Re: BAPTIZW

David L. Moore (dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com)
Thu, 31 Oct 1996 14:14:30 -0500

At 08:15 PM 10/30/96 -0800, Paul Dixon - Ladd Hill Bible Church wrote:
>Brian:
>
>I was raised in a Grace Brethren Church that practices triune immersion
>baptism. They baptized three times forward, once in the name of the
>Father, once in the name of the Son, and once in the name of the Holy
>Spirit. It is easily defensible but not conclusively (I believe) by the
>Greek text.

Reminds me of a baptism in our congregation: an elderly lady who had
come from Cuba during the Mariel boatlift was among the those to be
baptized. The craft she was on during the boatlift had begun to sink, and
she and other family members were barely save by the crew of a US coastguard
vessel.

The experience had produced in her a considerable fear of drowning,
so when I tried to lower her into the water, she kept stepping backwards and
began to become agitated. Finally, after talking with her to calm her down,
she finally allowed herself to be baptized face forward. I wonder if a
certain amount of flexibility relative to modes might not help us to be more
unified by faith in Christ.

David L. Moore Director
Miami, Florida, USA Department of Education
dvdmoore@ix.netcom.com Southeastern Spanish District
http://www.netcom.com/~dvdmoore of the Assemblies of God