#STRask - What Would Be the Point of Getting Baptized After All This Time?

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Questions about the point of getting baptized after being a Christian for over 60 years, the difference between a short prayer and an eloquent one, and disciplining yourself to read the Bible whether you feel like it or not.   I’ve been a Christian for over 60 years, graduated from seminary, briefly pastored, and am currently an elder in my church, but I was never baptized. At this point in my life, what would be the point of getting baptized? What difference, if any, is there between a short and to-the-point prayer and a wordy, eloquent prayer if both truly come from the heart? I love studying apologetics, but when it comes to reading my Bible, I find it difficult to want to do so. Is there a way to increase my desire to read it, or is this something I just have to discipline myself to do anyway?

This is Stan Teresins, hashtag STRAsk podcast. Thank you for joining us. And Greg, today we have questions about kind of the basics. And so this first one comes from Terry. I have been a Christian for over 60 years, graduated from seminary, pastored briefly, currently an elder in my local church. For theological reasons that I no longer hold, I was never baptized. However, at this point in my walk,

what would be the point of being baptized? Obedience. I mean, it's a simple issue as far as I'm concerned. We are to be baptized, that's appropriate, and there's no reason why we aren't baptized if we aren't. I mean, there may be a convenience factor, but that's just because we went for decades without getting baptized doesn't mean we shouldn't be. We should be. It's the two sacraments clearly commanded actually in scripture, baptism and the Lord's Supper, which we are told to partake in to celebrate his death until he returns. So, I mean, it's a very simple answer, because this is

what God says we should do. Baptizing, making disciples, baptizing and teaching them all that I commanded you. So, to be a disciple of Christ means that you, I mean, the standard thing is that you're baptized. And then if you're not, I wonder why wouldn't you just do that? Well, I've had a great Christian life without it, you may have. Although it is odd if Terry has been in a pastoral role and he himself is unbaptized, what does he tell other Christians regarding baptism? Is he telling other Christians, well, you know, be baptized. This is what the pattern was in the New Testament. In fact, baptism happened immediately after a profession of faith.

And there's Cornelius, you know, and Peter in Acts chapter 10, and there's a, after Peter preaches his sermon to that group in that house, there are manifestations of the Spirit that the listeners are expressing, giving evidence to Peter that they are now regenerate. And he says, how could we withhold water for baptism then, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Now I know that a lot of churches wait until a period of time and a person is catechized to some degree before they have them be baptized, but it's just interesting that that wasn't the case early on. Early on they were baptized right away in virtue of their faith in Christ. So my sense is don't delay.

Some denominations, and particularly denominations who believe in baptismal regeneration, that is that you're not saved until you're baptized. You can express faith in Christ, but then you got to get baptized, and that kind of seals the whole deal. I don't agree with that theology. But in those cases, they baptize all right away. And people express faith in Christ, they get them baptized, because there's still a risk, according to that theology. So, baptism should be done as ASAP. So, baptism should be done as ASAP. And Terry, if it wasn't ASAP and it's like decades later, still should get baptized. Yeah, I agree.

Even if we didn't know exactly why, if Jesus says to do it, we should do it. And then you can work that out later. But I think what might be playing some sort of role in here, Terry, and I think what can happen is when people put it off and it goes on for a long time, and you've been an elder and you've pastored and you've been to seminary, now it gets kind of embarrassing. You don't really want to tell people, especially if you've been telling people to get baptized. Maybe you feel a little bit uncomfortable telling people you haven't been baptized yet, but I would really encourage you not to let that stop you. Don't let that fear stop you. This is a chance to humble

yourself before God and the other people in your congregation and just say, look, I was never baptized and I want to be faithful and I'm so grateful that God has saved me by His grace and I want to proclaim that to all of you and I want to be obedient and all those things. I just don't let the fear of what other people will think stop you from this because that's not a legitimate thing to stop you Right, right. I don't know that it has to be done in a big Grand public fashion either just I mean you could get baptized in a more private circumstance with witnesses around But you don't have to get baptized before your whole congregation say yeah, I haven't done this yet shame on me, although it could, if you did that,

it could be leveraged into a lesson for many others in the congregation who have been dragging their feet. And so this would be an opportunity of a certain kind of confession to say, hey, mea culpa, I should have done this a long time ago. And if you're in the same circumstance that I am, you ought to take care of this too. So I think it can go either way.

