# Offended by "practicing" baptism?



## WrittenFromUtopia (Mar 30, 2005)

In my Pastoral Ministry class today, we were supposed to go to the campus center's pool and "practice baptism." Does anyone else see a problem with this? I was finding myself offended at the fact that they didn't just practice the method of it (immersion of course, being a Baptist school), but they said the whole Trinitarian blessing (i.e. "I baptize you, my brother in Christ, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit..."). Should I be offended by this or am I getting bent out of shape over nothing?


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## Philip A (Mar 30, 2005)

Good thing you don't believe in _ex opere operato_!


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Mar 30, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Philip A_
> Good thing you don't believe in _ex opere operato_!



Yeah, I thought that as well.


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## Ivan (Mar 30, 2005)

We did the same thing in seminary, now that you mention it. I had forgotten all about that, being about 25 years ago! I wasn't offended at the time, however, I don't recall saying the blessing as we baptized. 

That was when I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. I believed we used the facilities of Gambrell Street Baptist Church, practically across the street from the seminary. Joel Greogry was pastor of the church at the time. A lot of water has crossed under the bridge since those days!


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## RamistThomist (Mar 30, 2005)

Just pretend that it is a covenant baptism and the person requested, for some reason, to be baptised by immersion.


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## pastorway (Mar 30, 2005)

The first time you actually baptize someone you will be grateful for the opportunity to have practiced. It is not as easy at it may look......

Phillip


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## Larry Hughes (Mar 30, 2005)

Your kidding!

Saying the blessing with it does lend to a kind of mockery & diminishing of it. Would these be considered real?


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## kceaster (Mar 30, 2005)

*Pastor Way...*



> _Originally posted by pastorway_
> The first time you actually baptize someone you will be grateful for the opportunity to have practiced. It is not as easy at it may look......
> 
> Phillip



How hard can it be to sprinkle water on someone? 

KC


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## C. Matthew McMahon (Mar 30, 2005)

> _Originally posted by kceaster_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by pastorway_
> ...


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## pastorway (Mar 31, 2005)

oh, it is not hard to sprinkle anyone with water, but I thought we were talking about _baptism_!


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## LawrenceU (Mar 31, 2005)

First _ baptisms_, ah the many memories. . . Sort of makes my side hurt after a while.


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## kceaster (Mar 31, 2005)

*Phillip...*



> _Originally posted by pastorway_
> oh, it is not hard to sprinkle anyone with water, but I thought we were talking about _baptism_!



Good one. I give up. Where's the smilie waving the white flag?

KC


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## pastorway (Mar 31, 2005)

My first "real" baptism - even after practice - was a 6 foot 4 inch 330 pound truck driver named Joe. When I went to lower him into the water there was a wave that splashed over the baptistry into the choir loft....and then I dropped him! Struggling to get him back up out of the water and say the right words while doing so drove his girlfriend to stand up and say a very loud AMEN when it was all over.

It was funny because before the baptism "back stage" if you will, he said to me, "If you drop me I am taking you down with me." Having a good relationship with him I replied, "No problem. You won't drown. Fat floats." 

We laughed about it even more afterwards as I tried to convince him that he was dropped because he forgot to bend his knees, not because he was so heavy!

You see, one of the most important things to remind people when immersing them is that they must bend their knees. If they do not it is like lowering a stiff plank into the water and you will drop them, and likely fall over with them.

Thinking back, I stopped wearing waders when baptizing when we started holding our baptismal services at the lake. My first lake baptism when I lowered the candidate, I am so short that the edge of my waders dipped beneath the water level and my wader's left leg filled to the top with water. I had to pull them off in order to get out of the lake!

See......sprinkling cannot be as much fun as immersing. It just can't.

Phillip 

PS - my wife took pictures of a baptism not too long ago and they came out funny. There I am in the lake with the person being baptized. Then he is gone and it is just me standing there, and then there he is again all wet standing next to me.


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Mar 31, 2005)

How long did those 3,000 immersions at Pentecost take again? They did it in a day? Wow.


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## SolaScriptura (Mar 31, 2005)

> _Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia_
> How long did those 3,000 immersions at Pentecost take again? They did it in a day? Wow.



Well"¦ though I´ve never been an immersion only kind of guy"¦
Acts 1:15 says there was "œabout" 120 folks"¦ Acts 2:1 says that they were "œall together""¦

Quite frankly, we don´t know how many folks were engaged in baptizing"¦ I mean, if all 120 were doing it then that would only be 25 per person. Yet if only the 11 remaining apostles were doing it, then that would be 273 per person, which would be a lot even if sprinkling was used!


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Mar 31, 2005)

shhh.. no, it doesn't work out :bigsmile:


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## PuritanCovenanter (Apr 5, 2005)

> _Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia_
> How long did those 3,000 immersions at Pentecost take again? They did it in a day? Wow.



Maybe the sun stood still......:bigsmile:


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## pastorway (Apr 5, 2005)

maybe they used available facilities all over Jerusalem - large walk through baptismal pools. The person being baptized would walk down through the water and come out the other side. It would not take that long to baptize 3000 people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in such a pool.

Think of it this way - It is not as impossible as some would make it sound. The Bible says that 3000 were baptized that day, and baptism in the New Testament was by immersion, so if the Bible is true, it happened!

Phillip

[Edited on 4-5-05 by pastorway]


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## govols (Apr 5, 2005)

Maybe they had some sort of water canon, no wait, not invented yet. Super soaker (sprinkler), nope, not invented yet again.


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## WrittenFromUtopia (Apr 5, 2005)

Maybe it rained.


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## kceaster (Apr 5, 2005)

*Or perhaps....*

...just as Moses sprinkled the blood of the covenant on the people, Peter sprinkled the water of baptism on the people. One thing's for sure, Peter didn't have quite the crowd Moses did.

In Christ,

KC

P.S. We need both a sprinkling smilie and an immersing smilie.


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## Thomas (Apr 18, 2005)

Amen Brother


> _Originally posted by pastorway_
> maybe they used available facilities all over Jerusalem - large walk through baptismal pools. The person being baptized would walk down through the water and come out the other side. It would not take that long to baptize 3000 people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in such a pool.
> 
> Think of it this way - It is not as impossible as some would make it sound. The Bible says that 3000 were baptized that day, and baptism in the New Testament was by immersion, so if the Bible is true, it happened!
> ...


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