Comments on: Does This Baptism Count?

By: Jarom Luker

Jarom Luker — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:17:25 +0000

I’ve got a copy of the Missionary Handbook here. At a few times in the instructions, it uses the paranthetical phrase, “for convenience,” but with “The priesthood holder places his right hand high on the person’s back and immerses the completely…,” It isn’t there. I think the priesthood holder must lower the person to properly complete the ordinance.
That being said, I don’t think God would discount the ordinance if it was never caught, and the person proceeded on with their life with that baptism.
However, I believe doing things “by the book” whenever possible eliminates the question in the first place, and you don’t have to worry. I don’t see any situation where any need for the priesthood holder to let go would arise, so I would say not to.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:59:04 +0000

I don’t have a handbook here, but I think the stake president was quoting from the Book of Old Recollections and Traditions.

Besides, it’s just stupid to hold a baby out in mid-air and expect him/her to feel secure. I’d scream too!

And whoever dreamed up this “gotta bounce the baby” idea? I’ve stood in circles where I tried to act as a shock absorber to keep the rest of the crew from tossing the child into the air on every upswing.

And then someone mentioned the blessing of a child, not a baby. Whoever thought you should take a 5-year-old and hoist him/her aloft like a 5-week-old while giving a blessing obviously has long since taken leave of his senses!

By: makakona

makakona — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:19:24 +0000

re: 25, the handbook doesn’t specify number of hands under the baby, but it does state that hands should be under it, does it not? because our baby was so big and older than your average baby being blessed, my husband was holding her with the others standing around her, each having a hand ON her. the stake president interrupted the blessing, saying my husband couldn’t hold her in his arms, that it was required that the child being blessed must be held from below by one hand from each elder.

By: bbell

bbell — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 16:11:31 +0000

I once baptized a Medical Dr in his tiny ancestral village in South Africa in a childs wading pool.

The water was 2 ft deep. After I said the prayer I pulled him down and 2 local Xhosa elders grabbed his legs and helped me guide him into the water. We then pushed his body down and made sure his clothes were submerged.

That Bap counted I tell you. Later I ran into him in Capetown at a baptism in a font and we laughed about how “easy” the guy getting baptized had it.

By: JM

JM — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 15:25:18 +0000

“If the baptizee is of age, there of their own free will, the authorities are present and accounted for, the prayers are said properly, and the person was submerged and surfaced (creating the proper symbolism) the rest is frosting. ”

Except for the part about WHO does the immersing.

If the technicalities don’t count, then any form of baptism would be valid as long as the one performing the ordinance has the proper authority.

By: tracy m

tracy m — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 04:48:55 +0000

Everything Mark B said.

If the baptizee is of age, there of their own free will, the authorities are present and accounted for, the prayers are said properly, and the person was submerged and surfaced (creating the proper symbolism) the rest is frosting.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:12:48 +0000

Half the church now knows that this wasn’t just a hypothetical.

And we knew it before this blog revealed it.

I heard of a baptism once where the very large lady kept backing away from the skinny young elder who was trying to put her under. It was in a motel swimming pool. When the elder realized he’d never get her under the usual way, he dived under the water, grabbed her ankles and pulled her feet out from under her. Down she went, and up she came, a new member of the church.

Just as the handbook says nothing about the number of hands under the baby, it simply says that the person baptizing should immerse the person. If he is afraid of water, let him squat and bow his head forward to get it under the water, and a little pressure on the back or the shoulder will count. You don’t have to lay the person back, you don’t have to hold his right wrist with your left hand and have him hold your wrist with his left hand–that’s all custom, not prescribed form.

By: Rusty

Rusty — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:57:12 +0000

Bret,
I have a lot of posts about technicalities? Hm. I didn’t notice. But if that’s the case then I’d answer it by saying that I’m interested in the gray area between black and white and where people’s lines are. I mark my own lines and it’s interesting to see why other people mark differently.

By: Bret

Bret — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 21:37:28 +0000

I agree with Tom’s comments as well, but I’m more interested in why Rusty, do you have so many posts about technicalities? Just curiosity or is there more to it?

By: Rusty

Rusty — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 19:49:13 +0000

Jeff,
Ssssshhh, you weren’t supposed to reveal that this was anything more than a hypothetical!