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Is It A Baptism Or Not?
By: Rev. Jack Cascione |
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There seem to be an increasing number of people who claim to follow the
Christian faith who do not have a valid baptism.
As the number of denominations increase and church bodies attempt to avoid
doctrinal identification, the validity of baptisms they perform is also in
question.
A person can only be baptized once. Any additional baptisms are
pointless, to say the least, and heretical, if they deny the validity of a
previous
valid baptism, to say the worst. A valid baptism must have a valid
confession.
In the past three months, I've recommended at least six rebaptisms just as a
safeguard from doubt.
Most recently, a young couple presented me with a baptismal certificate from
a hospital chaplain. Their newborn baby had been in the hospital
intensive care unit.
The certificate with large English Script at the top reads:
"Certificate of Baptism." It then states the name of the
child, the name of the woman chaplain, the correct baptismal formula, the
date of birth, the names of the witnesses and parents, the name of the
Hospital, the name of a different woman chaplain who signed it, the date of
the baptism, and a full quotation of Matthew 28:19.
No church and no creed are listed, nor were they stated verbally during the
baptism at the Hospital.
I told the parents they must rebaptize their child because we have no idea
if the Chaplain is Unitarian or even confesses a correct doctrine of the
Creed and the Hospital is not a church. A Hospital has no right to
issue an baptismal certificate.
In another case, two young women and their mother were taking adult
instruction. All three were baptized 15 years ago at a church called
Roseville Evangelistic. I asked them what the church believed or if it
had a statement of confession. They said they were not sure what it
believed and they did not have a statement of confession, nor had they ever
seen one.
The church has since been renamed, Healing Waters Tabernacle. I asked
the new pastor new if he believed the Apostle's Creed. He said,
"Yes." I asked him about the Nicene Creed and he said he had
never heard of that one. He
knew nothing of the Athanasian Creed and would not offer a written statement
of their faith. I told the three women, that just to be on the safe
side they should be rebaptized.
In a third case, a young woman told me that her mother baptized her in the
tub when she was baby because her mother was having an argument with the
Catholic Priest. I asked to her to ask her mother what words her
mother used. Her mother reported that she could not remember. I
recommended that she be rebaptized.
Actually, if the first baptism is not valid, the next baptism is actually
the first and only baptism. If the first baptism is valid, the second
baptism is merely redundant, but at least verifiable.
A person can only be baptized into a correct confession of the Christian
faith, but a person cannot baptize himself or herself. I even
rebaptized a Lutheran who said his former LCMS pastor told him he could
baptize himself. I told the man it was not a valid baptism unless another
Christian did the baptism.
As denominations lose correct doctrine and practice there will be more and
more questions about baptism.
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March 30 , 2003 |