Mr J, It has always puzzled me that Christians feel they must sing only psalms. There are many songs recorded in Scripture that are not in psalms. We're told to to be joyful and sing. Those who restrict themselves to psalms are, I feel, missing one of the great joys of Christianity. Do they also feel they cannot sing scripture as an aid to memory?
JD, I'm not sure of a scripture reference for Abraham, but Job was able to say " I know that my redeemer lives" Job 19:25 and David sang about it in it the psalms. Joseph knew he was redeemed Gen 48:16.
From my observation it depends on your ministry team. Some folk preach mainly OT while others concentrate on the letters or the gospels. At the moment we're sitting under a very balanced ministry that spends time in the OT and in the NT often showing how they fit together. We've recently had a series on ecclesiastes and are now in Matthew's gospel.
"the Bible tells me so" If you read scripture with the assurance that it is true you are told that to be justified is to be sanctified and glorified. Rom 8: 30. and 1Cor 6: 11. Do we trust God's word or not?
JD, When Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water for the baptism and then both came up out of the water, did they both get fully immersed? Was John the baptist also fully immersed when he was baptizing in the river? If it holds that one person was, then all must have been.
Mr J, My reading of scripture leads me to the same conclusion. When the OT was translated into Greek the Hebrew words for washings, sprinklings and pouring seem to have been translated by the same word used for baptism in the NT. There are a couple of instances in the OT where a person was to wash the whole body (healed leper}
KK Don't ever forget those that were immersed in the Red Sea stayed there. The people passed over on dry land. At best they were sprinkled. The cloud also did not immerse them. The people stayed under it, but not in it.
Mr J, I've also felt the baptizing of the households of believers indicates that it is a continuation of the OT covenant. No where are any of these households said to be all believers, or that they are all adults of sound mind. Scripture simply states the believer and his household were baptized.
cure: Read Numbers 19:18 "A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in water and sprinkle it upon the tent and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons" This is how the baptisms or washings were to be performed. The word for washings is translated into the Greek as baptism. Note it is performed with water.
I have just listened to one of Alexander Henderson's sermons from Still Water Revival. It was refreshing to see election explained in the 17th century. We are redeemed,and then God circumcises our hearts and ears so that we can hear and understand Him speaking to us. His passage was Ps 40. He spoke of v6 "mine ears hast thou opened" as the hole being put in the ear of a servant who does not wish to leave his master. It's really worth listening to but a bit hard to follow at first. v8 " I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea thy law is written in my heart"
DB, Infant baptism is not for salvation, any more than circumcision was in the OT. Jesus said to bring the children to him and not to forbid them. Believers bring their children to him for the same reason that adults are baptized. It shows they are members of his church on earth and as such have a privileged position in learning of him.
From what I've read here, those who insist on adult only full immersion baptism somehow equate it with a necessary requirement for our salvation. I believe the thief on the cross is there for the express purpose of proving this wrong. He was saved without baptism. Do those who do not allow infant baptism leave their children at the door of the church or at home when they go to worship? They should if their children are not part of the visible church on earth.
If you are correct and only psalms should be sung, does this include the other songs recorded as sung in scripture? Are we allowed to sing them? Are we to sing scripture as an aid to memory? Do Christians who do not have a copy of the psalms (particularly those under persecution where being found with a copy is against the law) sing at all? Must we sing in Hebrew or are we allowed to alter our translations/ words, to fit our preferred type of music and meter? What is the music that God sings over his beloved children?
I believe we have the permission of scripture to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, but some of the latter that are becoming very popular are not true to scripture. Some choruses should never be sung as part of worship. Please read the words as you sing.
3/13/08 12:40 AM
3/10/08 12:20 AM
