Self Baptism

[Awolnewl17]

Hello, I have been a Christian for about a year and I have been surrounding myself with scripture and have done everything I can to grow close with the Lord and to fully devote my life to serving Him. I am 18 and I don't have a car yet or any way to get to church on Sundays, even though I desperately wish I could. My family isn't part of the faith much at all and we don't talk about Jesus or God and we don't even say Grace before meals (I do but I am the only one). I have been wanting to be baptized but with no way of attending a church or anything similar, I researched self baptism. I baptized myself this morning after coming to the conclusion it would be a bit before I could find a church and attend it. I felt so alive after my baptism but I do wonder, is this a true baptism if I did this alone ? I prayed before and after and I do plan when I can find a church and attend to be baptized again but I wonder if my self baptism is a true baptism. I fully put my life to Christ so He may use me to do whatever purpose He wishes. God bless you all brothers and sisters in Christ and thank you for anyone who takes to time to talk to me.

 

[Albion]

I doubt that it is. However, I'd have to know exactly what you did before deciding for sure.

I do wonder if there's not some way you could work out the problem of being baptized by a minister rather than go any length of time with this self-baptism. For one thing, you have no documentary evidence of having been baptized, so any church you'd join hereafter would treat you as an unbaptized person.

 

[Awolnewl17]

I said before hand that my sins be forgiven and that I be apart of the body of Christ, I then submerged myself in water. Once I sat up I prayed for my sins to be forgiven and praised and thanked God. I do plan to be baptized again later by a church but I felt called to do this now.

 

[Victory-N-Christ]

Hello, I have been a Christian for about a year and I have been surrounding myself with scripture and have done everything I can to grow close with the Lord and to fully devote my life to serving Him. I am 18 and I don't have a car yet or any way to get to church on Sundays, even though I desperately wish I could. My family isn't part of the faith much at all and we don't talk about Jesus or God and we don't even say Grace before meals (I do but I am the only one). I have been wanting to be baptized but with no way of attending a church or anything similar, I researched self baptism. I baptized myself this morning after coming to the conclusion it would be a bit before I could find a church and attend it. I felt so alive after my baptism but I do wonder, is this a true baptism if I did this alone ? I prayed before and after and I do plan when I can find a church and attend to be baptized again but I wonder if my self baptism is a true baptism. I fully put my life to Christ so He may use me to do whatever purpose He wishes. God bless you all brothers and sisters in Christ and thank you for anyone who takes to time to talk to me.

Hey there. Well I don't know what to tell you but I'm sure someone else can help you answer your question. I'd just like to encourage you in the Lord and tell you to hang in there and keep trusting Him.Amen.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Well baptism is the entry point to the Christian walk so congratulations on deciding you needed it!

Secondly, baptism is merely just you dying with Christ and rising to new life, the Bible never says it has to be done with a "minister" whatever that term means. Ministers in the present sense are man made, because all believers are priests and ministers, so if you believed then there is no reason to believe you can't baptize yourself. As long as you believed when you died with Christ, were buried with him in Baptism and rose to new life he performed a spiritual circumcision and now you can walk in the fullness of life he promised (Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-12)

Now something you may want to consider is praying to receive the fullness of the Spirit so you can walk in POWER to be his witness. That also is something Jesus can impart without another being present if you believe in faith you will receive.

Now for what it is worth I do not believe we should encourage people to do these things on their own, but seek out other believers to join with in such endeavors. But I also do not preclude the idea that God cannot reach us wherever we are and meet our faith with his promises.

You were baptized, now walk in newness of life just as Jesus said.

 

[Awolnewl17]

Well baptism is the entry point to the Christian walk so congratulations on deciding you needed it!

Secondly, baptism is merely just you dying with Christ and rising to new life, the Bible never says it has to be done with a "minister" whatever that term means. Ministers in the present sense are man made, because all believers are priests and ministers, so if you believed then there is no reason to believe you can't baptize yourself. As long as you believed when you died with Christ, were buried with him in Baptism and rose to new life he performed a spiritual circumcision and now you can walk in the fullness of life he promised (Romans 6:3-4, Colossians 2:11-12)

Now something you may want to consider is praying to receive the fullness of the Spirit so you can walk in POWER to be his witness. That also is something Jesus can impart without another being present if you believe in faith you will receive.

