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Yesterday I listened to Rush Limbaugh while out running errands. I’ve listened to him for almost as long as he’s been around nationally, in varying amounts depending on my life situation at the time. (Teaching elementary school didn’t allow for much Rush!) Yesterday I heard something that was just absolutely priceless. I would say it was one of the most profound things I’ve heard on there in all these years.

Carl, who identified himself as an Independent, called in and wanted to know, “Why can’t we just all get along?” Discussion ensued and then Rush asked Carl a question: “As an Independent, what do you stand for?” Kind of a simple question, but it was met with total silence, then fumbling nothing.

So Rush asked him, “What are your core principles?” Again, longer silence and then stumbling to apparently even understand the question.

So Rush assured him it wasn’t a trick question. He just wanted to know, “What do you stand for?” Super long silence.

Poor Carl apparently had no idea what Rush was talking about.

The silence was so LOUD and LONG. He apparently had no idea how to even process the questions, let alone answer them. I suspect that Carl is not alone in his inability to express his most basic core beliefs whether the person is an American or, God help us (literally), a confessing Christian.

Okay, so what does this have to do with baptism?

I’ve been following the discussion between Wayne Grudem and John Piper regarding baptism and church membership. The three relevant posts are:

• Grudem’s Change of Mind Regarding Differences on Baptism within a Local Church (Wayback Machine)
• Response to Grudem on Baptism and Church Membership (Wayback Machine)
• Wayne Grudem’s Response to Piper

They are very interesting and friendly. You need not be apprehensive about reading a theology war because this is not it. Instead, two friends discuss some very relevant and thought-provoking spiritual truths.

Some might think this is just dry theology and it doesn’t have anything to do with following Christ in our day to day lives. Well, not for me. I’ve been Baptist pretty much my whole life, but the baptism thing is a tricky one for me. Those of you who have read here for a bit know that we actually switched churches when we found out we were expecting Caroline. We were attending a Christian Reformed church that baptizes infants and when push came to shove we decided to move to a Baptist church, primarily because of the baptism issue. (As an aside, I’ve never been totally comfortable with that choice either.)

But it is also relevant to us in another way, and this was the situation that has made me forever since uncomfortable with being a believer’s baptism by immersion person. We know an older couple who were both baptized as infants. They have spent their entire lives serving Christ in churches that baptize infants. To make a long story short, they started visiting some other churches because they were becoming increasingly concerned about some things happening in their own church (of which they are founding members and have been there for decades). They found a Baptist church they really liked. But in order to become members of that church they would have to be baptized by immersion as their sprinkling/pouring was not considered valid. No dunky, no membership.

I have to admit that as a Baptist I found it next to impossible to defend that position. I mean, I can defend it as a Baptist and give all the reasons why a person should be baptized in the mode of believer’s baptism. But as Sallie who knows these people and knows that they have followed Christ most of their lives, I could not justify telling them that they were not able to fully function as members of a church body of Christ unless they were immersed.

So what does this have to do with Rush and Carl, the Independent? The mode of baptism for me, at this point in my life and as best I understand the Bible, is not a core belief for me. In some Baptist circles that would be almost heresy to admit. Seriously. Some Baptists would sincerely doubt my salvation that I could even entertain such thoughts. I think the mode of baptism used to be a core belief for me, but I cannot imagine telling some of the great Reformed folks I know that they could not join my church unless they were immersed when they are fully convinced in their own mind before God that their baptism is valid.

And so I found this discussion between Gruden and Piper to be interesting.

I hope you will, too.