The Preacher's Page...
Recently I was asked to express my personal opinion about a practice which is becoming more prevalent in some places and especially among “youth groups”, namely: the practice of applauding by the clapping of hands when a person is baptized. Even though I risk being branded an “old fogy” I want to share my opinion with those who read this bulletin. It is my humble opinion that this practice smacks of denominational emotionalism in which people are seeking “a better felt than told” type of religion.
According tho the scriptures, there is rejoicing in heaven when even on sinner repents. Joy is an emotion, but does it have to be expressed by the clapping of hands? Let me illustrate what I'm driving at in this way: At both the physical births of my children and also their spiritual births later (when I had the privilege of baptizing them into Christ), my heart was filled with utter and complete joy. The joy that filled my heart was great, but it did not have to be expressed in applause. When my children entered this world I did not applaud them, their mother, nor the physician who delivered them; but I did humbly thank God. At their spiritual births into the family of God, with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I did the very same thing – humbly thanked God for their obedience to the gospel.
Today, I still feel great joy when I am privileged to witness a precious soul being born into the family of God, but this is not the type of joy that seeks to express itself in applause. In fact, let those who are seeking to justify the practice of applauding at baptisms answer these questions: Whoa re they really applauding? God? The sinner who has just been saved by God's grace through the obedience to the gospel? Multiple conversions are recorded in the scriptures, why do we not read about thunderous waves of applause on those occasion?
Several years ago the lat Roy H. Lanier, St. wrote about the topic of baptism. He mentioned the fact that he had never baptized a person without stating “by the authority of Jesus Christ and upon your confession of him as the Son of God, I baptize you into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for the remission of your sins. Amen.” Then he stated his reason for doing so: “It gives us a fine opportunity to impress the person with the idea that his act of baptism brings him into fellowship and communion with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy spirit; in this act the greatest spiritual relationship ever to be enjoyed in the world is being established. Next this gives u the opportunity to teach people who are observing the baptism a lesson. They need to be impressed with the solemnity, the sacredness, and the importance o the act of baptism.” Brother Lanier shows why hand-clapping is inappropriate; It destroys the solemnity, the sacredness of the moment, and demeans the important of the act.
Recently I was asked to express my personal opinion about a practice which is becoming more prevalent in some places and especially among “youth groups”, namely: the practice of applauding by the clapping of hands when a person is baptized. Even though I risk being branded an “old fogy” I want to share my opinion with those who read this bulletin. It is my humble opinion that this practice smacks of denominational emotionalism in which people are seeking “a better felt than told” type of religion.
According tho the scriptures, there is rejoicing in heaven when even on sinner repents. Joy is an emotion, but does it have to be expressed by the clapping of hands? Let me illustrate what I'm driving at in this way: At both the physical births of my children and also their spiritual births later (when I had the privilege of baptizing them into Christ), my heart was filled with utter and complete joy. The joy that filled my heart was great, but it did not have to be expressed in applause. When my children entered this world I did not applaud them, their mother, nor the physician who delivered them; but I did humbly thank God. At their spiritual births into the family of God, with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat I did the very same thing – humbly thanked God for their obedience to the gospel.
Today, I still feel great joy when I am privileged to witness a precious soul being born into the family of God, but this is not the type of joy that seeks to express itself in applause. In fact, let those who are seeking to justify the practice of applauding at baptisms answer these questions: Whoa re they really applauding? God? The sinner who has just been saved by God's grace through the obedience to the gospel? Multiple conversions are recorded in the scriptures, why do we not read about thunderous waves of applause on those occasion?
Several years ago the lat Roy H. Lanier, St. wrote about the topic of baptism. He mentioned the fact that he had never baptized a person without stating “by the authority of Jesus Christ and upon your confession of him as the Son of God, I baptize you into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, for the remission of your sins. Amen.” Then he stated his reason for doing so: “It gives us a fine opportunity to impress the person with the idea that his act of baptism brings him into fellowship and communion with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy spirit; in this act the greatest spiritual relationship ever to be enjoyed in the world is being established. Next this gives u the opportunity to teach people who are observing the baptism a lesson. They need to be impressed with the solemnity, the sacredness, and the importance o the act of baptism.” Brother Lanier shows why hand-clapping is inappropriate; It destroys the solemnity, the sacredness of the moment, and demeans the important of the act.
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