Dedicated with Water from the Jordan River
Dear Socratics,
I had a startling revelation today. My dad made me a series of tapes when I was born and began giving them to me recently. I was listening to one yesterday where he describes my dedication service. He says that the pastor used water from the Jordan River to dedicate me and then he slips and says "baptize." Now none of this would be very startling if I had not also been baptized at 13. So I called my dad and asked what was going on. He said he really couldn't remember but thought I had been dedicated and baptized at the same time as an infant. I had never heard of this kind of a practice. So I called my mom. She didn't remember what happened at the dedication but said the Nazareens (whom we were at the time) don't baptize infants. Then what was water from the Jordan River doing at my "dedication"?! So there you go. I have been thinking that two baptisms would resovle a number of issues we've been having, and to my own surprise, I may have been baptized twice! Stick that in your theological pipe and smoke it.
Tom
I had a startling revelation today. My dad made me a series of tapes when I was born and began giving them to me recently. I was listening to one yesterday where he describes my dedication service. He says that the pastor used water from the Jordan River to dedicate me and then he slips and says "baptize." Now none of this would be very startling if I had not also been baptized at 13. So I called my dad and asked what was going on. He said he really couldn't remember but thought I had been dedicated and baptized at the same time as an infant. I had never heard of this kind of a practice. So I called my mom. She didn't remember what happened at the dedication but said the Nazareens (whom we were at the time) don't baptize infants. Then what was water from the Jordan River doing at my "dedication"?! So there you go. I have been thinking that two baptisms would resovle a number of issues we've been having, and to my own surprise, I may have been baptized twice! Stick that in your theological pipe and smoke it.
Tom
posted by Tom Arthur at 8:35 AM
2 Comments:
Claudia and I were also baptized twice, Tom. She was Lutheran and I was Methodist. When we were stationed in Norfolk at age 25, we found the best church we could find and joined it. It happened to be a Southern Baptist church. The pastor said that we needed to be dunked to join. It didn't seem like a big deal to us, so we said, "Sure." And, although I understand the theological reasons not to do that now, as I reflect on it, I can see that, for us, the second baptism was definitely a means of grace.
I, too, was baptized while an infant and later as a teenager. Similarly to Craig and Claudia, I received infant baptism, and later was baptized by immersion. I didn't receive the second baptism to join a church, but I was being heavily influenced by some Southern Baptist friends. Looking back, I probably received the second baptism to alleviate my own anxiety about possibly disobeying the Christ. It was, I think, an unfortunate occurence for that reason, but not damaging over the long-term.
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