An opinionated look at current events, culture and faith, since 2005 telling you what to think and why to think it about everything that really matters.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Baptism: Slam Dunk
The writer with whom we agree most has an article on the unnecessarily contentious topic of Christian baptism in this week's Christian Standard. The articles appears here.
Oh you, nutty professor, you, just expounding on scripture rather than adding your own misleading opinions. When will you ever learn?
I mean if you are really ever gonna get a government grant, you have to write about how baptism is good for the environment. hmm, that gives me an idea...
Seriously though, you have offered a concise model to help address the issue of the common objections. The only other one I hear is stating that some passages refer to Baptism without meaning water. I even just heard a preacher two weeks ago say that when John 3:5 mentions water, it doesn't literally mean water. (huh, whaaa?)
Back in the early 90s I was in The Netherlands at a conference focusing on reaching what was then still the Soviet Union. There was actually some objection to my attendance at the conference because I was considered not "faith only."
At one point during the conference there was a discussion about conversions to Christianity in the predominately Muslim areas of the USSR. There were missionaries who were working among them and they noted that there was no persecution among the converts until the converts were baptized. The people at the conference were baffled by this. I responded that that these Muslims obviously understood something about baptism that the Christian missionaries did not.
3 comments:
Oh you, nutty professor, you, just expounding on scripture rather than adding your own misleading opinions. When will you ever learn?
I mean if you are really ever gonna get a government grant, you have to write about how baptism is good for the environment. hmm, that gives me an idea...
Seriously though, you have offered a concise model to help address the issue of the common objections. The only other one I hear is stating that some passages refer to Baptism without meaning water. I even just heard a preacher two weeks ago say that when John 3:5 mentions water, it doesn't literally mean water. (huh, whaaa?)
very timely. i have a lot of people in my church who were in mainline denominations years ago, and this is very helpful for them.
thanks.
Back in the early 90s I was in The Netherlands at a conference focusing on reaching what was then still the Soviet Union. There was actually some objection to my attendance at the conference because I was considered not "faith only."
At one point during the conference there was a discussion about conversions to Christianity in the predominately Muslim areas of the USSR. There were missionaries who were working among them and they noted that there was no persecution among the converts until the converts were baptized. The people at the conference were baffled by this. I responded that that these Muslims obviously understood something about baptism that the Christian missionaries did not.
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