“We do not like the idea of requiring a man to be baptized down in front of the church before we call him a professing Christian — although Jesus commanded such baptism. In lieu of this, we offer a substitute of our devising. Instead of being baptized in front of the church, we say he has to go down in front of the church and sign a little card, and then talk with a trained counselor. In short, practices with no scriptural warrant are a better indicator of whether a man is professing Christian than doing what Jesus Christ said to do. This is baffling. You’d think we would remember that the Christian faith is, after all, His religion. Modern evangelistic appeals frequently tell the one who has ‘prayed the prayer’ what to do afterward — that is, ‘tell a friend.’ But in the Acts of the Apostles, Paul did not have the Philippian jailor tell a friend. Peter did not have the three thousand at Pentecost scatter through Jerusalem, telling their friends. Repent, he said, and be baptized” (Mother Kirk, p. 94).
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