My father won’t sign a form to let me be baptized. What should I do?
Question:
Hi,
I have accepted Christ six months ago and attend church regularly. I have also participated in a Basic Doctrine class required for baptism and membership in my church. When I brought back a form on the Baptism and Membership Encounter Weekend Event to ask for permission from my parents. My mum agreed but my dad did not allow me to be baptized.
I have also asked for the baptism of the Holy Spirit from the Lord constantly. I have been praying for it ever since I receive salvation. However, I won't be able to receive the Holy Spirit if I am not baptized. I really wanted to be accepted by the Lord in His Kingdom as well as be accepted by church members as one of them.
My dad, being a Taoist believes that there is no reason for me to be baptized and when he disapproved my request. I didn't dare to ask why as his decisions were always final in the household. What should I do? He is very unlikely going to let me be baptized in the future as well.
Can you give some advice?
Answer:
There are several misconceptions in your note because you are attending a church that doesn't fully teach the truth of the Gospel.
The idea that a person is saved from sin apart from baptism is foreign to the teachings in the New Testament. See The Spiritual Significance of Baptism.
The idea that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is needed to be a full member of a church is not found in the Scriptures. There is just one baptism today. See: Which baptism is referred to as the one baptism of Ephesians 4:5? Also see: By One Spirit ... Baptized Into One Body.
The idea that a person waits to be baptized until some event is not how people behaved in the New Testament. See: Would I be saved if I died before I was baptized? and Why Were They Baptized so Soon?
But the core of your question is that you place your father above being saved from your sins and obeying the Lord of Heaven. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). Jesus is not talking about an absolute hatred but a relative one. The distance between your love for God and your love for your parents must be so great that in comparison your love for your parents looks as if it was hatred. "Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38).
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him"" (John 14:23).
