Baptism...Who Needs It?

Alright, all I was trying to do was sell this preacher I know a t.v., when he started in on me. He backed me into a corner. He really didn't give me much of a choice.

He was bragging, I mean, bragging about how he set his pastor "straight" on a certain matter and kept asking me, "Am I right? Am I right?" No, he wasn't right, but I was simply trying to avoid the ruckus I was certain would ensue if I didn't keep my opinions to myself.

He told me that a man had recently been saved at their church, but hadn't yet, for whatever reason, been baptized. His pastor said that the guy shouldn't take the Lord's supper since he had not been baptized. Well, this braggart recounted to me how he told his preacher that "everyone is welcome at the Lord's table," and since the man was saved, he should be welcome also. Jeepers! What a lot of rot!

I tried like the dickens to avoid the turmoil. Still, after being asked if he was right for the fourth or fifth time, I decided to just go ahead and answer him. I've known both of these preachers for years. So, tough if he didn't like my answer.

I asked him, "Would you let a man teach Sunday School in your church if he hadn't been baptized? Would you let him be a deacon? Would you let him pastor your church?" I argued that we wouldn't let the unbaptized fill any these functions in our church. Yet, would we allow them to do something even more important, such as, partake of the Lord's Communion?

I continued that we wouldn't want anyone taking a post in your church who is out of fellowship with the Lord. How could a man be in fellowship with God's will if he hasn't even been baptized?

He seemed a bit stymied as if he had never thought on it that way. Yet, he continued to argue that my view wasn't right, although without any reason why I was wrong.

I finally pulled out the big guns. I knew he had known and respected my dad and I just told him that that is what my dad taught me and it was good enough for me.

Do I think for a moment that this retired Baptist pastor went home, thought it over, swallowed his pride and decided I was right? Do I think for a moment that he went to his pastor and said, "I was wrong. You were right." Not likely.

Many Christians, even, shamefully, Southern Baptists, have reached the stage in our existence where we are so worried about being politically correct, even in God's house, that we think the "bigger" sin is offending somebody and hurting their precious feelings. Actually, the "bigger" sin is to go against the Lord's will and His way. Today, we are more than willing to sacrifice genuine piety for counterfeit politeness.