuses on the proper authority to baptize.

The Mormon church baptizes by immersion, and a Mormon will argue with you until he's blue in the face that he's saved. So, he claims salvation and has been baptized by immersion - can he join your church, if there's no Mormon church within driving distance?

In that example, the IFSB pastors around here would say the Mormon church was founded by man and not by Christ. Therefore, according to this view, the Mormon church has no authority to baptize, even if a Mormon individual gets saved, even if that individual is immersed after salvation. The only church with the authority to baptize is the church founded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, this may sound a little like briderism, but it's not. Imagine a wire running underneath a rug. You can see both ends of the wire. You wiggle one end of the wire and see the other end wiggle too. Even though you can't see the complete wire, you can safely assume it's the same wire because of the simultaneous wiggling.

Thus, if though IFSB churches can't "officially" trace their lineages back to the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem, we "wiggle" just like that church did (according to Scriptural teachings), so we have been given the authority to baptize.

A new church receives its authority from its sending church, which received its authority from its sending church, which ... etc. If I went out on my own and started a IFSB church without being sent out from another IFSB church, then the church I started wouldn't have the authority to baptize.

So, that's why some IFSB churches in this area baptize all new members.

[John81]

I used the word "many" when I should've used the word "some." I think the point those churches are trying to make is that there's so much confusion with what baptism is that it's just easier to do it again. However, much of the discussion around these parts focuses on the proper authority to baptize.

The Mormon church baptizes by immersion, and a Mormon will argue with you until he's blue in the face that he's saved. So, he claims salvation and has been baptized by immersion - can he join your church, if there's no Mormon church within driving distance?

In that example, the IFSB pastors around here would say the Mormon church was founded by man and not by Christ. Therefore, according to this view, the Mormon church has no authority to baptize, even if a Mormon individual gets saved, even if that individual is immersed after salvation. The only church with the authority to baptize is the church founded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Now, this may sound a little like briderism, but it's not. Imagine a wire running underneath a rug. You can see both ends of the wire. You wiggle one end of the wire and see the other end wiggle too. Even though you can't see the complete wire, you can safely assume it's the same wire because of the simultaneous wiggling.

Thus, if though IFSB churches can't "officially" trace their lineages back to the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem, we "wiggle" just like that church did (according to Scriptural teachings), so we have been given the authority to baptize.

A new church receives its authority from its sending church, which received its authority from its sending church, which ... etc. If I went out on my own and started a IFSB church without being sent out from another IFSB church, then the church I started wouldn't have the authority to baptize.

So, that's why some IFSB churches in this area baptize all new members.

Scriptural baptism, as you know, involves more than immersion in water, it is conditioned upon the one being baptised being a biblically born again believer in Christ.

A Mormon can't rightly claim such because they don't believe in the Jesus of the Bible. Of course this would apply to anyone from a false religion.