28 June 2007
Made possible by, ‘one crack job of investigative reporting!’
I’m actually still thinking about that amazing weekend at
It was unbelievable!
I know you probably get tired of me saying that, but it’s true. And maybe it gets old hearing it if church for you is more typified by the same group (only a bit smaller each month) of Christians gathering weekly (if it’s not raining) to complain about the big bad world ‘out there’ for the umpteen millionth time, and the new church in town stealing all “our people” (as though they signed a blood oath to attend until they die of old age or boredom – one of which almost always comes first).
The latest thing to garner criticism is the ‘so-called,’ spontaneous baptism.
We got a ginormous amount of hits on this blog right after we had one, so I decided to chase down some of the chatter regarding this wonderful event.
Let’s just say it wasn’t all good. I mean, 99.9 % of it was, but there’s always that one phantom blogger who’s just a wee bit of bandwidth short of a full connection.
Surprised?
You shouldn’t be.
This time it wasn’t about ours, but another church I really respect…Fellowship
Fellowship had just seen over 400 baptized in one weekend and they were praising God and welcoming a lot of new folks to the family when…
The blog buzz started coming in.
As I said, most of it was overwhelmingly positive, but, as I scrolled down, I found this one guy who had apparently generated a little bit of buzz as the latest self proclaimed ‘truth crusader.’
Here’s the cliff notes:
Four hundred baptized in one day? Doesn’t this sound a little suspicious? Are we to simply accept this at face value or would it be better to look a little deeper into this?
First of all, how could all of these people have truly known what hey were doing when the baptisms were, spontaneous?
Second of all, how did Ed Young even know all of these people were Christians?
Third, people need classes and lengthy training before making a decision of this magnitude, and that simply could not have been done.
Ok, that was some severe trimming, I admit, but his writing ability was even worse than his theology, so I decided to spare all of you the dribble.
Here’s what’s sad though—Ed Young presented the gospel that day – even the smallest amount of checking would have shown the mystery blog assassin that much.
In addition, the entire message was about baptism, so the people who stepped forward to be baptized knew all they needed to know in order to make the right choice.
Finally, a quick read through Acts chapter 2 would make it obvious to anyone that on the very first day of the very fist church, 3,000 were saved, baptized and began functioning as a church – the way a church should function.
What?!
No classes?
No Seminary training?
Not even 1 weekend’s worth?
Nope.
Nothing.
Zip.
Zilch.
Nada.
Peter simply preached the gospel and told the masses that the first thing Jesus wanted new believers to do was to profess (identify with) Him (Jesus) through baptism.
And they did it.
Period.
It’s a matter of obedience.
So, listen up anonymous blog sniper, your argument is with the Living God, not Ed Young.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Or, maybe just put it in there. Smoking is bad for you.
Oh, I almost forgot…
the crack job of investigative reporting?
I was actually trying to figure out who came up with the ‘spontaneous baptism’ deal in the first place.
That’s what led me to this place…
Which led me to this place…
Which led me to this place…
Etc. etc. etc.
Which finally led me to Acts chapter 2, and these verses.
Who came up with “spontaneous baptisms?”
God.
That’s why we do it!
3 Comments currently posted.
Heather Hoag says:
mike mccoy says:
I was one of those baptized that day back in March… and i was at the very back of the line (probably because i was late…. again)…. well, at the beginning of the ordeal i was at the back of the line. by the time I was baptized, 15 (at LEAST) folks had decided to join the line. I wonder, did they just long for the stink of chlorine on their church clothes? that would have to be the only logical conclusion because certainly…… oh who are we kidding? No, the Holy Spirit tapped them on the shoulder…. some after 60 years, to make the right choice that day. God is awesome, and we dont need extensive training and college level courses to figure it out.
ps the new digs are cool…..best look yet.
jt says:
right on brother! keep on keeping on! Be back tomorrow night from the great white north.
How could 400 people know what they were doing…well, thankfully we are not Borg and do not have a hive mind (sorry, did I just geek out too much there?) Why do people think that we have to be a PhD at something before we can even attempt it? Especially Christianity. I have talked with several women about leading a Bible Study. Their answers are always…well, I am not a teacher, I never went to seminary, I don’t know how to “study” the Bible (well, you have been in a Bible study now for the last, oh, what? 12 years, maybe you picked something up?) Thankfully, there are thousands of small group Bible study books out there. You read the chapter, answer the questions. To lead a Bible Study, you ask the questions and help conversation along. You grow deeper in the Word and so does every one else. I have found that if a question gets asked that I don’t know the answer to (that’s a lot) I have a crack team of pastors I can accost (or the internet - which ever - hahahaha). Now…there is my little plug for Women’s Bible Study this summer and fall.
By the way…LOVE the new look. Very clean. Very hip.