When I was baptized a little over five years ago it was made very clear to me that I was being baptized into the Restored Church of Jesus Christ. I asked why and got a variety of answers, the most popular being that The Church was the only true church and all those other baptisms were not valid because we are under a different covenant. I went along with it because it was what everybody else did. I have since come to realize that it’s true that all my other baptisms were not valid, but the reason had nothing to do with the “only true church.” The reason was that I wasn’t saved until I saw my sinful state and asked the Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible to come into my heart and life. We are not saved by baptism; we are saved by grace.

Briefly, scriptural baptism is always a desire after one is born again. This can occur at any age and in any circumstances. You know when it happens. Or, you know that it has happened. It’s not about suddenly becoming a Book of Mormon believer, or wanting to belong to a specific church, or deciding that Joseph Smith was a really swell guy.

Baptism, by definition, is immersion in water. The Greek word baptizo means dip; immerse; submerge. I read with interest a blog post by an LDS, who refers us to The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—hereafter referred to as HOC—in which Joseph Smith Jr. describes going to the woods with Oliver Cowdery to ask the Lord exactly what was meant by baptism. Excuse me, but wasn’t Smith in the middle of writing a book which is filled with baptisms? 2 Nephi 13:16 refers to baptism as going “down into the water.” And isn’t it clear in the Bible what baptism is? Acts 8:38-39.

But wasn’t it convenient that John the Baptist dropped by and happened to slip the office of Aaronic priesthood into the mix? HOC vol. 1 p. 35. This is bogus on so many levels that it almost defies comment. However, I shall comment. I believe Smith used his professed ignorance of the method of baptism as a lead-in to a soon-to-be, extremely convoluted priesthood system, a system which only emphasizes Smith’s abysmal ignorance of the Book of Hebrews.

It seems to me that the only prerequisite for baptism in the Restored church is the Book-of-Mormon-burning-in-the-bosom. It has very little to do with the Jesus Christ of the Gospel and everything to do with Joseph Smith’s magnum opus. How many testimonies are out there which contain visions, dreams, visitations, auditory and visual hallucinations, and/or other supernatural occurrences, oftentimes brought on by simply being in the same room with the Book of Mormon? Is this the Holy Spirit? C’mon.

So, here we have Joseph Smith, Jr. and his sidekick, Oliver Cowdery, kneeling in the woods praying about baptism when—suddenly—they’re priests! The only problem is, they’re priests before they’re baptized. This just opens up such a large can of worms that one hardly knows where to begin sorting through the slime. Fortunately, it’s already been addressed. Paul Trask covers it in his book, Part Way to Utah: The Forgotten Mormons. Carol Hansen also does a commendable job in Reorganized Latter Day Saint Church: Is It Christian? Both books are available on this website.



In His love

Jan