Hey, I saw in one of your articles that being baptized in a place where people teach wrongly isn’t valid, such as being baptized when you’re a baby. I was baptized when I was a baby, but I know it’s not valid because I didn’t repent of anything. But now I want to be baptized, but I don’t know if I can be baptized by the people in my church because the pastor’s wife is called “pastor” as well. Though she rarely preaches, I know it’s wrong. And at the youth group, women preach really often.<\/p>\n
My church only baptizes once a year, I think it’s in a month or two. So I’m planning to be baptized then. But will it be valid, even though I see so many wrong things in there?<\/p>\n
Also, before you’re baptized, you’re not a Christian? Or even though you’re not saved, can you be a Christian and God still listen to your prayers?<\/p>\n\t
God heard the prayers of Cornelius before he became a Christian. He was devoted to God and doing the best that he knew how at the time. “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God”<\/em>” (Acts 10:1-4). Still, he was still in his sins and needed saving. ““Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 10:47-48).<\/p>\n To become a Christian, to put on Christ, you need to be baptized for the right reason. “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ<\/em>” (Galatians 3:26-27). It doesn’t require that the person baptizing you understands the purpose, but it does make it easier to get it done properly.<\/p>\n If I might suggest, if you understand the need, then let me know what city you are in and I’ll try to find a preacher of the Gospel who is nearby and who can contact you. I would rather that you don’t put off what you know is important. “For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation<\/em>” (II Corinthians 6:2). You might find out that there is a congregation of people who, like you, desire to live simply by God’s word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hey, I saw in one of your articles that being baptized in a place where people teach wrongly isn’t valid, such as being baptized when you’re a baby. I was baptized when I was a baby, but I know it’s not valid because I didn’t repent of anything. But now I want to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52],"class_list":["post-2456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-while-being-in-a-denomination-that-teaches-wrongly\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":0},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly while being in a denomination that teaches wrongly?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism, I thought that one could not be taught wrong and baptized right. I recently got re-baptized, because I was young (12) years old when I obeyed the gospel. I just could not remember if I understood what the gospel was about at that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-while-being-in-a-denomination-that-doesnt-believe-in-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":1},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly while being in a denomination that doesn’t believe in baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism, I thought that one could not be taught wrong and baptized right. I recently got re-baptized, because I was young (12) years old when I obeyed the gospel. I just could not remember if I understood what the gospel was about at that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86914,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-attend-a-different-church-after-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":2},"title":"Is it wrong to attend a different church after being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 1, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings Brother, I want to know if it's wrong, once we're baptized, to worship at a church other than a Church of Christ. Answer: I'm puzzled. If you were baptized at a church of Christ because you realized you need to obey the Lord and you realized the church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25431,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-is-a-baptism-valid\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":3},"title":"When Is a Baptism Valid?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew Bassford Seven or eight years ago, I got a call from a brother in St. Louis who asked me to study with his mother.\u00a0 I set up the study and began, as I usually do, by asking her questions about her religious background.\u00a0 She explained that she had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Baptism5.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-scripturally-baptized-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":4},"title":"Can a person be scripturally baptized in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the church of Christ and lately, an issue has arisen. A few of our members were baptized in denominations but have been allowed to join our congregation on the basis that their baptisms were valid or scriptural based on an investigation. According to these\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37608,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-convince-someone-to-be-baptized-again-when-they-think-their-past-baptism-is-good-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":2456,"position":5},"title":"How do I convince someone to be baptized again when they think their past baptism is good enough?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi again, brother Jeffrey, I had asked for your help before regarding beverages. Thank you so much for the help because it gives me clarity on what to do. I moved out from the church where I used to worship because I heard from the leader of that church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}