Chapter 13 in my book, Close Your Church for Good, is called “Give Up Your Rites.”
In this chapter, we look at baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and whether the practices should be performed in churches today. While it is true that these are commands of Jesus, we must understand the cultural significance of these ceremonies, and what they meant at that time. Only when we do this can we properly learn to observe baptism and Lord’s Supper in our time, though in our day, the form may appear much different than anything we are accustomed to.
Please note that due to some of the feedback I receive on these posts, this chapter might be radically revised for the final edition of the book. These changes will only be available in the print or eBook version when it comes out.
Here are the blog posts from this chapter on Baptism and the Lord’s Supper:
- Introduction
- Baptism
- Should I Get Baptized?
- The Long History of Baptism
- What is Baptism?
- Various Scriptures on Baptism
- Have You Been Baptized into Moses? (1 Cor 10:2)
- Baptism Without Water (Matt 20:22; Luke 12:50)
- Drown in the Nile and Become God
- The Baptism of John (Luke 3:10-14)
- Why did Jesus get Baptized?
- Baptism: Death and Rebirth
- Baptism is not the First Step in Discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20)
- No Water Baptism in Matthew 28:19-20
- Baptized in the Name of Jesus
- Baptisms in the Book of Acts
- Water and Spirit Baptism in Acts 2
- What is the Baptism of Repentance for the Forgiveness of Sins?
- No Christian Baptism in Acts 2
- Baptizing Outcast Samaritans
- The End of Baptism in Acts
- Baptism and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
- Most Popular Scripture on Baptism (Romans 6)
- Is Baptism for Today?
- The Lord’s Supper
There are some who will be scandalized by the idea that the Lord intended baptism and communion for generations past and not ours. Yet these same people will read of the battles Paul had to fight against the Judaizers in the New Testament who were insisting that believers had to be circumcised – and laugh at Paul’s opponents for their denseness!
Mike,
Right. Though I will be arguing for similar (or parallel) ceremonies for our own day with convey similar meaning as did baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
We’ll see how well this chapter is received…
My journey, as an inner city minister to the homeless, has taken me through several different denominational perspectives. In my time with the Salvation Army I had to think through this stuff. They don’t do communion or baptism, and yet they do. Their membership ceremony is very baptismal, no water, but it’s definitely a public expression of a new life, following Jesus, in The Army. My early years were spent in a group that was so communion based that they were more table centric then Jesus centric. I’ve spent most of my adult years trying to find balance in these things. I think there can be great value in water baptism, the physicality serves as a mental tatoo. However, I agree that it doesn’t have to be done a certain way. The EMphasis is on the wrong syllABle when it comes to the great commission. I recall someone teaching that the word GO in the original text was in a present continuous form. I found this very helpful. AS YOU GO, share all that you know in a way that invites people into the Jesus way, and then baptism, in whatever form outwardly expresses and celebrates the new life.