04/16/2025
๐ช๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฌ๐ผ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐น๐ฒ ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฆ๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฒ๐ฟ?
In 1875, J.R. Graves, editor of the "Tennessee Baptist" was asked the following question:
๐๐ง ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ?
Graves was a chaplain during the Civil War. He was present at the Battle of Shiloh and actually with General Albert Sidney Johnston when he was mortally wounded. Graves well replied:
"๐๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฎ. ๐๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต. ๐๐ง ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด "๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ," ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฆ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต."
It is amazing how many modern "conservative" Baptists will sprinkle water on people dying in hospitals and nursing homes and call it baptism. I thought Baptists rejected baptismal regeneration! Other Baptists will accept sprinkling or pouring as valid baptism into church membership if the individual doesn't desire to be immersed. This is just another area where 21st century Baptists have departed from the faith of our Baptist forefathers.
