{"id":9944,"date":"2012-02-13T13:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-13T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=9944"},"modified":"2012-02-12T16:19:54","modified_gmt":"2012-02-12T21:19:54","slug":"baptism-communion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Can church exist without baptism and communion?<\/p>\n

The quick answer is, “Sure. Why not?”<\/p>\n

The long answer will take several posts.<\/p>\n

Let’s begin with the negative:\u00a0Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the existence and life of the church.<\/p>\n

Saying such a thing will probably alarm many Christians.<\/p>\n

If you tell people that they don\u2019t need church buildings<\/a> and pastors<\/a> to be the church, and most will shrug their shoulders and say, \u201cFine. However you want to do church\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Give<\/p>\n

But when you say that baptism and communion are also not necessary, it is then that people start to feel threatened. These, after all, are marks of the true Christian! These are commanded by Jesus Himself! Baptism is the first step of discipleship! Communion (or the Eucharist) summarizes and encompasses everything important about Christian faith and practice! If you throw these out, you are no longer a Christian. You are playing with people\u2019s eternal destinies!<\/p>\n

It turns out that even among the most non-religious followers of Jesus, baptism and communion are non-negotiable. These two ceremonies are off the table, beyond discussion, unassailable, and untouchable. To question or challenge them is to question and challenge the bedrock of Christianity.<\/p>\n

Ask Your Pastor<\/h2>\n

Want a fun experiment?<\/p>\n

\"baptismGo in next Sunday to your pastor and tell him that you have been doing some evangelism at work, and several people have gotten saved. Your pastor will most likely congratulate you, and encourage you to continue your efforts. Then tell your pastor that some of these new converts asked about getting baptized, and you told them that it was not necessary. The response will be somewhere between confusion and disappointment to shock and outrage. You will also get buried with a flurry of Bible verses which command believers to get baptized.<\/p>\n

\"communionOr go into your pastor\u2019s office next week and tell him that the church should stop offering communion every month (or however often you do it). Tell him that you think communion is a waste of time and money. Then step back and see what he says. Once again (and depending on your church\u2019s view of communion), you will get a quick theology lesson about the commands to observe the Lord\u2019s Supper and how such a practice is necessary for the life and vitality of the church. You may even be encouraged to reconsider your views on this subject, or reconsider your membership within the church.<\/p>\n

Holy Baptism and Holy Communion<\/h2>\n

Maybe this is overstating the case, but it really does seem that in most churches, you can question and challenge almost anything, except the practices of baptism and communion. But as we will see in the chapter below, the way these ceremonies are conducted today borders more on the magical and arcane than on the way originally practiced or commanded by Jesus. And when we understand how and why Jesus and the early church practiced baptism and communion, we will see that such practices are not required or necessary today.<\/p>\n

There are, however, helpful alternatives which seem to fit better with the original intent and purpose of baptism and communion, and which will be recommended and suggested in later posts.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Can we get rid of baptism and communion as regularly practiced and still be the church? Can we still be an obedient church? Why or why not?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, “Sure. Why not?” Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church. But it turns out that even among the most non-religious followers of Jesus, baptism and communion are non-negotiable. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15],"class_list":{"0":"post-9944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"tag-close-your-church-for-good","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nIs Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, "Sure. Why not?" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, "Sure. Why not?" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redeeming God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1302\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"738\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@redeeminggod\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeremy Myers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"headline\":\"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\"},\"wordCount\":572,\"commentCount\":59,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Close Your Church for Good\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\",\"name\":\"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, \\\"Sure. Why not?\\\" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg\",\"width\":\"1302\",\"height\":\"738\",\"caption\":\"baptism necessary\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/\",\"name\":\"Redeeming God\",\"description\":\"Liberating you from bad ideas about God\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c\",\"name\":\"Jeremy Myers\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeremy Myers\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"description\":\"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\",\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?","description":"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, \"Sure. Why not?\" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?","og_description":"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, \"Sure. Why not?\" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church","og_url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/","og_site_name":"Redeeming God","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_author":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","article_published_time":"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1302,"height":738,"url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeremy Myers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@redeeminggod","twitter_site":"@redeeminggod","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeremy Myers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeremy Myers","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"headline":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?","datePublished":"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/"},"wordCount":572,"commentCount":59,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg","keywords":["Close Your Church for Good"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/","name":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg","datePublished":"2012-02-13T18:00:10+00:00","dateModified":"2012-02-12T21:19:54+00:00","description":"Can church exist without baptism and communion? The quick answer is, \"Sure. Why not?\" Neither baptism nor communion are necessary for the life of the church","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baptism-necessary.jpg","width":"1302","height":"738","caption":"baptism necessary"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/baptism-communion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Church Possible without Baptism and Communion?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/","name":"Redeeming God","description":"Liberating you from bad ideas about God","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0df0211c3f7ba3d4c6cfa1f8411f481c","name":"Jeremy Myers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/eddb31e43c2836234b746787cbef8f12?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeremy Myers"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"description":"Jeremy Myers writes about Scripture and theology in a way that redeems God and people from the prison of religion. He is a popular author and blogger and often gives away free eBooks to his blog subscribers.","sameAs":["https:\/\/redeeminggod.com","http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/290798794274804","https:\/\/x.com\/redeeminggod"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}