Baptism Membership Question

[browneyz1968]

I am wondering after attending a Southern Baptist church for a couple of years- we recently asked about membership but I was told I would have to be immersed prior to joining this church.(my wife already has been) I am still studying the subject but my thought on this is, since becoming saved is what God requires for us to enter Heaven, why would a local church hold man to a higher standard for membership than what the Bible holds for eternal life? I'm seeking all points of view in this issue as I try to discern truth. Please help me with this as it has been an ongoing debate in my head for the past year or so. Thank you everyone in advance for your feedback.

[Haruo]

Hi! Welcome to the BaptistLife.com forum.
Have you been physically baptized in some other mode, or have you only "become saved" without the application of water? I've never been a Southern Baptist, but my impression is that water baptism is from the local church's point of view more like voter registration this side ofJordan (the Spiritual Rio Grande, so to speak) than a passport application to get across the River.

[William Thornton]

Salvation followed by immersion is required for almost all SBC church membership. This link explains beliefs and practices further:



Many churches, almost all actually, have membership requirements beyond being a believer. Most SBC churches would rejoice in all who are saved and welcome attendance even without immersion. The NT practice of believing followed by baptism is why this is so.

[Stephen Fox]

And that was at Truett Memorial Baptist Church in 1959. Kim Wimpey took the dunk at the same event. His sister Sharon was the prettiest girl I'd ever seen to that point in my life.

I think Morris Chapman's wife got baptized twice. She was good looking too; but we're all getting older.

[Dave Roberts]

I am aware of several Baptist churches that might accept you on another mode of baptism, but most insist on it being done after becoming a believer. I know of none that don't expect some form of baptism in order to be a full member.

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

[Haruo]

But it doesn't have to be water baptism in any mode. The thief on the cross being perhaps the most famous case in point.

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

Jesus certainly thought the value of baptism was important enough to do it himself. It may be just a symbol using water, but it's what it symbolizes that is important, and I think Jesus was using it, as he did other things, to teach obedience. The only thing the water does is get you wet, but it symbolizes repentance, the washing away of sin, and the renewal of commitment to Jesus that is a necessity for church membership.

The example of the thief on the cross, more than anything else related to baptism, is proof that baptism is symbolic, and has no saving power in and of itself. But the thief never had a chance to become a member of a local body of Christians.

[Haruo]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

[KeithE]

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: Kith, what did your infant baptism symbolize? I don't see any one here advocating that the requirement baptism is "merely" for joining a local church. To me believers baptism is a symbol of ones commitment to follow Christ example, probably the easiest, so what is the point in resisting it?

Now I seem to hear a under tone from some that suggest the strange Idea of re-baptism on moving from one local church to another even another Baptist church that I have heard of being practiced in some churches but I have never observed it. That IMHO would be overkill.

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

[browneyz1968]

[Tim Bonney]

brownyz1968,

What you've run into is that Baptists believe differently from many other Christian groups about the purpose of baptism. While you see it as a rule that men made up, that isn't what Baptists believe about it. As a former Baptist and now UMC pastor I can tell you that the doctrinal beliefs are different on this issue (and a few others) between United Methodists and Southern Baptists. Both are groups of sincere Christians.

But what I think you may need to think about is if you are willing not only to join that local church but also to be a Southern Baptist in belief and not just membership and/or how much a difference it makes to you that the church believes differently than you do.

Just so you know, you also could not join a United Methodist Church if you had not been previously baptized either. The difference is that most Methodists are baptized as infants, small children, or at confirmation. If you remember, when you were confirmed you took membership vows. Those are actually "baptismal vows." Baptism since the foundations of the church has been a requirement for being a part of the Church. So the bigger issue here is if you feel comfortable with being rebaptized and also if you feel comfortable being a member of a church that believes your first baptism was invalid.

It is a tough decision to struggle with. May God bless you as you seek discernment.

[Haruo]

[Chris]

KJV: "And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water..."
N.A.S.: " Jesus went up immediately from the water...."
Williams: "He at once went up out of the water..."
Beck: "He stepped out of the water..."
That was Gospel of Matthew. I looked in the others and I can find no translation that says His head was under the water.

Every Saturday night, when I take my bath "I come up out of the water:", but my head never goes under.
It doesn't matter.

If the Baptist church you wish to join, has such restrictive regulations for membership...you dot want to go there. Join another church with more enlightened viewpoint.

Next thing they will try to tell you is that you can't take Communion unless you've been immersed. Enuf already!

[Haruo]

I am glad I was immersed, and I find it much easier to be "buried with Christ" in immersion than in affusion or aspersion. But I agree with Chris that an insistence on immersion as a prerequisite to membership or to the Lord's Supper is a limiting, sectarian way of doing things.

[Tim Bonney]