My problem - adult baptimsm?

Question

First of all, I'm a 33 year old male. My family was very religious and members of th Baptist church. For other reasons, I was never baptised. I didn't really attend church much during my teenage years and kind of grew apart from religion.

In college, a teacher got me involved in going to services at an Episcopal church. I am not sure if I went more for show or what. Out of embarrassment I told them I had been baptised and went through the Episcopal confirmation process. Thats the problem since I'm doing this in reverse.

Recently I had a very deep change of heart and would like to take steps toward becoming Christian and becoming a member of the Baptist church. I am looking into getting an adult baptism BUT would there be a problem since I went through the confirmation process first? Also how does one actually request an adult baptism?

Answer 1

Honesty is best. Tell a Baptist preacher what happened, and he will probably be more than happy to arrange for a baptism. Just tell the minister what you've told us. Same with an Episcopal priest, too. If you told a priest what really happened, you'd find them pretty open about it. The Baptists won't be concerned about your previous Confirmation rites.

Answer 2

Just ask the church you wish to join. They will have the answers to all your questions, and they will not judge you for past actions so long as you "repent" of the "sin" of having been confirmed before baptism. The only purpose of confirmation is to reaffirm promises that one's parents made for one in infant baptism. So the confirmation can only be taken as a sign of good faith, even if you didn't tell the truth. You were at an age when embarrassment often makes people do far worse things than getting "falsely" confirmed.

Answer 3

I went to a Baptist church for 4 years and during the entire time I went there - I had NEVER seen or heard of anyone being turned away from baptism. Your best bet would be to talk with your pastor about how to go about this.

Answer 4

If you are going to a Baptist church, they have "Altar Call">> When they do, You step Forward and tell the Pastor what God is dealing with you about. (You would Like to be Baptized. ) He will do It On the Spot. He may ask you "if you have accepted Jesus as Your Personal Savior First?) Baptism Is A Picture Of a Death, Burial, and Resurrection Showing You Are Saved.

Answer 5

In most baptism services in Baptist (and other churches too like Pentecostal and Non-Denominational), the majority of people getting baptized are adults. I was baptized at 20 I think, and it was a big church, so was one of at least 10 adults getting baptized that day.

Most pastors are going to say it's up to you. Baptism is really just a public confession, and a public ceremony so you can declare to the community your commitment to Christ. From what you said, it may be a great idea for you to get baptized. Not just for the ceremony, but for your renewed commitment.

Praise God- congrats on choosing to follow Him!!!

Answer 6

>>I am looking into getting an adult baptism BUT would there be a problem since I went through the confirmation process first?<<

I highly doubt it. Your confirmation isn't valid because you aren't baptized. I don't think the Baptists recognize confirmation, anyway.

Answer 7

The Baptists will not care if you were or were not confirmed somewhere else.

Most churches have a baptism class as a prerequisite for baptism (check the bulletin). You usually just show up.

Or you could ask your pastor.

Answer 8

Baptism in a baptist church is not just about being a christian. You have to be saved, and pronounce to the church that you have accepted Jesus as your savior. Then that is when you get baptized. It's supposed to represent you starting a "new" life.

Answer 9

The Baptist will require a submersion in the water unless you are too ill for that type of baptism. Jesus was grown when John the Baptist submersed Him. Follow His sayings and doings.

Answer 10

What has "confirmation" got to do, with a genuine repentance, complete submission to Christ, and a holy heart?

You are agonising over nothing.

Ecclesiasticism must not be allowed to interfere with Biblical doctrine; and biblical example. Your concern is founded upon the vain tradition of men. The fact that some man had, at one time, splashed water on your head; means nothing where matters of your soul, and eternity, are concerned.

Christianity is NOT subjective. It does not matter what people's "views", "opinions" or "perspectives" are. The Word of God, and matters of salvation are objective; truth is determined solely upon the commands of God.

Biblical baptism is upon genuine repentance, profession of faith in Christ; and that, followed with the evidence of holiness in the personal life.

Paedobaptism is an invention of men whose insistence upon tradition affords them higher authority than the example and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles.

Infant baptism finds no merit in the Word of God at all.
What effrontery there is in “baptising” a baby and therefore imagining that God is obliged to save the child’s soul, and is bound to hold himself to it, because of an imagined “covenant obligation”, based upon the act of paedobaptism.

God is sovereign! He is obliged to save NO ONE. And indeed, were he to damn every last soul ever born, because of original sin, he would be fully justified in doing so. God is NOT held to ransom by any act of men!

The contention is (supposedly) that infant baptism is a continuation of the rite of circumcision which indicates that the child is a partaker of the covenant of grace. An utter fabrication or the word has no meaning:

Galatians 5:2. Galatians 5:11. Colossians 2:14 immediately puts to death the notion of any form of continuation of circumcision within the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let it be noted here with crystal clarity, so that none may misunderstand: the ONLY thing that makes one a partaker of the covenant of grace, is repentance from sin, the application of the Word of God to the heart by the Holy Spirit, and genuine faith in Christ Jesus to save the soul.

The evidence of these things is seen in by holiness in the life; a revulsion for sin and anything that might offend God; and a separation from the world, its methods, and amusements.

It is the election of God - not the soaking of a child’s head - that bestows the favour of God upon a man, woman; boy or girl.

It is the grace of the Father;
the sacrifice of the Son;
the application and work of the Holy Spirit …

NOT

the church membership of the parents,
the church attendance of the family,
the religious works of either papist priest or pulpit pastor,
nor the so-called “innocence” of the child (who has been born in original sin).

If you are prepared to surrender your will and affections to Christ, then grab hold of him, and never let him go. Nothing that you have done before matters, if indeed you are a new creature in Christ.

What religious nonsense would Saul have undertaken that would have been comparable to your "confirmation"?
And did that matter, when he became Paul?

Did he say, "Before, I was a Jew; so I cannot now do this or that, in which Christ and his disciples, themselves, led by example?"

If you can - find a church that is godly and orderly in its conduct; submissive to the sovereignty of God in its doctrine; and where the people are distinguishable from just mere clean-living worldlings; and speak to someone of maturity there (not necessarily the pastor!) about your desire to eventually be baptised as a profession of your mature consideration of the cost of standing for Christ, and a seal of your determination to do so.

Yours sincerely,
Philip Livingstone
www.theforgottenbible.org