Now for what it is worth I do not believe we should encourage people to do these things on their own, but seek out other believers to join with in such endeavors. But I also do not preclude the idea that God cannot reach us wherever we are and meet our faith with his promises.

You were baptized, now walk in newness of life just as Jesus said.

I very much agree that people should advocate for this type of baptism but given my situation this is all I had access to right now. Thank you for your words

 

[Awolnewl17]

I very much agree that people should advocate for this type of baptism but given my situation this is all I had access to right now. Thank you for your words

Shouldn't*

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Now one thing I meant to add was you could have sought a water baptized believer to come over to then baptize you in water. But if that were not possible then yes, I have no issues believing that you could not act upon your faith and meet Jesus in the waters of baptism upon your own accord.

Baptism is not a:
Public testimony
Visual representation
Etc

So don't be swayed by the nay sayers, you know what happened in that water and if you believed in him and confessed his name your baptism is no less legitimate than any other.

In fact, ironically enough, yours might be more effective in this case than any other because you wanted it so badly, that when you could not find another to baptize you, you simply acted in faith and did it yourself!

Good testimony!

 

[Albion]

I said before hand that my sins be forgiven and that I be apart of the body of Christ, I then submerged myself in water. Once I sat up I prayed for my sins to be forgiven and praised and thanked God. I do plan to be baptized again later by a church but I felt called to do this now.

I see. The reason I asked that question was because there is a standard that is widely accepted among the different Christian denominations. Some Baptists and some others don't think a baptism is necessary at all, and some Pentecostals have another view, but of the mainline denominations, Catholic or Protestant, a valid baptism requires water to be applied and the Trinity invoked ("In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost"). Of course, a renunciation of Satan and a commitment to follow the Lord is part of it, too, as you rightly understood.

Because you intend to be baptized in the normal way when that's possible, this may all be a moot point, but this is some of the info you might have wondered about.

 

[Awolnewl17]

I see. The reason I asked that question was because there is a standard that is widely accepted among the different Christian denominations. Some Baptists and some others don't think a baptism is necessary at all, and some Pentecostals have another view, but of the mainline denominations, Catholic or Protestant, a valid baptism requires water to be applied and the Trinity invoked ("In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost"). Of course, a renunciation of Satan and a commitment to follow the Lord is part of it, too, as you rightly understood.

I understand.

 

[ArmenianJohn]

I think it's great that you did that. I think pretty much all churches are wrong and ridiculous regarding baptism in that they want people to somehow "prove" that they are "worthy" of it before they do it. Liturgical churches like mine require that you have a sponsor, godparent, etc. and there is a period of time before you are baptized. Most protestant non-liturgical churches pretend that they are different but they will make you talk to the pastor/priest/minister in some kind of interview to "prove" your worthiness and then if they permit it they will schedule you for several weeks or months out.

I can't help but think of the Ethiopian Eunuch who said to Philip, "Here is water, why can I not be baptized now?" and Philip didn't say "Oh, you need a sponsor and then we have to interview you and you have to prove to me that you're 'saved' and worthy to be baptized then we'll schedule it out for a few weeks from now...." Instead, Philip said YES and baptized him. That's it, that simple.

So good for you to not wait around just because every church wants to add their man-made restrictions to baptism and change it from what it was at the time of the Apostles.

 

[Albion]

You notice that Philip didn't say "OK then, baptize yourself, eunuch."

 

[JingshenBianxi]

Once I sat up I prayed for my sins to be forgiven and praised and thanked God.

Baptism is for the remission of your sins. If you sat up out of the water and prayed for your sins to be forgiven? You did the Baptism incorrectly with the improper understanding of what a Baptism is. According to your OP..

You are not baptized yet.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

You notice that Philip didn't say "OK then, baptize yourself, eunuch."

Well obviously not, because Philip was present.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Baptism is for the remission of your sins. If you sat up out of the water and prayed for your sins to be forgiven? You did the Baptism incorrectly with the improper understanding of what a Baptism is. According to your OP..

