Baptistries

"Circumferencially advantaged."

I also like the refrigerator magnet I saw that had a female sheep on it and the words "Ewe is not fat, ewe is fluffy."

 

You can be baptized in a bath tub and still be within scriptural guidelines.

 

Ah, but the bathtub and the body mass index need to reach an agreement with one another. (USN2Pulpit had called them "skinny baptistries.")

BTW, what experience has any of you had with bathtub baptisms? I should think that a modern five-foot bathtub would not allow a total immersion of a normal (or larger) man.

Would exposed knees invalidate the baptism?

 

you just have to do them in sections

 

I don't want to be picky...well...I suppose this post indicates I DO want to get picky...

Jesus didn't have a funeral director...the guards buried Him. So, does the pastor performing the baptism symbolize the guard?

Hey, that brings up an interesting question. Jesus was never "buried" the way we are buried...6 feet under. He was placed in a tomb and the rock was covered by several men.

So, wouldn't we show a better picture of the Death, burial, and resurrection if we shoved the baptizee in a closet, closed the door by several people-say...the pastor and several deacons...they don't do anything in the church, anyway (just kidding)-and opened the door again?

[ August 01, 2005, 06:42 AM: Message edited by: Victory in Jesus ]

 

Before you lean closer to the screen with puzzled looks on your faces, then quickly hit the quote button ready to explain that John baptized Jesus and wanted us to do it the same way, I was just kidding.

Besides, this would not be the right era to begin a modern walking-out-of-a-closet "baptism".

*******************

"Ah well, now that you mentioned it, I do know of an underground baptist church in China that has to perform their baptisms in secret, in a bath tub.

Be thankful, brethren, that most of us can be baptised openly and without fear of arrest."

Amen to that! We always want most what we can't have. I'd hate to think it would take a ban against Bibles in America to bring us closer to God. We need to take advantage of what we have while we still have it.

 

I've heard the suggestion that "waterfall baptism" might picture the death, burial, and resurrection most accurately.

 

That would look cool...for the pastor to "dunk" the baptizee behind the waterfall (help him/her step back, IOW) and then back forward again? Add lights to the waterfall and it'd look awesome! But we always have to ask if it's biblical. I have to wonder if something like that is acceptable since the entire body is "emersed"...in a vertical sort of way. I mean...Jesus was setting an example when He got baptized. He didn't NEED to be baptized...He was going to do the real thing. The Lord's Prayer is an example prayer...not meant for us to pray those exact words every time we pray. I dunno. It's times like these that make me glad that I am not a pastor...making these decisions and all. My job is to sit back and tell OTHER people when I think he's made the wrong ones.

KIDDING!!! I'm just kidding. I believe in backing up the pastor in his decisions...and if I can't do that, I keep my mouth closed and pray about it. Some things are too juvenile to even pray about: "Lord, please change the Pastor's heart about the carpet color...You and I BOTH know it does NOT match the flowers!!"

How do your churches baptize? My childhood church didn't have a riverscape in the background for a long time. They had lights shine on the wall:

White light: Have you accepted the Lord as your personal Savior? (yes)

Then with the power invested in me, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost...

Blue light: (dunk) Buried in the Likeness of His death

Red light: (raise) Raised in the likeness of His resurrection

During the entire baptism, the organist played "There is a Fountain Filled with Blood". Between the silent times (waiting for him to exit and others to enter the bapistry) she'd increase the volume of the organ and during the speaking and actual baptism, she'd lower the sound...but it was always playing. As often as I've heard the tune, I never heard the words until after I had my first child.

We had a baptism every Sunday night in my childhood church (All other churches I've joined have scheduled baptism services monthly...or until X amount of people came forward for baptism). I like the spontaneous baptism...baptise them the day they come forward (or Sunday evening of that week). But I guess it's more economical to baptize them monthly since they have to heat the water...*cough!* gotta save up for the purdy wallpaper and all *cough!* (just playing)

I have to say I'm always going to be partial to the way things were when I was a kid. I don't like change (unless I'm the one doing the changing). But I adapt.

[ August 02, 2005, 06:44 AM: Message edited by: Victory in Jesus ]

 

If the size of the tank really matters then my wife is the most spritually fit because she was baptized in the ocean.

 

We were just given a church building and property that dates back to the 60's. For some reason they never added a baptistry. We had looked into the portable baptistries for awhile but they are so expensive. I think we are going to install a real one instead.

When my husband started our church, we were in a storefront with no possibility of installing something permanent. We wound up using a huge inflatable kiddie pool in our fellowship hall. It was wide and deep enough to be fully immersed in. My husband would kneel next to it to lower the person. It worked great!

There is also a church in a neighboring city that had a rather unique setup. Their baptistry had a chair for the person to sit in while the pastor stood outside the water. The chair was on hinges and the pastor would simply lean the chair back to baptize the person.