Quotes on “Den. Baptism”

“The accusations about brother Winters relate to his acceptance of a former preacher of the Christian Church who repented of his errors, but had no reason to be rebaptized. His baptism had been on the basis of biblical teaching, which he had obeyed in order to be saved.” [A open letter signed by 41 men; including names such as James Meadows, Eddy Craft, David Pharr, Wesley Simons, Milton Mathers, and on the list goes…; June 20th, 2002.]

“I would also like to advance the proposition that Ira's dilemma stems from our tendency in the "Church of Christ" to place the church where the Lord belongs. I often hear brethren say, "Is he a member of the Church?" when they mean "Is he a Christian."  We talk about "faithfulness" in terms "attendance."  We teach about "the one true church" rather than "the one true Lord and Savior.  We have a history of preaching the church in our gospel meetings.  If you call one of our Bible Bookstores you will see that we have far more tracts on "The Church of Christ" than on "Christ."  We have preached ourselves, and this has been our fatal flaw.

Because of this some of us have a hard time accepting as scripturally baptized one who was immersed at one of our Bible Camps, in a Christian Church, or even in certain Churches of Christ. We think in terms of a person being baptized into the Church - rather than being baptized into Christ. We need to get ourselves out of the center of our thinking and put Jesus there.” [Charles Wheeler; preacher for the church of Christ in Cherry Tree, PA; Berean Spirit Study List; 4/19/2002; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BereanSpirit/message/52129]