De-Baptisms?!
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 1:59PM One of the key failures of the church, I believe, is that we have not adequately embraced the concept of baptism. What does it mean to be "a member of Christ's Church" and "engaged to confess the gospel?" I think the key is probably the word "engagement" - something very real and very important has happened but yet waits for fulfillment in another very real, but very important thing taking place. For many, however, baptism has become some kind of superstitious, rather old-fashioned, religious ritual that helps salve the soul and provide a bit of comfort to those who know, probably not so deep down inside, that they aren't really going to raise their children in the faith nor, frankly, do they honestly have any kind of a faith to pass on to them.
And yet, we honor those who were baptized as infants by weak-faithed or faithless parents believing that God is faithful, even if we (or they) are not. It doesn't matter that they didn't grow up in the church... it doesn't matter that they are now in their 40s and experiencing the liberal generosity of the gospel for the first time. We hold strong to the belief that God did not fail them decades earlier when they were baptized and refuse to rebaptize them (at least in theory, the commitment to refuse rebaptism is rather weak in some corners of the RCA).
What do we do with those who have been "De-Baptized?" Read about it:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1891230,00.html?imw=Y?iid=perma_share
I'm only speaking in theory, I don't have a line of de-baptized individuals knocking down my door asking for re-baptisms following the experience of a post-de-baptism conversion... but I imagine such things may not be foreign to my future.
Interested in your thoughts....
Grace and Peace,
`tim
Reader Comments (5)
Tim,
Thanks for the TIME article....I had no idea. I do think that over all we have a dehydrated view of Baptism. My question would be that if we are Spirit people what value is there to words on a piece of paper? It is the Water and the Spirit that make a baptism, not the pretty piece of paper that a minister and elder sign.
Justin
Oh. My. Goodness. I guess de-baptisms were bound to emerge, although people have been denouncing their baptisms for centuries, we can be sure.
As and RCe pastor who serves a Lutheran (ELCA) congregation, baptism is front and center all the time. Yet they/we still struggle to get people to "live their baptism" as Luther puts it. However, I have observed that grace really is the operative word among them/us, and baptism is the "means." Lutherans in my area may struggle with the abstraction of baptism, but they gather around the warm glow of grace habitually. And the Luth's are getting better at helping families live their baptismal vows (see Faith Inkubators at faithink.com and the Youth and Family Institute also on the web. I highly recommend Faith Inkubators' Stepping Stones and YFI's Milestones Ministry. Very good stuff, and I've researched and tested this quite a bit...)
Anyway, I also went to a Baptist seminary (BGC), and my colleagues assured me that they struggle with the significance of baptism too. So my own conclusion at this point is to appreciate both the mystery of the rite and the extravagance of God that has to be unpacked over a lifetime and then some. God's grace is too big for us to package, co-opt, appreciate, or deny! (So there, you de-baptismites!)
I just finished my D.Min. at a Baptist seminary too (ABC), but I think the issue is slightly different from a general Baptist perspective than from a Reformed one. For Baptists, baptism is an ordinance that's far more a human response to personal conversion rather than a divine sacrament anticipating human response. The more it's the former, the more a concept of de-baptism makes sense (or rebaptism, for that matter), the more it's the latter the less either one makes sense.
I completely agree with your final statement though: God's grace is too big for us to package, co-opt, appreciate, or deny!
The de-baptism thing still has me a bit perplexed....
Grace and Peace,
`tim
In theory I think there is very little meaning to baptism in the piece of paper signed by a minister and an elder (or in a piece of paper denouncing a baptism), but I have to admit I found it touching (Tim) at the last baptism you performed when you invited all of those in attendance to sign the back of the baptismal certificate, as a lasting record to the precious little girl being baptized of the fact that she was baptized into "the visible membership" of the church. It was also a great way to remind the members of the church and the girl's family of their commitment to instruct, pray for, teach and train her in the faith.
Actually, I was surprised how Calvinist many of the professors were at Bethel (St. Paul) when I was there. I think they really struggled with the laity's view of baptism, which you described and is indeed the typical Baptist position. They were really into the sovereignty of God, and the grace that is inherent in that.