Featured When to re-baptize? Need some advice.

Once a believer is baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost there is no cause or need to do it again! Their soul and heart are in need of drawing closer to the Lord and there is a big need to come to know God and His plan by reading scripture and coming to know what God loves and what He hates and to be obedient to His commands. There is definitely a need to belong to a local bible teaching pure doctrine church and to come to know and love the other believers. They shall know we are christians by our love for the brethren! Soli deo gloria!

 

Agreed, I would try to find out his belief and understanding first: Also, I am not sure whether you explained that there is the "authority" so to speak, of a local Church that is involved with this. I don't know your view on this but; as I understand it, the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the distinct purview of the local Church. Although it doesn't matter who "dunks", if it is not an ordinance of the Local Body-or say an ordained Missionary-acting with it's authority, I wouldn't perform it.

 

Yes, asking for a 'rebaptism' suggests a misunderstanding of what baptism is. Baptizing a believer who underwent some purported ceremony while an unbeliever, whether as an infant, or under other false pretextes, would not be a 'rebaptism'. And the proper course for a baptized believer who has strayed is to repent.

 

FWIW, this is my personal story, and that's all I'm claiming it to be:

While I was on Active Duty in the US Air Force, I was saved in Tucson AZ in 1966 at an IFB church off base. I didn't grow up in a Bible-believing environment. The night that I received Christ as my personal Savior was the first time I'd even heard the Gospel of salvation in my nearly 20 years of life. Right after I was saved, people from that IFB church began to urge me to be baptized. A couple weeks later, I was baptized into that local body of believers.

About a year later, I was transferred by the USAF to (West) Germany, and soon after that I united with a nearby off-base IFB mission/church. I grew a whole lot in the Lord in those two years I was with them. They taught me a lot of Bible doctrines that were new to me [The church where I was saved at in AZ was more interested in "saving America from Communism" than teaching me doctrines.].

A couple years after I was released from Active Duty, I was admitted into a Bible college sponsored by a local Baptist church in Clarksville TN. That church/college held to those doctrines that the one in Germany taught. Increasely I began to question the validity of my first baptism. I couldn't contact that church that had baptized any more because it had disbanded, and over time I'd lost what little contact I'd had with any of the people from it.

I asked the pastor of the church in Clarksville TN what he thought I should do in this situation. His advice was to seek the Lord's guidance in this matter, and if I felt that the Lord was leading me to be baptized again, he'd be happy to perform it for me.

After wrestling with this for a couple months, I decided that it was the Lord's will for me to submit to baptism by that church in TN, so I did.

Like I said in the beginning, this is only my personal story. I'm not saying this is what the Lord may demand for any other of His children, just that this is what He led me to do.

 

This is a sound reason to be re-baptized (or just baptized). Your story also stirs my curiosity. What was it that caused you to question? Was there something that caused you to question its validity as a New Testament church?

 

Let me briefly address jkdbuck76's OP:

Based on what you reported, you should baptize your sister, but not your brother-in-law. This is a teachable moment. He should explain why he wants to be, and you should explain why he shouldn't be.

I'm assuming that you have been authorized by the local church to perform the baptism and not doing this on your own.

 

No, I didn't necessarily believe that the AZ wasn't a NT church, but that as I began to be taught more Bible doctrines concerning soteriology and ecclesiaology when I was in Germany, some of which were either not taught or weren't held to in the AZ church, I just wanted to make sure for myself that I did in fact have scriptural baptism.

I don't wish to go into further detail about the doctrinal differences between the two churches because a lot of them may be ones that are still debated today. Like I said in my OP, this is just what happened to me as an individual believer and not necessarily a hard and fast criteria for every believer.

End of story.

 

Since you're close to the situation, I'm sure you'll do just fine in making the decision.

That last paragraph would present a problem for me, too If they are not currently attending the baptizing church, with no plans to after baptism, that would be a deal-breaker for me. Unless they are willing to commit to the baptizing church, no deal.

I may have read more into your comment than you intended. I'll rely on you to set me straight.

 

If your sister is saved a change in her life will show it and while I do not agree that Baptism is or should ever be used for membership into a church denomination she still should be seeking a church to join. As to her husband I would say no to him unless he says he was not saved and now has gotten saved that would be different. He also would have to be attending a local congregation for that to happen and show a change in his life.

 

Can you name one person baptized twice in the New Testament, despite their falling into sins?

Cheers,

Jim

 

Ah, sounds like good advice to me.

 

I used to joke about how us Baptists believe in OSAS and do not believe in Baptismal regeneration, yet most Baptists I have known who had any age on them were baptized at least twice, me included. The reason was almost always because they doubted their earlier salvation experience after lapsing into sin in their late teens and early twenties. Yet it was not common at all for members of the Church of God, Assemblies of God or Church of Christ to be rebaptized and they too believe in believer’s baptism and the CoC believes in baptism being necessary to wash away sin and all three believed they could fall from grace. I always found that ironic.

The root cause in my area was the tendency of IFB, Missionary Baptists and some SBC churches to urge people to come forward at the altar call if there is "any doubt" and unless "You know that you know that you know". Inevitably someone had some doubt depending on their current walk with the Lord, and since they were really, really saved this time, their previous baptism was invalid.

How did we Baptists get this doctrine so wrapped around the axle?

 

It is called "easy believism" and the need for numbers.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Or, as I've heard it characterized, "One, two, three, repeat after me."

Followed by, "now when you prayed that prayer were you really, really, really, sincere."

Followed by, "if you really, really, really sincere, then on the authority of God's word, I declare you to be saved, and don't let anybody talk you out of it."

Thus, we have many today whose sole hope of heaven is "I said the prayer."