I know that the issue of baptism is a very divided one, so I will present the issue as I see it: I see baptism as not a necessity but simply a declaration of putting off the old life and stepping into a new one. Please don't attempt to change my views or my opinions on baptism. That's not what this is for. So don't reply if you have a differing opinion on the issue.
I was baptized when I was 11. If I'm being honest, I only did it because
1) I knew growing up that it was something that should happen but didn't really grasp the reason why
2) my family was asking why I hadn't done it yet
So after my baptism, my faith wasn't all that strong. And I've gone through a lot since then. Lots of ups and downs and backsliding. I am now very solid in how I feel about my faith and I'm ready to move forward and put the past behind me. So I've been considering getting baptized again.
I know it isn't necessary. God recognizes my first confession of faith and knows that I'm devoted to following Him. However, since baptism feels like a symbolic thing, I feel like I need the symbolic action of putting my sin to death and rising again in Christ.
Is this a good idea? Is there any reason I shouldn't do it?
Baptism
is a necessity, if only because it is commanded in Scripture. It doesn't save a person, of course, but it is very important in what it signifies (
Romans 6) and in linking faith with obedience to the command of God (see
James 2).
I appreciate that you want baptism to reflect a genuine and serious intent to walk with God. To be baptized again, though, would be to declare your first baptism a sham, a ritual that, for you, signified nothing real. If this is what you believe, then, by all means, be baptized again. If, though, you think you were actually born-again at the time of your first baptism (though, not by it), it does violence to this fact - which baptism symbolizes - to be baptized again.
As an aside: Can I encourage you to re-frame how you are thinking about your relationship with God? You use the word "feel" frequently in your post which suggests that feelings may be a primary basis upon which you are walking with God. If this is so, may I urge you to forsake feeling(s) as any part of the ground upon which you stand as a disciple of Christ? The Christian believer is called to "walk by faith, not by sight" (
2 Corinthians 5:7) which often means ignoring entirely what one might feel. A great example of this exists in the Old Testament (
Numbers 13-14). God had brought His Chosen People, the Israelites, to the border of Canaan, promising to them that He had given the land into their hands to possess it. All they had to do was trust God and go into Canaan and take it. But, they spied out the land first and, discovering formidable inhabitants and powerful cities in it, they began to
feel doubtful about their ability to conquer the land God had promised to them. In fact, as they talked about the giants in the land, they began to feel small, and were afraid, and soon began to wish they had never left the cruelty and bondage of slavery in Egypt! Can you imagine? What foolishness! But this is what happens when a person walking with God makes what they feel rather than what God has said the basis for their walk with Him. In the end, these doubting Israelites never did enter into the Promised Land but wandered in the wilderness 'til they died (except for faithful Joshua and Caleb).
A Christian who lets their feelings lead them in their walk with God is headed for the wilderness rather than the spiritual Promised Land that is theirs in Christ. It is what God has said to us in His word that is to anchor us in our life as believers not what our feelings about what He has said may be.
