Baptists' Beliefs On Baptism?

[zunshynn]

Mods, feel free to move this if you want... I wasn't sure where it really fit, though I'm not looking for a debate.

I'm reading the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for a class, and something that keeps coming up is baptism from a Baptist perspective (the story is about a Baptist family going to the Congo as missionaries in the 1950s).

I was always under the impression that Baptists actually did not believe that Baptism was necessary for Salvation, that it was strictly symbolic, and so children should not be baptized.

The father in this book (the missionary) though, is really insistent on the children of the village being baptized (as well as everyone else). And when his own 6 year old daughter dies, his reaction is "She wasn't baptized yet" (apparently he was feeling guilty because he was waiting to baptize her once the village consented to be baptized).

So I was wondering, for someone who used to be Baptist, or is, is this what Baptists believe? I was just surprised because it seemed like a characterization flaw to me, but it seems like that would be unlikely to be so persistent in a relatively popular book.

[Archaeology cat]

I was raised Southern Baptist, so I'll give a go on the answer. Baptism is seen as symbolic, and a way of identifying yourself with Jesus' death and resurrection. It is not necessary for salvation, in that baptism is not seen as effecting any change or bestowing grace, but necessary in the sense of being obedient since Jesus commanded us to be baptised. I can't speak for all SBC congregations, since all have their own by-laws, but in mine one could not receive Communion without being baptised (and had to be full immersion believer's baptism, from a congregation recognised as "evangelical" by our congregation - so pretty much another Baptist).

ETA: There is a big emphasis on baptising people, in conjunction with said person "accepting Jesus".

Edited October 9, 2009 by Archaeology cat

[desertwoman]

Baptism is necessary in the baptist realm. I remember my friend's grandfather was on his death bed dying of brain cancer and his family said that he was going to hell because he was never baptized.

Basically what you will hear is one faith, one God, one baptism. If you are not baptized, you are question as to why, and then told that you have to be. And of course the baptism has to be by submersion.

[Ziggamafu]

Depends on which individual Baptist congregation you ask. At least in my area.

The Baptist tradition I grew up in said it was totally unnecessary and you faced a kind of mini-inquisition if you voiced a desire for baptism; a kind of cautious, "you realize you don't NEED to do this" kind of attitude. In a way, it seemed like baptism was only appropriate for the person that treated it like a shameful acknowledgment that symbolic actions are necessary to testify that you've been "saved"; Christ left us baptism to highlight that embarrassing need and serve that embarrassing purpose. But baptism does absolutely nothing else; it is strictly a human act and serves only the purpose of public testimony.

[Selah]

In the Baptist Church I grew up in, it was merely a symbol or a sign that you had been "saved" simply a testement. No salvation was invlovled at all.

[StColette]

From the Baptists that I dated (Bible belt part of Louisiana) the majority regarded Baptism as symbolic but necessary for salvation, but they did not baptize until around what we consider the age of reason or older. I had a hard time understanding how they considering something necessary for salvation yet they didn't practice infant baptism.