newbie here in need for others opinion

newbie here in need for others opinion

Hey all,
My name is Shelley,I am new to this site and quite new to Christianity.
I have recently spoken to my local reverent about being baptized and will be meeting them in January for a chat.
The issue on my mind about this is that they do not baptise by full immersion and I hear so many times if your not immersed there's no point in having it as its not proper.this does worry me so wondered what other Christian views are on this,iv found other churches that do immerse but not in my area so they wont do it?
Thankyou all
Shelley
Xx

Welcome shelley to cc I encourage you to read the thread I made for newcomers when you say they don't do full immersion what do you mean? when I was baptized it was basically just being dunked for a second and then being pulled out.

But Baptism is simply the outward declaration of you deciding to follow God, what God is really looking at is the heart inside the believer.

Greetings Shelley, it is nice to have you here!..

Hi and welcome to CC!
Without beating around the bush, let me say that it's by immersion.
Here's the point in that; you die with Christ and resurrect with Him!
Hope this is helpful in one way or another.

God bless!

Thankyou for the welcome

Thankyou

Hi Shelley welcome to the family of God.

The baptism event is just symbolic. The same as drinking wine and eating bread is done in remembrance of Him.

It's not something you have to get done in order to be a Christian or be saved and wont put you above or below anyone that has or hasn't been baptised.

In the Old Testament times they used to baptise people with water.

Since Jesus' work on the Cross we can not be baptised with the spirit.

So you don't have to get wet. You just have to believe and confess with your mouth and believe in your heart and that's it.

God will do the rest and He knows whether you're hearts true or not.

However if you wanted to get baptised that's always a noble thing to do if you're doing it for God and to make a statement to yourself about your new faith to kind of seal it in there and reassure yourself with from time to time.

I believe that's why God came up with such things for us.

Best regards!

Welcome Sheilzy79; Nice to meet you! Hey, let me ask you something..."What does the spirit you now live with express to you about full submission versus another type of public expression by way of water baptism? You know there is no magic in the water itself right?!! But in the God ordained event itself by way of your testimony in it. I personally prefer full submission, but that's just me. Here is why...

Romans 6 emphasizes death and burial even though it also speaks of resurrection. Colossians 2 is more advanced; it emphasizes burial and resurrection, with resurrection as the focus. So, Romans 6= Death, when I was baptized I was saying to people I wish to die together with Christ. Romans 6 is on death and burial, whereas Colossians 2 is on burial and resurrection. So, for me it was most comfortable to be baptized by water by way of full submission because it typifies the tomb. As I went under the water it was like I was being buried in the ground. When I arose from the water, it equalled me rising from the tomb.

Before one can be buried one must first be dead. The baptism of water is not the death itself. Ephesians 2: 8-9 testifies to this: For it is by grace you have been saved, thru faith- and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast." You cannot bury a living person, thus, this act is post- regeneration publicly acknowledging that if you rise up again after being buried, you are surely resurrected.I think of this as a public branding of myself to be God's. Hence, Romans 6 and Colossians 2 come together. I suggest you talk about the options with your church, and pray to God in seeking His answer. Whatever you feel clear about will be the answer, for the water itself is not magical, but your heart expressed confidently is, by way of Gods ordinances. God bless you in this area.

Hi Shelley, ya another Brit

I can only tell you of my own experience, in my 20s I was in the same position where
I wanted to be baptised but was terrified as I could not swim. I had a real phobia about
water and being dunked. Additionally my church did not have a baptistery.

Interesting my pastor believed it was admissible to be sprinkled only, whereas his
wife only believed in full immersion. When I expressed an interest in being baptised or
sprinkled, lots of the other people in the church gave their opinions and there were people
on both sides of the debate which made it even more confusing.

Truthfully I felt happier with the sprinkling it was an easy cop out for me. But deep down
i just felt it was not right as it did not really represent fully the death burial and resurrection
which a full baptism symbolised.

So with great fear and trembling and anxiety, I decided to go for the full immersion.
We temporarily borrowed the church hall of the local baptist church a couple of mile
away. In the weeks leading up to the baptism I use to practice dunking my head while in the
bath, honestly I was that terrified!

Well the big day came, I actually think I went into shock during the immersion as for a few
moments afterwards I just could not speak and was kind of dazed at being dunked under the
water.

But once I got over that I cannot express the relief and almost supernatural joy I felt afterwards.
i just felt such a peace and sense of laughter. It felt as if I had won the lottery I just knew it
was the right thing to do and something changed in me spiritually that day.

The funny thing was I later went to adult swimming classes and finally learnt to swim.

No we don't need to be baptised to be saved, but honestly for those people who don't go
ahead with baptism and who have no excuse, they are missing a big step in their spiritual walk.

It is commanded by Jesus and He was baptised also. I always kind of think that if it was good
enough for Jesus including the full immersion, then it is good enough for me.

Honestly you won't regret it, whereas if you go with the sprinkling then you will always have a
part of you which wonders if that was the right thing to do.

Like others have said, it is your faith in Chris that is important, so you don't need an immersion, or even a baptism, to be saved.

If you do want a full immersion, get any firm believer in Christ to go with you and have it done somewhere. It doesn't have to be done by a reverend.

True baptism is about the magnitude of your love for Jesus, not the style in which you get wet.

Hello! Welcome
^What he said

Matthew 3:14 - 16.

God Bless!

Who is this Chris guy he shows up sometimes when I write about Christ too......smile. . Don't worry we get it!

You just need an eggtra T

Thankyou so much x

Thankyou all for your input,its been very helpful!
God bless xx