I was interested to read a recent article about baptism [Herald, July 20]. As it happens, I was raised in an independent Christian church and baptized around age 14. About 12 years later, after my wife and I were married in the Baptist church in which she was raised, I decided that we ought to have membership in the same church, so I went up front one Sunday to join my wife's church.
I was perplexed when the leaders of that church told me that I would have to be baptized again despite my having been baptized at age 14. However, I felt that God would understand so, as an act of Christian fellowship and as a witness to them of my faith, I was baptized for the second time in life on April 1, 1979.
Anyway, I was perplexed to learn, when my wife and I came to Richmond in 1979 and joined our current church, that they would not have required me to be rebaptized. I was also perplexed to learn that when my twin brother later joined a Roman Catholic church, the church accepted his Christian church baptism and simply made certain that he was baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Of course, no matter what we end up doing about church practices and other questions, someday we will all stand before our Lord Jesus Christ and answer to him about what we have done about the mandates contained in Matthew 25. At that time, standing before our mighty and judging Lord, we may find ourselves wishing that we had minimized our differences and concentrated on doing what he commanded instead of arguing amongst ourselves so much. Perhaps what we need to do is simply teach and preach from the Scriptures, letting God's powerful Word have its effect and then go about carrying out God's commands for service — just simply spread the gospel and serve others in his name.
No matter what church I may worship in, no matter what denomination I may be involved with now or in the future, I am a Christian first and my denominational affiliation second.
E. Marshall Buckles, Rockville