How flexible are Protestants on the Baptismal formula?
Upvote:1
I think the best way to say it as a lifelong Lutheran is this:
If a person is very worried that whether the priest or minister used "I" or "We" when they were baptized, that person is thinking of Christianity as a superstition where things that are unconnected are linked without reason. Such as, "Step on a crack - break your mother's back." Nothing in Christianity should be treated as superstition because it is extremely consistent and elegantly connected across time and space. Supernatural, sure, but not superstitious.
Don't sweat the small stuff. God doesn't care (you can tell Him I said that). And if it turns out that He really does care, then God isn't the being we've been told He is and isn't worthy of our worship. Our love for God should never be pursuant to being told to love God, or because we fear that one misstep will send us to Hell. If that was true, we wouldn't need faith or free-will, we could just do what we were told. Protestants believe these things have been granted to all of mankind by God's love and grace, and while we can willingly reject them or deny that they exist, we can't possibly remove them from the picture by speaking the wrong word in a ceremony. Only God can do that, and by the death and resurrection of Jesus, he has promised that He won't by giving us the keys to the Kingdom.
Q.E.D. God doesn't care if the priest said "I" or "We" and neither should anyone else.
Upvote:2
Protestants as a group are extremely diversified - including everything from strict fundamentalists to very liberal theologians. Personally, I find the story about the Priest silly. God doesn't care about us saying things perfectly or making an honest mistake. He cares what is in people's hearts first and foremost.
More post
- 📝 Did the Passover Crucifixion Involve a Double Sabbath?
- 📝 Were there any OT prophecies that Jesus should be a wood-working carpenter
- 📝 Why is Mark not the first gospel?
- 📝 What proofs that the Jerusalem church held the same belief of St. Paul with regard to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus?
- 📝 How can the Pope's recent actions not be viewed as condoning h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 What do Jehovah’s Witnesses teach about water baptism and is baptism by full water immersion essential to salvation?
- 📝 What are the protestant arguments against a sacramental economy?
- 📝 How do holders of a literal interpretation of Genesis 1 interpret the word "rule" in verse 16 in light of its apparent contradiction to observation?
- 📝 Evidence towards Christianity
- 📝 Authentic reasons to leave Roman Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the Catholic understanding of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve?
- 📝 Evidence that Peter alone was made a Bishop by Christ?
- 📝 Which medieval theologian said fornication with a more beautiful woman is less sinful?
- 📝 Do Jehovah's Witnesses have their own version of the Bible?
- 📝 Why does the Roman Catholic Church not hold to the perspicuity of Scripture?
- 📝 After Chiliasm slowly died a natural death once the 3rd and 4th centuries saw no literal 1000 year reign of Christ on earth, when did it resurface?
- 📝 Do any major orthodox Trinitarian theologians or denominations hold that St. Paul was closer to a Biblical Unitarian than a Trinitarian?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the idea that spiritual gifts are no longer relevant?
- 📝 Unique Catholic Feasts of local Churches?
- 📝 2 John 1:9 — What does it mean to "continue in doctrine?" (Protestantism)
- 📝 What does the LDS church teach about what men and women did or do in the pre-existence?
- 📝 Why did God create us so that it is in our nature to sin?
- 📝 According to Catholic law and rules, is postponing of the Rite of Acceptance OK?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis that the Devil or Satan understood God's salvation plan?
- 📝 Please clarify Phil 2:8-9 with reference to the Trinity
- 📝 According to Chalcedonian Trinitarians, why did Jesus not mention himself at John 4:23?
- 📝 Are there any estimates as to how many people witnessed the crucifixion of 'Christ'?
- 📝 Old testament: where is Eternal Life and Judgement discussed?
- 📝 Has a papyrus been found that was written by a disciple of Jesus?
- 📝 What deuterocanonical books are quoted in the New Testament?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How flexible are Protestants on the Baptismal formula?
- 📝 How do Protestants interpret "baptized for the dead" in 1 Corinthians 15:29?
- 📝 How are the Calvinist, Arminian and Lutheran conceptions of Total Depravity different?
- 📝 How do Protestants respond to the JW interpretation of John 14:28?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the charge that they are false prophets (because their end-of-the-world predictions didn't come true)?
- 📝 How do Protestants keep the Sabbath?
- 📝 Are there any conflicts between how Jesus is described in the Book of Mormon vs how He is described in the Bible?
- 📝 How are emendations to the Masoretic Text viewed within the doctrine of inerrancy?
- 📝 How many witnesses are there who physically saw and/or touched the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was reportedly translated?
- 📝 In the NPP, if Paul's "works of the law" are only circumcision and diet, how is Galatians 3:10 interpreted?
- 📝 How do Protestants who say Catholicism doesn't teach the true Gospel understand a Catholic person’s faith in Jesus?
- 📝 Do we answer the arguments of fools or not? How are Proverbs 26:4-5 to be understood?
- 📝 How is the belief that Christians are both adopted and begotten sons of God reconciled?
- 📝 How are prayer and asking the saints to intercede distinguished?
- 📝 How do Protestants understand the "unforgivable" sin?
- 📝 How do Theistic Evolutionists who are Christians reconcile these Scriptures with the adoption of evolutionary theory?
- 📝 Why are Protestants from the Church of England allowed to divorce?
- 📝 If the dead are already in heaven, how do they rise at the second coming?
- 📝 How sound are the arguments that Melchizedek invoked a Canaanite deity when he met Abraham?
- 📝 What is the source of the count of 40000 denominations, and how are they classified?
- 📝 How do Protestants answer the Catholic accusation of historicity?
- 📝 How do protestants understand Jesus' statement that unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man we will have no life?
- 📝 How widely held among Protestants is the belief that the authors of the books of James and Jude were half brothers of Jesus?
- 📝 How comparable are the concepts of the Teaching Magisterium in the Catholic Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses view of their Watch Tower society?
- 📝 Does God want things? What are some of the things He wants, and how did we find out?
- 📝 How are the persons of the Trinity distinctively active in a Christian's prayer?
- 📝 How do we know that Satan, Lucifer, and Devil are the same guy?
- 📝 What are the differences between Mormonism and Islam, and how do Mormons react to comparisons with it?
- 📝 How are the teachings in the Book of James consistent with Salvation by Grace alone?
- 📝 How are the Catholic church's teaching on plastic surgery and GRS self-consistent?