Does a person have to choose a denomination before getting baptized?
Can you be baptized and choose not to be a part of any specific Christian denomination? Or does being baptized in a church of a specific denomination mean you are choosing to be of that sect?
THE BATTLE AXE: Kicked Out By Parents? (11/27/2013)—It will always be acceptable and correct for parents to establish discipline in the home (we used to say, provide home training) for their children—from feeding a newborn on a schedule that does not require walking the floor odd hours of the night and every time the baby cries, to refusing to breastfeed in every public setting. The adults are to create and maintain boundaries, limits, and standards that will allow the child a sense of personal being and integrity as well as to acknowledge and respond to the human needs of their caretakers. Yes, the early training of a child is by imposing a stronger will upon a less developed person; however, the child is not abused thereby, nor made an injured party, a sufferer, or a victim. For the home also to nourish and prepare the parents for their encounters within the workplace, the marketplace, or even the privacy of their sexual sharing, there must be reasonable order and stability. Minor children too must acquire skill as they are growing and learning to operate and fulfill ones duty despite their dislikes, likes, and preferences. Children are to be a help and to provide emotional, psychological and spiritual relief for their parents through displays of enthusiasm, good cheer, kindness, humility, meekness, obedience, and zeal. It remains that despite advancement of today’s social media and technology, development for teenagers continues to proceed by their asserting maturity without also affirming accountability, their operating without complete and correct information regarding the needs of others, and their risk taking without careful assessment and preparation to meet or address the consequences and outcomes of their actions. Separation may seem a drastic remedy, at first, however, rightly understood and carried out with compassion, separation can be agreed upon as both the “best possible solution” and unavoidable. (See Genesis 13: 1-18, Acts 15: 37-39 and 2nd Timothy 3: 1-5, KJV.)
THE GOLDEN ARROW: And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. (Acts 18: 24-28, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: Why Not One Bible? (11/02/2013); Origin of Baptism? (06/22/2013); Money-changers in the Temple? (06/23/2013); Church is Good? (06/15/2013); Feeling Loved By GOD? (06/16/2013); Church Mandatory? (05/06/2013); A GOD of Love? (05/07/2013); A Spirit Church? (04/04/2013); My Brother’s Keeper (04/05/2013); Attending Church? (11/12/2012); A Holy Kiss? (11/13/2012)
“JG”, here are a few points about baptism and becoming a Christian you should find useful:
(1.) The thing that first draws us to Jesus Christ may be no more than curiosity such as drew Moses aside one day while he was going in from work. He wanted to examine more closely something that had caught his eye, a flaming bush that gave off no smell or smoke, that when he had come closer, stopped and gazed on for a bit, continued to burn showing no ashes. When Moses heard a voice speaking from the burning bush, he did not run away. Instead, he was even more engaged, was sparked with questions, and desired to know and understand completely before he would walk away. His intention, at first, was not to go aside to pray, to seek GOD, or to offer himself in service. Even so, Moses prostrated himself in humility, having received, as it were, baptism by fire. See Exodus 3: 1-14, KJV.
(2.) Believers are to receive baptism as an experience wherein the same Spirit operates that served as agent in the creation of the earth, and the establishment of Adam as a living soul. Baptism is a cosmic work that is not accomplished by human ceremonies, pageantry and rituals, nor by a believer’s intellect, imagination, and knowledge. While the work of baptism is to purge (i.e., wash inside and out; clean through and through), and purify; baptism must also establish death, and rebirth whereby one acquires divine content (we say, divine DNA).
(3.) Through baptism believers receive fresh endowment of divine substance. GOD is a spirit, and does not exist displaying carnal, material, and physical characteristics except by using peculiar divine operations. The substance of GOD may be described as such inseparable aspects of divinity as faith, forgiveness, gratitude, holiness, joy, truthfulness, wisdom, and wrath against sin. The incarnation of GOD (i.e., appearance using material form) is accepted as having been through a burning bush as well as through the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
There is far more to be said, correctly shared, and spiritually understood. (For example, (4.) Many denominations provide a church upon the earth for those upon the earth; and give less attention to being aware of sacred actions and divine presence. A person desiring to become a member within a congregation and community of believers should respond to and trust only those who demonstrate correct, godly, and thorough knowledge of baptism and the many other elements of truth from GOD through Jesus Christ. By “classes” offered before baptism, one is instructed and prepared for their own sacred transformation as well as given opportunity to determine whether a congregation may supply their personal needs for continued spiritual growth, learning, work and worship. A pledge or membership agreement should not be entered into and sealed until after some “trial period” (for some, this is called “confirmation”). A believer is to use the holy writings as the standard whereby one examines and tests the quality of what others may share. After all, as what happened to Moses, baptism is a life-changing event, not just a tourist attraction, and more than simply social interaction. Those born again are to learn, grow, and then perform service to GOD by their daily living that will lead others into right relationship with the Almighty.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith. Surely The Light of the World will soon shine forth. Happy Hanukkah to all.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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