Assuming you were baptized by immersion for the right reasons, is there ever a need to be re-baptized? What if there was a period you feel you were not living as a Christian?

Sincerely, Wanting To Be Sure

Dear Wanting To Be Sure,

If you were baptized right the first time (see this post for proper baptism guidelines) – then you don’t need to be baptized again, even if you fell away for a period of time. Consider the case of the man who got caught up in the disgusting sin of sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1). The church at Corinth was told to withdraw from that man (1 Cor 5:13). Later on, that same man repented and came back to the Lord. Paul told the church that they should forgive him and his prior punishment had been sufficient (2 Cor 2:6-8). If someone can get caught up in that sort of depraved fornication and not need to be re-baptized, I think we can confidently say that no one needs it.

If someone falls away from the Lord, they must repent and return to God (1 Jhn 1:9). When they draw near again to God, He will draw near to them (Jas 4:8).

A friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic, and I have heard her speak of it as her "disease", and she has even likened it to cancer (which I privately took offense to).  I have even attended an AA meeting with her to show my support as a friend.  My question is: is it correct to call it a "disease"?  It doesn't seem like a disease to me since you cannot use willpower to conquer cancer or Parkinson's disease.  Also, I noticed that during my visit to the AA meeting, I got the feeling that AA was a substitute for religion for many of the people there… including my friend who is Catholic (she told me that she felt AA took the place of going to church).  It felt very cult-y, and the books they used were bound to look like Bibles, and they read from it as we might read from the Bible in church... I don't know your level of familiarity with this organization, but is it opposed to God's teachings?

Sincerely, Friend Of An AA Member

Dear Friend Of An AA Member,

This topic is one where it becomes very easy to wander into opinions and conjecture.  We will restrict our answer to purely the Bible’s view on the subject.  Is it wrong to think of alcoholism as a disease?  No.  All sinful behavior is a disease that infects our lives and kills us (Rom 6:23, Jas 1:15).  Some sin is so pervasive that it cannot be handled or escaped alone.  That is why it is so important that christians bear one another’s burdens and strengthen each other (Gal 6:1-2).  We also need to realize that certain things like alcohol, smoking, drugs, etc. create a physiological reaction that makes it even more difficult to recover and escape from the sin.  Jesus Himself said that there are times where the spirit of a man is willing to change but the flesh is weak (Mk 14:38).  The weakness of the flesh does not excuse the sin, but it does amplify the burden of removing the addiction.

Alcoholics Anonymous is not inherently opposed to God.  Many, many christians have used AA meetings as a helping hand to recover from addiction.  AA does not profess to be a source of religious knowledge; in fact, they are very careful to remain ambiguous in the area of religion.  Having said that, AA has been used as a replacement for attending church.  But that is nothing new… people use family vacations, fishing trips, television, music, clubs, and any number of other things as replacements for serving God.  That is a problem with the individual person, not a problem with the organization.  Every individual has a responsibility to not forsake the assembly of christians (Heb 10:25).  There is never a replacement for attending church services.

Please explain what the Bible means, in layman’s terms, in Matthew 11: 12. Thank you; this scripture is very vague to me and confusing as to what its meaning could be.

Sincerely, Inquiring Mind

Dear Inquiring Mind,

Matt 11:12 is a statement by Jesus addressing what people were trying to do to the kingdom. The kingdom is the church (Col 1:13). We need a little bit of context in order to understand this verse. For four hundred years, the Jews had been anxiously awaiting any prophecy from God. Before John the Baptist, the Jews hadn’t had any prophecy or word from God since the book of Malachi was written. These four hundred years are often called the “Years of Silence”. The last thing that they had been told was to wait for Elijah to come, and after that the kingdom of the Messiah would appear (Mal 4:5).

When John the Baptist arrived, he was the ‘Elijah’ that they were suppose to wait for (Matt 11:13-14). The Jews began to stir with great excitement because they knew the kingdom was near. They thought that the kingdom of heaven would be a military power to save them from Rome – but they were wrong (Jhn 18:36). Because of their misunderstanding, they kept trying to force the kingdom into being. They wanted to be a powerful nation again and throw off the oppression of the Roman government. So they did whatever they could to violently force the kingdom into being. For example, the Jews tried to force Jesus to be a king (Jhn 6:15). This is the violence that Jesus is referring to in Matt 11:12. The Jews didn’t recognize that the kingdom was His church, and because of this misunderstanding, they were attempting to forcibly speed up the formation of the Messiah’s kingdom. That is the violence Jesus referred to in Matt 11:12.

Was there ever a time that the churches of Christ taught that artificial birth control was always sinful?  Can you tell me the earliest teaching you can identify within the churches of Christ that teaches that artificial birth control is permissible?

Sincerely, History Lessons

Dear History Lessons,

Your question assumes that the title ‘church of Christ’ is the name of a denomination with a unified creed and leadership - it isn’t. The name ‘church of Christ’ is taken directly from the Bible (2 Thess 1:1). The church belongs to Christ because He purchased it with His blood (Acts 20:28). Though some groups that use the title ‘church of Christ’ are denominations, our congregation professes to only stand by the Bible and nothing else, just like the churches of the first century. Each congregation was independently led by elders and commended to the Lord’s guidance (Acts 14:23). Many people have attempted to classify these kinds of churches as another denomination (a quick Google or Wikipedia search shows the ways people have tried to define these congregations), but ultimately they are simply groups that have all independently asserted to use the Bible (and the Bible only) as their standard of measure.

The New Testament’s teachings on birth control (see this post for more on that topic) are the only place I can direct you to regarding the church of Christ’s teachings on the topic. Each individual person and congregation must study the Scriptures and rightly divide the Word concerning the subject of birth control (2 Tim 2:15)… as we seek to on any topic. There is no board of directors, theological center, or creed book that decides for us. God’s people should be beholden to His Word and His Word only. A faithful congregation turns to the Scriptures and imitates the first century church seen in the Bible. May Christ alone be our head and guide (Eph 5:23).

I was baptized at age twelve (Baptist Church), but my husband was sprinkled in his Methodist Church when he was a baby.  He is wondering, should he be baptized as an adult?

Sincerely, Sprinkled, Poured or Plunged

Dear Sprinkled, Poured or Plunged,

There are two important elements to baptism:

1. Why you are baptized
2. How you are baptized

God requires that we be baptized for the right reasons. Baptism should be for salvation (Mk 16:16, 1 Pet 3:21). When we are baptized, we must be baptized under Jesus’ authority and for His reasons. Being baptized for membership into a church, as “an outward sign of an inward grace”, for public recognition, as an infant, etc. are not Biblical baptisms. An easy way to find out why you were baptized is to ask your preacher why your congregation baptizes people. Even Paul re-baptized people who hadn’t been baptized under Christ’s authority (Acts 19:3-5). The great preacher Apollos was also re-baptized when he found out he hadn’t been baptized for salvation (Acts 18:24-26). We must be baptized for the right reasons, or we are just getting wet.

We must also be baptized in the right way. This wasn’t much of a problem for the first century christians because they understood what the word ‘baptize’ meant. The only reason we have trouble today is because many religious groups have twisted and altered the Scriptures. ‘Baptize’ comes from a Greek word that means ‘to immerse’; it is the same word that the Greeks used for a ship when it had sunk. Baptism has nothing to do with sprinkling or pouring water on someone. Baptism is a full immersion under water; that is why John baptized where there was “much water” (Jhn 3:23). The whole symbolism of baptism as a burial would make no sense if baptism were sprinkling (Rom 6:4). Biblical baptism is full immersion in water for the remission of sins.