Brian Withnell
Puritan Board Junior
First, I am a covenant baptist (I think baptism administered within the covenant*family is true baptism, and so it never needs being re-done).
What I am curious about is what credo-baptists believe about the following situation, and how they respond to it.
Suppose a person who is outside the church hears a sermon, responds through an emotional call, and "comes forward" and is subsequently baptized. The individual "falls away" and years later hears the gospel again, appears again to believe, and then asks for baptism because he thinks the first time "didn't stick" and thinks he probably was not a Christian before, but now he is.
1) Would credo-baptists insist on, allow, or prohibit the person from being baptized a second time (by the person's own testimony they were not a Christian the first time).
2) If the response to 1 is to baptize the individual "again", would the response change if it happened more than once? (That is suppose the same individual left, came back in another couple of years, and asked for baptism a third time.)
I am not going to respond here (except for clarifying questions to make sure I understand) so please feel free to help me understand your view.
What I am curious about is what credo-baptists believe about the following situation, and how they respond to it.
Suppose a person who is outside the church hears a sermon, responds through an emotional call, and "comes forward" and is subsequently baptized. The individual "falls away" and years later hears the gospel again, appears again to believe, and then asks for baptism because he thinks the first time "didn't stick" and thinks he probably was not a Christian before, but now he is.
1) Would credo-baptists insist on, allow, or prohibit the person from being baptized a second time (by the person's own testimony they were not a Christian the first time).
2) If the response to 1 is to baptize the individual "again", would the response change if it happened more than once? (That is suppose the same individual left, came back in another couple of years, and asked for baptism a third time.)
I am not going to respond here (except for clarifying questions to make sure I understand) so please feel free to help me understand your view.