I was baptized in the Catholic Church when I was an infant. Being that I considered myself agnostic until meeting my wife Kerry, and then truly coming to the God in the past year or so - I have wondered whether I should get baptized a second time as an adult (in the non-denominational church we attend).
For me, this issue is further complicated by the fact that when I was 13 I went through Confirmation Class with the Methodist Church, which is “the decision a person makes to respond to God’s grace with intentional commitment, publicly reaffirming his or her baptismal vows before the congregation” (Per UMC.org). After going through several weeks of class, listening and learning, the pastor’s wife took me into a small room and asked, “Do you take Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” I responded simply, “No. I have a lot of questions. I don’t understand why Jesus needed to die for our sins.” She was shocked. Apparently, no one had ever said ‘No’ before. Neither the Pastor, nor his wife, took the time to try to answer my questions. I had explicitly rejected my baptism.
Interested to know what specifically made me Agnostic? Santa Claus. I had just turned 5, and it was a few weeks before Christmas when I found the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toy that I had been begging for in the closet. I had already been suspicious that this “Santa Claus” thing was fake, so I decided not to say anything to my mom. Sure enough, on Christmas morning, I unwrapped a big box with “From: Santa” written on it, and it was the present that I had found in the closet a few weeks earlier. I got upset and told my mom that I knew Santa was a lie and that she used it to get me to behave the way she wanted. She tried to tell me that it wasn’t a lie, that Santa just couldn’t really get all the presents out in one night, he had to bring them earlier, etc… If she had lied about Santa to get me to do what she wanted, I reasoned, she had done the same with God.
I don’t fault my Mom (seriously) – she was just doing what almost every other parent does, but I won’t be pretending to believe in Santa with my kids…
Did my original Catholic baptism as an infant “count”?
Catholics believe in baptizing babies, obviously. Some protestants do not believe in baptizing babies, although they are the minority. The Bible really doesn’t answer this question. Since there is no explicit command or prohibition, the case is based on implications and inferences of the text. I believe that the evidence favors infant baptism being biblical.
Then the issue really came down to just two questions…
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Did I feel that I needed to get re-baptized?
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Does the Bible say you can’t get baptized a second time?
The Bible never says that you can’t get baptized a second time. Most people would say that it’s not necessary, but I can’t find anything wrong with it. Given that I had explicitly rejected my initial baptism, I felt that it was necessary for me to be baptized a second time as an adult.
Alas… Check out the video!
TRANSCRIPT OF CHRIS PARSONS BAPTISM
My name is Chris Parsons and I’m here to give my testimony. I considered myself agnostic for most of my life when I saw thing as a kid, both in the Church and home, that I considered to be hypocritical and had a tough time reconciling with Christianity. I saw the flaws of Religion and of following rules in order to appear to be a certain type of person. I also had a lot of questions, and didn’t really have anyone in my life that could provide good answers. However, God has always been drawing me nearer because something inside has always been telling me that there had to be a God, and it just took me a while to recognize it. It wasn’t until I met my now wife, Kerry, three and half years ago, that I was able to understand the difference between believing in Jesus Christ and following a Religion. I thank God and credit Kerry with being my light in a dark place. Later, God brought a co-worker into my life who became a friend and an inspiration to me as a Christian. They both have continuously helped me to understand what it means to live your life according to God’s plan and to be a better Christian. Then the Holy Spirit helped me to understand why Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins was necessary, how incapable I was of living purely without God’s grace, and that Religion is man-made and temporal, but Christ is eternal. I began reading the Bible, seeking the truth, and hating the sin that I once loved. Today, I proudly proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and stand before you ready to be baptized.
