The Baptism Debate Essay

When I was seven years old, I begged for my parents’ allowance of my baptism. They didn't feel that I was quite old enough to comprehend the impact that it would have upon my life. Back then, I thought that it would be cool to get dunked into water for five seconds in the presence of a large audience;, it went without saying that I enjoyed trying new things, and best of all, I loved the attention I got when I tried them. “I believed I was pursuing success and the best was yet to come,” (Moorer 33). I was your typical precocious know-it-all.

Infant Baptism is a manmade tradition, within a misrepresentation of justification and sanctification, where water can purify one’s soul for eternity without the admission or acceptance of Christ Jesus as God. Even Spurgeon “quoted from the Catechism of the Church of England, proving that the church teaches that it is through infant baptism the infant is made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. He quoted from the liturgy of the ceremony itself to further prove that the church did indeed teach that children are regenerated though baptism.” “Spurgeon also pointed out that no outward ceremony can save anyone. This can be easily proven by the facts: thousands who were baptized as infants have lived wanton, godless lives, proving that they were never children of God. Nor does the Bible teach that someone else can have faith for another; parents cannot

Living religious traditions are integrated meaning systems which provide adherents with comprehensive and distinctive answers to the enduring questions of human existence. Religious traditions are ultimately shaped and reformed by the actions of the individuals who practices the faith. In a contemporary Christian environment, prominent practices to have a significant contribution to Christianity as a living religious tradition are Baptism and the works of Pope John XXIII. The significant practice of Baptism, as a central element of Christianity, is an initiation of adherents to a “discipleship” with Christ as well as a reinforcement of the community’s relationship with God. Furthermore, the development and expression of the Christian tradition

Baptism is such an important part of a person’s life. The sacrament of baptism goes back to 200 year old tradition. I will be focusing on community for the sacrament of baptism; there are different views, practices and significance of baptism for the individuals across many Christian churches such as Armenian Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church, and Anglican Church.

Leithart begins this book by talking about the controversy surrounding the church in the 4th century. Athanasius, a young man brought up in a pagan household, was taught to fear the Lord from a man named Alexander from a young age. Athanasius’ main opponent during his lifetime was to discount Arianism, a heresy that tried to propose the “subordination of the Son to the Father,” a view that outright “denied the eternal generation of the Son,” making Jesus less than God. The Arians believed that “the Father exists prior to the Son, since the Son is not eternal, that is, not timelessly self-subsistent” to the Father. This is to say that the Father does not eternally generate the Son, but instead came into being at a certain point in history, a blatant heresy that was corrected by Athanasius and the Church council in the 4th century.

Often held as a rite of passage and entrance into the Christian church, baptism is much more than just symbolic ritual. Baptism was commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission recounted in the book of Matthew. Even though we are simplistically called to be obedient by being baptized the Christian church has long debated the aspects of this ordinance. Denominations are divided on the basic meaning, types and modes of baptism even two thousand years after the founding of the Christian church. Just as the other ordinance, the Lord’s Supper, congregations find themselves at odd with tradition, biblical interpretation and even individual understanding. However, the simple message of this awe inspiring act can be explained out of the

In a contemporary Christian environment one of the most prominent practices to have a significant contribution to Christianity as a living religious tradition is Baptism. Baptism is of utmost importance for most Christian denominations. It has profound significance for the individual who is baptised and is also important for the Christian community as a whole. As a sacrament of initiation, Baptism calls its adherents to become missionary Disciples of Christ. It is through baptism that one’s faith journey begins and Christians are called to follow and live their lives in the light of Christ.

Despite many Christians, such as Patriarch Batholomew from the Greek Orthodox church who states that ‘For humans to contaminate the Earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life, with poisonous substances. These are sins’ in an attempt to encourage prioritising environmental protection, climate skeptic Calvin Beisner states that “the Bible teaches that earth and all its subsystems… are the product of a God who is an infinitely wise designer”, reflecting that his personal interpretation of God’s revelation has led to his understanding of the Earth being intelligently design, so that humankind could not potentially destroy it, consequently leading to him not placing priority on the protection of the environment.

The Chinese Christian church in the United States often has ethnic characteristics, but different Chinese churches often have special concentration in the composition of the congregation, which reflects the tide of Chinese immigrants in different stages. For example, descendants of early immigrants from southern China usually have their fixed church. International students from the mainland of China have the church which they set up together. And other "informal immigrants" also formed Christian organizations. According to Aihui Lee, she divides American Chinese Christianity into four categories.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is it and how do I get it? A teaching from Pat Robertson. The first of two parts.

I disclosed to Javier and Makayla there was a youthful family who had a young child deciding whether their child should be dedicated or not. I expounded that baptism is best optically discerned when analyzed with the Old Testament ceremony of circumcision as an example. Wesley perceives through Scripture that circumcision was made as a sign of the contract God made to Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:7-8). Baptism is the “appropriates this covenant relationship with God.” Consequently, the contract blessings relished through circumcision are kenned through immersion.

Later he declared about Jesus, “I baptize with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (1:8)

All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.

This essay will attempt to make a detailed analysis of baptism. It will analyze the account of Jesus’ baptism according in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 3:4-17). Secondly, it will explain the importance of baptism in building up the early church using the Book of Acts (Acts 2:41:47). Thirdly, the essay will conclude with a personal reflection of baptism and how this aids in serving Christ.

Spirit baptism has been an important topic in the Church for a really long time and while we discuss this topic we always have several questions rising about this issue. Churches have different perspective about the way they address the issue. The common question which arises with this topic are that, some of the Churches claim that spirit baptism is demonstrated after receiving the gifts of tongues and the other issues which often raises is that its relation with the word.