What say you? Do some Episcopalians or other Trinitarian Christians actually accept Mormon baptism as legitimate Christian baptism? This is surprising to me because the Mormons themselves eschew the Trinitarian confession and creed. That being the case, how can we accept the baptism of a non-Trinitarian group?
Tell me that this GetReligion story is not true.... please?????
If Episcopal churches are accepting non-Trinitarian baptisms within their own doctrinal framework, will Lutheran churches need to baptize converts from the Episcopal cult?
ReplyDeleteHow far does a historically Christian church have to doctrinally crawl into bed with a heathen cult before it becomes a heathen cult itself?
Tell me that this GetReligion story is not true.... please?????
ReplyDeleteSadly, it is true. For example, Carolyn Tanner Irish, the (now-retired) Episcopalian bishop of Utah, was baptized as a Mormon, and not baptized when she became Episcopalian. Yet she was allowed not only to become an Episcopalian, but to be ordained to the highest rank of the clergy without a Christian baptism.
Not only that, but Episcopalian clergy routinely admit non-baptized persons to the Lord's Table. This means that someone who claims to be an Episcopalian may have attended an Episcopal parish for years, received the Sacrament regularly, and been for all intents and purposes a member of the parish, without ever having been baptized. And when people are baptized, not all Episcopal clergy necessarily follow the baptismal rite set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. This means that even if a person has a baptismal certificate from an Episcopal Church, we do not necessarily know that he was baptized using a valid orthodox baptismal rite.
In my opinion, we have indeed come to the point where a person coming from the Episcopal Church into an orthodox Church body ought to be baptized. We can no longer be sure whether such a person has been baptized at all, or whether he has been baptized with a valid rite.
In our city ELCA clergy admit non-
ReplyDeletebaptized persons to the Eucharist.
When they came to our LCMS parish
we told them you had to be a baptized
and confirmed LCMS member to partake
of the Eucharist.
After several months of attending
our worship services, they decided
to take Adult Instruction Classes
and were baptized and confirmed in
our LCMS parish. Glory to God.
Our church records listed two of our members with mormon baptisms and two different LCMS pastors dropped the ball on this, one in the 70s (Adult Confirmation) and one in the 90s (Transfer-In from another LCMS congregation). They were both given Christian baptisms when we found out. If one LCMS congregation had this many discrepencies ...
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't surprise me that an Episcopal church would deliberately let this one by, but LCMS? You do have to be very careful about having either a document or a witness when you are instructing them. On one occasion I had the former pastor as well as the mother of a young woman whom I was instructing tell me she had been baptized as an infant. One problem though this particular church didn't believe in infant baptism, they were trying to keep her from having a 'Lutheran' baptism. She finally produced her 'baptism' certifiate one day and it was actually was for a dedication.
ReplyDeleteOn another occasion I was conducting new member instruction with a woman who had been attending (and communing) at an ELCA church, when I asked for the information I found out she had been raised and Baptized Mormon.
Nowadays, any congregational member applicant claiming to have been baptized in the ???A needs to be questioned whether they were "baptized" in the name of "Mother Goddess, Christ-Sophia, and the feminine Spirit"
ReplyDelete