28 Feb., 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Our Stay Among “Believer Baptizers”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have enjoyed our fellowship and our membership in a\nchurch here in Ohio\nwhich baptizes only those who “believe” (confessing their faith) and excludes\nthe children of those believers from baptism until such time as they\n“feel” saved and affirm the faith in which they were trained. It is the way of Baptists, Pentecostals, and\nmany other “evangelical” churches which historically reject the practice of baptizing children\n(infants in the normal course of child-rearing). And it is strange to think of the meaning of\nBaptism – new life , new world, new associates, transformation from sin-ridden\nto imbuement with the Spirit of God – and think of it as a realm denied the\nchildren of those living in this New Life. \nThey must come to an awareness before they may participate fully in the\nblessings – the mysteries, the sacraments<\/em>\nwhich God has provided for His people, the Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea of a Covenant, per “this promise is for you\nand your children,” is rejected in favor of an individualistic rather than\nfamily\/covenant view of discipleship and the means of rearing children of\nchurch members as true fellow members of the Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The “covenant view,” briefly by contrast, assumes\nthe promise that God gives believers – i.e. that they rear their children not\nin vain, not with out hope and confidence that He keeps them and saves\nthem. A promise of old to “you and\nyour children.” (One might suppose\nif such were not the case that it might be better to avoid the risk of hell for\na child in the offing and remain\nchildless – off him! lest he risk bad choices and the everlasting terrors of hell. Yes, abortion makes some – mildly warped – sense from that angle.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The occasion for our joining a church where children are not\nbaptized was simple. There was no other\nchurch in town that would accept us as members. True, indeed. But that is another sad travesty among the\nmany manifestations of our apostate, anti-Christ society. A curiosity indeed, but not surprising in\ncontext. A society which tolerates the\nbutchering of children for four decades might reasonably grow cold to those\n“radicals” who would blow the damned death camps up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It has been a good stay. \nThe fellowship of God’s people is always refreshing, nourishing, joyful and\nessential. The Spirit among us giving us\nthe joy of salvation and the company with whom we share that hope in time and\nspace is “clutch” – as the latest popular expression has it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But to “maturity” – as Pastor Dale regular invokes\nour attention and to which he exhorts us. \nHow, then? What is it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the development of true familial bonds among church\nmembers. Love among “the\nbrethren.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n But how? <\/p>\n\n\n\n How else but intentional time spent with “one another”? But how with 200 people does one spend\npersonal time? <\/p>\n\n\n\n One doesn’t with all 200 (or 300 or 400 or 500) people! One spends time with a SMALL GROUP (from among\nthe larger local church which may gather for its Sunday worship) and develops\nthose essential, authentic bonds with those “twelve” – as per a\ncertain Biblical model. Quite a\nhint. Get small to get real. Get small to get strong. Get into homes. That is where hospitality is learned and\nexperienced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Get in order. Put leaders\nin place of small, disciplined groups and let those leaders consult with one\nanother under the elders. (Indeed, it is\nelders who must be among the primary leaders of such groups.) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 28 Feb., 2020 On Our Stay Among “Believer Baptizers” We have enjoyed our fellowship and our membership in a church here in Ohio which baptizes only those who “believe” (confessing their faith) and excludes the children of those believers from baptism until such time as they “feel” saved and affirm the faith in which they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,50,9,12,11,18,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-actors-in-the-kingdom-selections","category-apologetics","category-apostasy-cowardice-or-buffoonery","category-character-or-not","category-defending-the-defenders","category-family-matters","category-wilmington-ohio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3258"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3259,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3258\/revisions\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}