Throughout these few months, there was this question that I was pondering about.
Should I be re-baptised?
Fortunately after the interview and advise given by the church leaders and after prayer, I came to a decision. I decided not to be re-baptised. In my previous church, Mt Gerizim BP Church, I was baptised through a ceremony called 滴礼, it is sort of a partial water baptism because the ceremony only involves sprinkling of water and not total submersion in the water, which is water baptism, the method which FCF practises.
Here is how I came up with my decision, so that hopefully I can clear any doubts and not be a stumbling block.
Firstly, before one takes an action, one has to consider one's intention and purpose. Doing something for the sake of doing it is pointless, it is as what ecclesiastes calls it, vanity. What then are the purposes of baptism? The purposes of baptism are:
1) Obedience to the Lord's command
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew (28:19-20)
2) A public profession of one's faith
3) Symbolic of identifying with Christ's death, burial and resurrection
4) Expressing the resolve to lead a new life in Christ
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:1-10)
A baptism with these purposes in mind will be a meaningful one. These however have to come with several presuppositions. One has to first be clear of his or her salvation. I have been baptised before, was clear about my salvation (I was 12 then) and also clear of the purposes of baptism because I also went through a similar baptism bible class. Thus, a re-baptism would not be meaningful in this aspect because my previous baptism was one that was carried out with a clear mind and it was completed when my pastor baptised me in the name of the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit. A re-baptism does not bring out any of the purposes of baptism.
A common speculation would be that I would be too young to make a clear decision for myself at such a tender age. Such a speculation was probably formulated due to a 'trend' of baptism in church where only those who are youths or older would be more strongly encouraged to be baptised and it is a norm for only those who are youths or older to be baptised. I believe that age is definitely not a requirement to make major decisions such as that of accepting Christ and getting baptised. As long as one is old enough to think and make his or her own decision, age is not of concern. One's decision should be made before God, not yielding to man's opinion.
Judging according to man's standards is something that will stumble others. God sees the heart of all man.
A point that is strong on the apparent is that re-baptism is better, in terms of submitting to the Lord's teaching especially because the submersion brings out the symbolic meaning of death, burial and resurrection with Christ more holistically with water baptism than with that of partial water baptism. Certain questions need to be asked to carefully examine what this would mean.
What will re-baptism mean?
In place of baptism, which would mean a public profession of my faith; a re-baptism would mean a public denunciation of my previous baptism of whom God and the congregation are witnesses to. That ought not to be the case! 'I baptise you in the name of the Holy Father, the Holy Son and of the Holy Spirit' are words not to be taken casually! Those are words said before God and are binding.
I cannot be flippant in making such a decision, disregarding God's faithfulness. He sees and knows my heart, thus I should not yield to external pressures. I would rather suffer the speculation of others than numb my conscience and make a wrong decision which will definitely be offensive to God and cause unrest and absence of peace in my heart.
What about submission to Christ's teaching? Isn't water baptism more accurate in keeping with the execution of Christ's teachings?
This is a valid question. The purpose of the ceremony is more important than its execution. Is the execution of the ceremony of baptism unimportant then? It still is, it ought to bring out the meaning of baptism and I concede that my previous church's administration of this is not as good as that of water baptism. Heart intentions are vital, physical actions taken correspond to them. Just like when the Samaritan woman debated with Christ on the location of worship, Christ emphasised that what was vital is the knowledge of the object of worship. God wants true worshippers, those who worship in spirit and in truth.
To conclude, re-baptism is not not purposeful as it does not bring out the purposes of baptism. Submission then is also not a problem because I have already submitted to Christ's teaching in my baptism. Submission is then a matter of questioning my heart intentions and whether they match those of the teachings of God's word.
Every decision ought not to be made primarily to gain man's favour, but to gain God's favour.
Submission to Christ is therefore in this case emptying one's reasoning, be it biased or under influence and to let the Holy Spirit guide through His Word, then being convicted of the Holy Spirit's guidance, put it into action, for the glory of God.
