Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hall@vice.ico.tek.com (Hal Lillywhite) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Validity of Baptism (Was Re: In Communion with Rome?) Message-ID: Date: 25 Oct 90 07:17:49 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 32 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article The moderator writes: >[I'd be interest[ed] in knowing what groups rebaptize those who have >already been baptized with water in the name of the Father, Son, and >Holy Spirit. (I'll make an exception for those who insist on >immersion, as long as they accept those from other groups who have >been baptized by immersion.) I haven't run into rebaptism. --clh] One such group is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The reason is that we look on baptism as, among other things, the making of a covenant with God. As such the person doing the baptizing acts as an agent for God and should be authorized so to act. Since we believe the authority to act in the name of God was lost shortly after the time of the original apostles we do not recognize baptisms performed by other churches. We believe this authority was restored in 1829 and is the authority used to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There is at least one example of rebaptism in the New Testament, Acts 19:1-6. Paul found at Ephesus some disciples who had been baptized "unto John's baptism," the evidence being that they had not received the Holy Ghost. He taught them of Jesus and rebaptized them. There is not a lot of information here about just what the problem was. They are refered to as "disciples" indicating that they were Christians, but the passage implies did not have had a full understanding of the gospel. This may indicate that they had been improperly taught. If so probably the person teaching them was not really authorized to do so or to baptize them. (I suspect we do not have enough information to really pin down the reasons for this rebaptism, but this seems like a reasonable possibility.) In any case, Paul thought it necessary to baptize them again.