FALSE BAPTISMS?

A friend asks, "...in the SBC, do you think that there's undue pressure on individuals growing up in the Church to get baptized before they've sought the salvation offered by Christ?"

The 'Baptist Spiritual Path' (so to speak), which I believe closely follows the New Testament model, is (1) first-time prayer for salvation, (2) baptism, (3) church membership. If you haven't done #1, then #2 is merely the physical act of getting wet and means nothing. Likewise doing 3 gets you nowhere without 1 and 2. Of course we humans are sneaky and it frequently happens that we skip a step in some attempt to look good for those observing us. However the message of the Bible is that number one is where the real action is. And only God really knows if you've done that heart-work or not.

There are a couple of different issues here. First, are kids pressured to get baptized? Well, for one thing typical SBC churches get dinged all the time from folks in other Biblically-centered denominations that we over-over-emphasize Making The Decision. Giving The Altar Call. The Invitation. Whatever you want to call it. Not a week goes by that children don't hear the message in the context of worship services that Jesus is at the door of your heart knocking... don't you want to pray and let him in? What does not happen, at least in my experience, are individuals approaching other individuals, of any age, and giving them a one-on-one hard sell -- we train our folks to present the message of the gospel and let God do the calling.

Taking that initial step of prayer to God, confessing one's sinfulness, and receiving the gift of salvation is something quite separate from the act of baptism. Baptists believe getting dunked is the initial step of obedience AFTER beginning our relationship with Christ. And because baptism by itself is neither necessary nor sufficient to earn anything, much less a ticket to heaven, I would say there is little to no pressure to get baptized before something dramatic and spiritual has taken place in a person's heart.

So what non-Christians might consider pressure is really the ongoing clarion call to the entire congregation to take whatever step of action God asks of each of us individually. As clergy and lay leaders it is our job to present that call to action without doing what I would perhaps call "cult-like shepherding": checking up systematically on individuals and employing verbal manipulation to get them to do whatver it is you think God wants them to do. I know churches where that does happen, and it's unhealthy. If a person presents themselves for baptism, we simply do a short review of the gospel, ask "Have you prayed to receive Christ already? Are you certain that you're going to heaven?" and if they say yes, boom, they're dunked. If someone wants to give a knowingly false answer, that's between him/her and God Almighty.

Yes there are families that attend SBC churches regularly, made up of individuals who may all be in different phases of their walks with Christ. We all understand that. All are welcome. It's my experience however, that adults who sit through several church services in which the gospel is presented clearly, yet are never convinced that Jesus' resurrection was a historical event, don't believe they need divine forgiveness, aren't interested in a relationship with God... won't be hanging around. As a very experienced non-believer myself, I certainly couldn't take it for long. It's sort of like the Eckerd's on Congress that blares out opera and classical music right outside their front door; if you despise Verdi, you have to really want to stand on that street corner for some reason, or you'll move on. And no amount of browbeating is likely to morph you into liking Yo-Yo Ma.

In my opinion these are some the attributes of the gospel of Christ that makes it incredibly and immutably beautiful, and are tokens of its truly divine origin: It's all by God's grace alone. It is wholly a work of Almighty God within the human heart. You can't work for it, not in the least. It is available to all people, of all ages, genders, races, and abilities. It crosses over into every culture, and uplifts every culture into which it is introduced.

It is only when fallen men try to twist it and mold it to suit themselves, when the Biblical centrality of that heart-transformation is removed from the message and works-righteousness is added, that true Christianity dies. Then you have just another religion, a weapon the enemy can use to steal, kill, and destroy.