Let's go on to a question from Ellie. What difference, if any, is there between a short and to-the-point prayer and a wordy, eloquent prayer, especially if they both truly come from the heart? Well this gets to the, what I call the calculus of prayer, which I am largely ignorant on. I read a book recently by Kevin DeYoung, who's worth reading on everything he writes. And he always writes short books, which is really good. And he did a piece on prayer.

And his point there is that a short prayer, when you express your needs before God adequately, in other words, clearly and persuasively is the way I've characterized. I got that from J.P. Morland, by the way. So we speak clearly, we speak persuasively. We're trying to persuade God to do something for a certain reason. He gets that from the prayers in the New Testament and the Old Testament. Prayers in the Bible, this is the way people prayed. And so if we do that, then we can move on. And I have been hamstrung by this same concern. Well, maybe I should say the same thing in a bunch of different ways,

and it will make it more potent. Then God will listen, you know. But I think Kevin has a point, and if you look at the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray, now, praising categories, I get that, and we're not to pray that prayer just like that, which a lot of people do, and some methodically and multiple times over, which Jesus says, don't do it that way. He says, pray like this. He didn't say pray this.

But if we are, but it does seem like there's an appeal to be straightforward about these particular things, you know, give us this day or daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those trespass against us, you know, and deliver us from the evil. So these are kind of categories, but notice they're not complicated, they're not flowery, they're just straight up. And I think that's fine. There are times when our hearts, I think,

are much more invested in the prayer and distressed, maybe. And so we are going to be praying more about that. But the difference is this, I think sometimes we think, if I say the prayer this way a bunch of different times, you know, if I just keep going back over it, I'm increasing the merit of the prayer and God will listen. To me, that's different than what I was just referring to is when we are emotionally involved in the issue and I'm thinking just to my drive to the studio today, there were so many things I was pouring out my heart to God about that were so deep and personal to me that I just kept talking about them. And I wasn't, and at some point I was asking for him to act, but a whole part

of that conversation, or I should say that prayer, with God on that issue was just me emoting, me having a cathartic experience, me pouring out my heart before God. And not so much that if I just do this more this way, then he'll really wake up and listen. So I think theologically, we don't have to keep going on and on and on and on about it. Even Jesus says, your Father knows what you need even before you ask, okay? Not that it's not important for us to ask because he responds to the request even though he knows what we need But if you want to go into more detail let the detail reflect the pathos of your heart in the midst of your prayer and not the sense that if I just Keep knocking this around in different ways that it'll be more persuasive to God by the way

I completely Ellie I completely, Ellie, I completely identify with this because I always struggle with this. I've had for years and years and years, then I read something like Kevin DeYoung's book, and which I'm not sure the title of. Do you know the title? Are you talking about the Daily Doctrine one, or are you talking about a different one? No, no, that's a big one. This one's, well, yeah, that's his only big one, the Daily Doctor one. That's a devotional type thing. This is a one about the Lord's Prayer, I think. That's the topic of, it's D-E-Y-O-U-N-G, Kevin, K-E-V-I-N, D-Young. So just go to Amazon and you'll see a lot of books that he has. You'll find the one on prayer. If you're interested in that, Amy will probably put it in the show notes too. But he just, it's an encouragement. I still have a sitting next to my chair where I have my morning time

with a pile of other books there too, but I had to pull that out and reread some of that just to remind me myself that I don't have to pound away in that way at the door. Now I repeat my prayers. I keep going over and over and over again. That is, the next day I might be praying the same thing. It's like, ask, seek, knock, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, you know? And if I haven't woken up the innkeeper yet, I'm going to keep pounding on the door, you know, kind of thing. But I don't think it's necessary to get God's attention and to persuade him that you go into this, you say the same thing a bunch of different ways and maybe you'll hit the right phraseology that will, you know, unlock the answer to the prayer. I don't think it doesn't work that way. I think that's a great distinction, Greg. The problem is not, because the question here is a shortened to the point or wordy and eloquent.