You are not baptized yet.

I can see where you are going with this but there is really no specific order scriptures lay out in baptism... only that confession of Jesus as Lord accompanies baptism. Repentance is not something we say, it is something we do.

We decide we want to die to our sins and flesh so we get baptized in faith and declare Jesus as Lord. That is what completes baptism.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I think it's great that you did that. I think pretty much all churches are wrong and ridiculous regarding baptism in that they want people to somehow "prove" that they are "worthy" of it before they do it. Liturgical churches like mine require that you have a sponsor, godparent, etc. and there is a period of time before you are baptized. Most protestant non-liturgical churches pretend that they are different but they will make you talk to the pastor/priest/minister in some kind of interview to "prove" your worthiness and then if they permit it they will schedule you for several weeks or months out.

I can't help but think of the Ethiopian Eunuch who said to Philip, "Here is water, why can I not be baptized now?" and Philip didn't say "Oh, you need a sponsor and then we have to interview you and you have to prove to me that you're 'saved' and worthy to be baptized then we'll schedule it out for a few weeks from now...." Instead, Philip said YES and baptized him. That's it, that simple.

So good for you to not wait around just because every church wants to add their man-made restrictions to baptism and change it from what it was at the time of the Apostles.

Amen!

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I was baptized jut a couple weeks ago even though I have been "in the faith" for years. I sought out others to do it, but EVERYTHING we do is in accordance to our faith.

As I have said, if you truly believed that in those waters you died and were buried with Christ and upon rising you rose to new life in him as your Lord, then you fulfilled a Christian baptism and all is good!

Scriptural baptism is to believe in Jesus and get baptized, confess him as Lord. Nothing about an ordained minister doing it (the Apostles wouldn't even know what this meant). Nothing about a public testimony, just simple faith, water, and confession

 

[JingshenBianxi]

I can see where you are going with this but there is really no specific order scriptures lay out in baptism... only that confession of Jesus as Lord accompanies baptism. Repentance is not something we say, it is something we do.

We decide we want to die to our sins and flesh so we get baptized in faith and declare Jesus as Lord. That is what completes baptism.

Acts 22:16
Acts 2:38
Matthew 3:11

These scriptures illustrate how Baptism literally cleanses you of your sins. Afterward, if you sin, it is not saying to get baptized AGAIN..and AGAIN..and AGAIN.

You simply must understand that Baptism cleanses you of SIN..brings you IN CHRIST to where afterwards He is your HIGH PRIEST and INTERCESSOR and Propitiation for your sins after baptism.

When he said that when he came up out of the water and asked God for forgiveness, I highly doubt that he sinned IMMEDIATELY after he baptized himself.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

Acts 22:16
Acts 2:38
Matthew 3:11

These scriptures illustrate how Baptism literally cleanses you of your sins. Afterward, if you sin, it is not saying to get baptized AGAIN..and AGAIN..and AGAIN.

You simply must understand that Baptism cleanses you of SIN..brings you IN CHRIST to where afterwards He is your HIGH PRIEST and INTERCESSOR and Propitiation for your sins after baptism.

When he said that when he came up out of the water and asked God for forgiveness, I highly doubt that he sinned IMMEDIATELY after he baptized himself.

Did I say it didn't cleanse us of sin?

I actually agree with your post. Not sure if it is meant to disagree with mine or what but my words did not refute or negate yours. I merely said there is no pattern saying one must get baptized first and confess after or vice versa...

Only confess, believe and get baptized

 

[tturt]

Some of us believe in water baptism and Spirit baptism (no water) so ...

"Of the doctrine of baptisms ,..." (Heb 6:2) Baptism means union and identification.

3 baptisms; specifically:

1 - By The Holy Spirit into Jesus is baptism for salvation (blood baptism)
(Rev 1:5; Matt 26:28; Mark 1:4, 16:16; Luk 3:3; 1 Cor 12:13: Acts 2:38: Gal 3:27, +++)

Water and Spirit baptism follow - not in a set order though:
2 - water baptism (Matt 28:19)
3 - By Jesus with or into The Holy Spirit (The Spirit baptism)
(Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16; Acts 11:16)

"And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." I John 5:7-8