"Thinking Eternally, Acting Locally." - Neal August
So
far this month we’ve had six individuals make commitments to follow Jesus (i.e.,
“get saved”). Four have been youth and two have been adults.
Of these adults, one is a lady who is a former Buddhist. She is also suffering terribly from cancer.
Here is the issue:
This woman wishes to be Baptized into Christ (and this become a member of the church) but … her illness prevents her from being Baptized by immersion.
…
What shall we do?
It appears that our senior pastor is going to ask the deacons to either waive Baptism by immersion for church membership in this woman’s case OR, if she really wants to experience Baptism, allow her to be sprinkled.
Interesting scenario, huh? No unique but somewhat uncommon in Baptist circles.
[UPDATE]
I can now tell you that the woman in question was Baptized by Sprinkling, not immersion. In the tradition of Baptist pragmatism for the sake of the Gospel, this woman, lying in a hospital bed in Chapel Hill, NC, was Baptized by the sprinkling of water ... using a North Carolina Tar Heel cup.
The worst part is that both she and her husband are NC State Wolfpack fans.
2 comments:
No, she was not baptized, she was sprinkled.
The biblical word "baptize" means to immerse.
David R. Brumbelow
See Mark 7:4 and Luke 11:38 in GREEK for uses of βαπτίζω as "wash".
Remember, the early Christians regularly practiced Baptism by immersion. However, when the sick, lame, etc. required pouring/washing/sprinkling, the early Christians were practical enough to baptize that way and still recognize it as Baptism.
This is akin to the modern practice of some churches using crackers and grape juice for the Lord's Supper instead of the Scriptural and Traditional use of Bread and Wine.
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