(Michael Kennedy) wrote:

> For the record though, I never have stated that "Sprinkling is an
> invalid baptism", what I have said is " there is a question mark over
> it's validity, so why take a chance when it isn't necessary".

And in another post on the same thread Michael wrote:
>... both publicly and privately, I would question the validity that a >sprinkling of a small amount of water constitutes a Biblical baptism.

>Do I privately deny it totally?
>Of course not, only God knows whether it will be acceptable or not.

>But I stand by, why take a chance on something you don't have to.

Michael, since it now seems unlikely that you will reply to my last two posts to you on the "eternal life...." thread, I will carry the essential part of our argument over here, where it is also relevant.

If I understand you correctly, you say that since we can be fairly certain that most, if not all, Baptisms in the time of Jesus were by immersion, therefore we should endeavour to follow both the spirit and the letter of Jesus' example by also administering Baptism by immersion in the modern church. I don't agree, but I am prepared to concede the point for the sake of argument.

My question to you is - why don't you apply the same thing to Holy Communion. Just about every person and group who call themselves Christians agree that Baptism and Communion are the two most important Christian rites of worship - both are commanded by the Lord, and have continued as distinctive and almost universal Christian acts of worship and obedience throughout the past 2000 years. Now the evidence and the argument that Jesus used wine and unleavened bread at the last supper, and the early Church used wine for communion, is at least as strong as the evidence that Baptism was always administered by immersion. Surely, therefore, to be consistent we should argue for BOTH Baptism by immersion AND communion with alcoholic wine and unleavened bread. I still have not seen any coherent argument, biblical or otherwise, which justifies your position that we should follow Jesus' example as closely as possible in Baptism, but it is OK to vary Communion to suit our personal preference.

Nigel B. Mitchell