Anyone been baptized twice?

tampasteve

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Water baptism at the time this was said was used by Jews to convert gentiles to Judaism. God used it as a picture to symbolize the restoration of His life, lost in Adam, to those He would indwell when a person accepted Jesus Christ and was born again; the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't believe it has anything to do with assisting candidates in a ceremony. But, we can disagree without being disagreeable. Be blessed.

For clarity, full immersion in a mikvah is still part of a Orthodox (and usually other) conversion, not just in the 1st century. And use of a mikvah is an integral part in the life of an Orthodox and 1st century Jewish person. Most Orthodox synagogues have one still, and many devout believers have one at home if they can afford it.
 
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GraceBro

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Much of that historic overview is correct, but baptism by water is undeniably what Christ sent his Apostles out into the world to do.
Don't mistake water baptism, the ritual cleansing to convert a Gentile to Judaism or the act by which a Jew rededicated himself to the Mosaic law, for the identification of a person with God through the immersion of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
 
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Albion

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Don't mistake water baptism, the ritual cleansing to convert a Gentile to Judaism or the act by which a Jew rededicated himself to the Mosaic law, for the identification of a person with God through the immersion of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
You're not even talking about Christian/New Testament baptism if you are making baptism into some brainstorm or invisible spiritual transformation.

What's more, the Scriptural evidence is clear-cut that baptism using water is done in the name of the triune God is an act that has certain specific effects.
 
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GraceBro

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You're not even talking about Christian/New Testament baptism if you are making baptism into some brainstorm or invisible spiritual transformation.

What's more, the Scriptural evidence is clear-cut that baptism using water is done in the name of the triune God is an act that has certain specific effects.
We can agree to disagree without being disagreeable. Grace and peace.
 
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Albion

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Certainly, although I don't think either of us has been disagreeable about this matter. The New Testament has so much to say about the importance of baptism for converts to Christ--not the old Jewish kind of baptism or the baptism of John--and quite plainly speaks of water, that I don't see how it can be said that this is not part of the Christian experience.
 
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GraceBro

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Certainly, although I don't think either of us has been disagreeable about this matter. The New Testament has so much to say about the importance of baptism for converts to Christ--not the old Jewish kind of baptism or the baptism of John--and quite plainly speaks of water, that I don't see how it can be said that this is not part of the Christian experience.
As I originally said in my response to the OPs question about is getting baptized once enough, I believe the only baptism that matters is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That is the baptism I believe saves and is separate from water baptism. All this about water baptism and if we should get sprinkled, dunked, have it done once, twice, or more, as kids, adults, before, during, or after salvation, etc., is all just a distraction that leads to endless Christian debate over a topic that is secondary to a person's salvation. But, even this comment will get parsed and shredded because people can't let these things rest.
 
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Albion

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Then I'll just cut to the heart of the matter. The New Testament says the opposite about "water baptism," so how can we accommodate your claim that "I believe the only baptism that matters is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" Even the verses that speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit speak of water baptism/sacramental baptism, too!
 
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GraceBro

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Then I'll just cut to the heart of the matter. The New Testament says the opposite about "water baptism," so how can we accommodate your claim that "I believe the only baptism that matters is the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" Even the verses that speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit speak of water baptism/sacramental baptism, too!
 
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GraceBro

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Because salvation is the restoration of the Holy Spirit of God. That is God restoring His life, lost when Adam sinned in the Garden, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is what being born again means. That has nothing to do with water. Water is only used as a symbol. It's fine to get water baptized. I just don't believe it plays a role in salvation. It's also fine to disagree with me and move on. Just pray for me if you believe I am wrong as I will for you. Grace and Peace.
 
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Albion

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Because salvation is the restoration of the Holy Spirit of God. That is God restoring His life, lost when Adam sinned in the Garden, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is what being born again means. That has nothing to do with water. Water is only used as a symbol. It's fine to get water baptized. I just don't believe it plays a role in salvation.
Okay. Thanks for sharing that. Most Christian churches, you know, believe that it is efficacious, not a mere symbol. However, if you believe it to be something that 1) should be done but 2) that it is nothing but a gesture, that answers it.
 
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GraceBro

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Okay. Thanks for sharing that. Most Christian churches, you know, believe that it is efficacious, not a mere symbol. However, if you believe it to be something that 1) should be done but 2) that it is nothing but a gesture, that answers it.
A gesture? Yes. Something that should be done? That is between the individual and the Lord.
 
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Albion

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A gesture? Yes. Something that should be done? That is between the individual and the Lord.
I said that only because you had included this in your message:

Water is only used as a symbol.

In other words, it looked like an acknowledgment of the idea of being baptized, as opposed to a flat rejection of the ceremony however one might define it.
 
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Choco143

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There is this thing going on at the lake this weekend, church picnic and baptizing people in the lake. I asked my dad if he wanted to but he replied "No. I've been baptized, I like to stay dry." lol. I've been baptized as a baby too but I have not even began seeking God until recently. I guess the reason I was considering it is because I don't yet feel "transformed" and concern that if I don't get baptized again I may lose my chance at salvation?

But I don't know if thats truth that could just be a false truth I've led myself to think.

Is being baptized once enough?
I was baptized three times. Third time was the only true time, and it was the charm!
 
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Albion

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I was baptized three times. Third time was the only true time, and it was the charm!
The first time was the true one. The third time was you taking it more seriously, but that's not a reflection on the validity or meaning of the sacrament itself.
 
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Choco143

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The first time was the true one. The third time was you taking it more seriously, but that's not a reflection on the validity or meaning of the sacrament itself.
In Scripture, we are taught to get baptized after we are saved. Baptism is not a work for salvation. This can be shown through the man on the cross who died saved, and unbaptized, next to Jesus.

The first time I was "baptized" I was a baby and was sprinkled in the Methodist Church. I had no idea of what my sinfulness was like--I did not even know how to talk! There is no way I was saved.

The second time I was around 13 and did not have true saving faith. I was not repentant.

The third time I was a born-again believer who repented and trusted Christ, recognizing him as both Lord and Savior. Since I was actually saved, I was truly baptized the third time.
 
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Albion

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In Scripture, we are taught to get baptized after we are saved.
That's not correct to say. I know that it's drummed into the members of some churches, but it's arrived at by cherry-picking the New Testament.

Baptism is not a work for salvation.
That's right. The idea that the rest of Christianity thinks 1) that Baptism is a work and/or 2) that it guarantees salvation, are several of the tales that certain denominations tell about the other churches.

The first time I was "baptized" I was a baby and was sprinkled in the Methodist Church. I had no idea of what my sinfulness was like--I did not even know how to talk! There is no way I was saved.
The Methodist Church doesn't think that you were saved, either. ;) So all we are dealing with here seems to be misunderstandings about the churches that do baptize people irrespective of their ages. Scripture, you know, doesn't stipulate that there is any cut-off age for baptisms.
 
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GodLovesCats

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Because it is not logical or textual that it is speaking of "Holy Spirit" baptism, the text really is clear that it is speaking of the common use Baptism, which is water Baptism. By defining it as "Holy Spirit" baptism you are reading into the text for an interpretation that just is not supported there.

I was not adding to what is not there. The Holy Spirit is named in that verse and others about baptism.
 
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Albion

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It should be valid. But if you were sprinkled and want to experience immersion, why not?
Because the first baptism was valid? ;)

Even if a person were baptized in a Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, or other traditional church as a child (where it would not have been by "sprinkling" anyway), the reason they would be baptized again upon transferring to a Baptist or non-denomination church later on is because these churches consider the first baptism to have been invalid, not just that it wasn't by immersion.
 
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