menno said:
Thanks for the link.
Interesting to note that ALL the baptists here at B/A, inspite of everything else, believe in a believer's baptism. We would have been in the boat with Felix and not with the reformer Zwingli.
Least there is something we agree on...
I guess I'm the odd-man-out
I do not disbelieve, so to speak, in a believer's baptism, but I also do not disbelieve in infant baptism - I plan to have my coming child baptised as an infant as has been done for the majority of others in my church family.
But, since the name "Anabaptist" is practically more of a (negative) epithet than a self-chosen name, I'm betting it was Zwingli and his cronies who were stuck on the facts of baptism and Manz and friends were more concerned with why people were getting baptised in the first place. As I mentioned earlier, I find that it is unfortunate that the desire on the Anabpatists' part for a more radical reformation is shoved aside, I sincerely believe it is the work of the devil himself which clouded this desire , for a deeper discipleship and church membership not based upon some innate identity (secular or otherwise) but based upon a deep and sincere longing for Christ and his Church. On the otherhand, maybe I'm just a romantic
In all seriousness though,
that is the important stuff. That is why, although I am from the Reformed tradition and I beleive I have excellent reasons to continue the tradition of infant baptism, that I also have so much appreciation for folks like Manz, Grebel and Blaurock. Baptised as an adult with a strong knowledge of the Gospel, or brought up baptised in a community that has put a claim on your life for God... well I will not say that there is no difference, but... either can fail to make good disciples. On the other hand, both can be a wonderful part of producing radical disciples which give a resounding "No!" to the call of the devil when he offers to us, as he did to Christ, power and lordship if we will only bow down to him.
After all, I was baptised 11 years ago, after 15 of already having become a christian. Now, 11 years later, I'm just beginning to understand what it means to be baptised. Why do I feel justified in operating under the assumption that the vast majority of other christians, irregardless of when they were baptised, have not so dissimilar timelines for their discpleship?
