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Do you have high standards for baptism?
There were tons of baptisms for youth this past year ...yet I just really never saw a change of attitude or anything in those youth.
It seemed like they did it because they SHOULD not because they wanted to.
A mom asked me if their Junior in high school can be baptized...but this guy shows that he's a Christian (raising hands and whatnot) but seems to care more about his girlfriend than anything else. He was showing up to youth group consistently but now for past three months I've seen him maybe twice. It seems as it's his mom who is doing all the work rather than him. Every time I call him GUARANTEED he never picks up.
I just want baptism to MEAN something not just something a church should do...
What do you think I should do?
- 5 Answers
- In Discipleship
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- az003590
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- 1 year ago
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I would fully agree with Tim. The only thing I would add is that they need to want to do it. They need to take the initiative. If a parent is pushing, I wouldn't work through the parent. I'd talk to them, but have the student initiate contact, student push to do it. If someone else is pushing, I wouldn't do it. It becomes pretty apparent (as is here) that it's not their choice. |
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I think the real question here is why do people do the 'rituals' we have. I fully believe in baptism, communion, going to church etc but I sometimes look at my youth doing them and think "Are they doing this because they love God or because it's the done thing for their family/church." Specifically with baptism if he wants to do it you shouldn't stop him, but maybe you need to look into how religious (doing church things for the sake of it) they are. |
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1 Vote
I think this is mostly a theological question. In my understanding of scripture, it's, "Believe and be baptized." There was no, "Believe and when you think you're ready to commit, then be baptized." The instances of baptism I see in scripture directly followed conversion. If you start placing standards on who can be baptized and who shouldn't after conversion, you place yourself in a spiritually difficult position because you'll make the standard for who can be baptized at wherever you are spiritually. Baptism in itself is an act of obedience, so I'd celebrate any believer who takes that step no matter where they are in their walk with Christ. |
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You could talk with the guy before hand and ask him why he wants to get baptized and make sure he understands what baptism means. |
