Is public baptism necessary?

No pressure from this board, just giving personal experiences that until you are bapitzed you will not feel complete.

 

I agree with Tom Butler here. Don't feel baptism is necessary until you are ready to follow the scriptural example in humble obedience.

 

Baptism

In Acts chapter 5, you can read of a man, Ananias, and his wife, Sapphira. They sold a possession and each kept back a portion of the money. When Ananias gave his part to the apostles, Peter asked him why did he lie to the Holy Ghost, and keep part of it. Ananias died. Some young men arose and caried him away and buried him. Later, Sapphira came and gave the apostles her part. She did not know what had happened to her husband. Peter asked her if she sold the land for this much, and she said yes. She died and the same people who caried her husband away, caried her away. I am not saying you will die if you aren't baptized, just using this for an example.
In Acts chapter 8 verses 26-40 tells of Philip being told by an angel of the Lord to go unto the desert called Gaza. He came upon an Ethopian man in a chariot reading Esaias the prophet. Isiah 53 is what is was reading. Philip ran and joined him on the chariot and asked him if he(ethopian) understood what he was reading. The ethiopina said, "How can I, excepte some man should guide me?" Philip then preached the Lord Jesus. When they came unto a certain water(water in the desert? truly a miracle from the Lord to make a place for baptism) the ethiopina said, "See, here is water:what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Philip replied, "If thou believedest with thine heart, thou mayest." The ethiopian then said, " I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God!" Philip then took and baptized him. Then Philip was caught away by the spirit of the Lord and the ethiopina went on his way REJOICING!
The reason why I used these two examples is: if you do things your way, sooner or later you will fall flat on your face. But, if you do things God's way, you will have something that you will never lose!! May God Bless!! John 3:16 :1_grouphug:

 

Your baptism is between you and God. I know of no passage in scripture that would require it to be done in front of the whole church.

Les

 

Public baptism is important---thats a gimmie for us Baptists!!

I once baptized an elderly gentleman---folks at church would tell me

"Preacher! You need to go visit "Ole John"---he ain't never "joined the church!!"

So by and by I ran into "Ole John" at the local grocery store

Cornered him over by the fruits and vegetables!!!:laugh:

"John! Have you ever been born again??"

"Yes, Sir! Preacher! I have!! But I've never been baptized!!"

He went on to say that he was saved(born again)--in the military---in a "Fox Hole" in northern Belgium during WW2---"Preacher---Thats where I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ!!"

I asked him---"Sir! If you come to church this coming Sunday---and tell the people there what Christ did for you 60 years ago---will you let me baptize you??"

"I sure will, Preacher!!"

See?? It don't make a "Hallelujah" difference if you are a beauty queen or a dumb, ugly looking soldier-----I believe you need to follow through in a public baptism---its a testamony that beauty queens as well as ugly looking soldiers MUST surrender/yield their lives---count themselves as "dead" for the sake of receiving the life of the Lord Jesus Christ!!

 

Prodigal,

While pastoring several years ago I baptized a woman in her early 70s. Afterwards she said that she regretted not having obeyed the Lord as a teenager when she was saved. Her regret was that she had been disobedient most all of her life. You have been given some good advice by the previous posts.

Our prayers are with you as you let God give you the grace to take this important step of obedience. :type:

Circuitrider

 

Prodigal,

Baptism is the first step of obedience to Christ. While being baptized in front of others is somewhat embarrassing, it is necessary. It is also a time of rejoicing, and a celebration of what God has done for you. That should never be kept quiet!

 

In my opinion, there would be nothing unscriptural about being baptized in the presence of only a few people. How many were present when the Philippian jailor was baptized? And was it done under the administration of a local church?

Can anyone establish scripturally that baptism is "a public act"? I know our tradition says it is, but saying it doesn't make it so. I see no plain examples in Scripture of private baptism, but I see no indication that it could not be administered privately so long as the fact were made public afterward. If I am correct, then baptism in the presence of a few people would violate neither the letter nor the spirit of the New Testament.

 

If you have enough faith to take the first step, God will step in and take the rest for you.

 

You know, we have baptized them with just the headlights of the car shining on the water so we could see, and as long as I

have a witness, I will baptize someone who confesses Christ. I have run into many different people in my Christian life, and

have had to speak up for some who were so backward, they just held their head down. I don't think that is the case here. I

have been thinking, if she came to me and asked to be baptized with only her family around, would I do it, and the answer is,

yes I would. When she comes to the church, then they would all know that she had confessed Christ. If someone tried to hide

the fact that they were serving Christ, then I would refuse to baptize them.

 

I don't think anybody would deny baptism to the Ethiopian eunuch or the Philippian jailer just because it didn't happen before the congregation. Those were unusual circumstances with other options limited or non-existent.

Prodigal Daughter's situation doesn't fit that mold. It boils down to her personal preference. Unusual situations may dictate the number of people present at baptism, but I can't see the baptize-ee dictating the terms to the baptize-er, or a non-member telling a church how it desires to become a member.

The authority to baptize was given to the local church. If a church wants to allow you to be baptized in an iron kettle in the dark of the moon at the stroke of midnight, fine with me. But don't pretend that it's a public declaration of one's conversion.

And Prodigal Daughter should not be baptized until God gives her the grace and strength--and the desire--to submit to the church's beliefs and practices.

 

Both would have been public and not private, though.

 

Good point. I doubt if either wanted to keep it a secret.