Baptism
What does the word "baptism" actually mean? Our English word "baptism" comes from a Greek word, baptizo, which means "to dip, immerse, place into a liquid, or to dunk."
At
LifeBridge we practice baptism by immersion, which means we put a
person totally under water. Why do we do this? Because that's the way
Jesus was baptized! Matthew 3:16 (NLT) states that "Jesus came up out of
the water." So we baptize by immersion because it was the model Jesus
gave us.
But we also baptize by immersion because it's a symbol
of what has happened to the believer. Baptism identifies you as a
Christian. It is a picture of what happened when you became a Christian.
When you are lowered under the water in baptism you are showing that
your old way of life has been put behind you or buried (under the
water). When you are raised back out of the water you are showing that
you’ve come to life again, but you’re following a new way of life. This
is why only believers should participate in baptism—only they have a new
way of life!
What about infant baptism? If you search the Bible
you will find nothing about infant baptism. This practice became a
tradition in some churches though it has no basis in Scripture. Some
people have wondered, If I was baptized as an infant and became a Christian as an adult, do I need to be baptized again?
We
believe that baptism should be a symbol of the personal, individual
faith of the person who has become a believer. Infant baptism could not
possibly have done that, since the infant never made a decision to
follow Christ! Therefore, we feel it is necessary to be baptized as a
believer.
If you have questions about baptism, click here to contact us.