The problem is not a lack of eloquence or the need to say things the right way. That's just such a great, in fact, Jesus even says, you know, don't be like the pagans who think that they'll be heard because of their many words. So if that's what you're doing, you're trying to craft your prayer in a way that will in some way manipulate God or have more merit with God, then that's not useful. But it is completely fine to empty your heart out before God. And of course, this all depends on your personality. And we all have friends who love to tell us every detail about everything and have a lot of words and some who are very brief about what they're explaining. So some of that just has to do with personality. It's fine to say things in a more brief way and when you have more to say to God, just say

more. But don't worry about the way you're saying it as being a necessary part of the prayer. Right. Remember the shortest prayer in the Bible. Peter trying to walk on water semi-successfully says, Lord, save me. Three words in English. And Jesus responded, of course. Okay, let's go to a question from Josh. Another Josh? Or is it the same Josh? No, last one was Ellie. Maybe I said the wrong name. I'm not sure. I have Josh, Terry, Ellie, Josh. But maybe that was another episode.

That was in the previous episode. Sorry about that. Josh, glad to hear from you. All right. I love studying apologetics. I love listening to all your podcasts, reading articles, etc. But when it comes to actually just reading my Bible, I find it difficult to want to do so. Is there a way to bridge just reading my Bible, I find it difficult to want to do so. Is there a way to bridge that gap or is that something I just have to discipline to do anyway? I think the desire, actually desire for anything, what's the, what's the ebbs and what's the

other? Ebs and flows? The tide goes ebbs and ebbs tide and whatever, you know, back and forth. All right, whatever those words are. I think desire for anything is like that. You're going to bang away in apologetics for a while, then you're going to get a little bit tired and then it's not going to seem like so much fun. It's going to seem like more like work.

Now if you're trying to develop your craft as an apologist or just develop your ability to give an answer for the hope that's within you, you're going to stick with it, all right, even when it's not so great. The same thing with Bible study or Bible reading slash study. There are times when it just seems to come easier, and we're just invested in it and then gobbled it up, and other times where it's more difficult. I think that your comment about being a discipline is the right way to approach it. Just make it a habit. And habits are formed by repeated events,

especially if you don't miss one. Now I usually read at least a chapter a day, maybe more. Now this morning, I got up at six o'clock, left at seven, and drove over two hours to get to the office. I didn't read my Bible. You know, I guess I could have listened to the Bible on tape or something, but I was praying lamenting before God about things, and then I called my brother to have a personal conversation with him.

And no, I haven't read my Bible yet. I'm reading it now while we do it, reading these verses for questions. So it doesn't have to happen every day, but I'm not interfering with my habit because I miss a day, because it is habitual to me. Tomorrow I'll be in my chair, first thing in the morning with my coffee and with the Lord. Now at nighttime, before I go to bed, I do have a habit of reading a chapter of Psalms or Proverbs. I go through all the Psalms, I go through all the Proverbs, and then I start over again. Sometimes a long psalm, I only read half of it. And in Proverbs, I only read half a chapter because there's so much there.

So, but that's a habit. It's a discipline. And sometimes it doesn't feel that meaningful. I don't know what else to say. But I always approach it with respect. I approach the word with respect. I say, okay, here I am Lord. Here I am. That's what I say a lot of times in the morning and in the evening. Okay, here I am. Here's your word. Your word is really great. Okay?

And just feed me with it, help me with it, whatever. And then I'll read it. And maybe I'm done reading that portion of Psalm or whatever. And I think, okay, well, let's done with that. Can't get much. I might see a couple of lines that are meaningful and I'll thank God for that. I'll interact with it as much as I can before get much. I might see a couple lines that are meaningful, and I'll thank God for that. I'll interact with it as much as I can before the Lord, but I'm not going to put a lot of

pressure on myself. The key for me is consistency. And when you're—it's like a healthy diet. If you have a consistently healthy diet, the effects are going to be felt over time in your healthy body. And in the same way, reading on a regular basis is going to have that same effect on your spiritual body, as it were. Yeah, I would echo your advice that you have to make this a discipline. So I would say, yes, Josh, you do have to discipline yourself to do it anyway. Whenever you're starting a habit, it's hard to start

it. You don't want to do it. It takes a lot of effort. The more you develop and strengthen that habit, the more you automatically do it, you get over that resistance to it. And I would say there's probably extra resistance to spiritual habits because you've got spiritual opposition that wants to distract you from developing this habit. So it will be hard at first. However, the more you do it, the better you know the Bible, the more familiar you are with it, the more you're going to enjoy reading it. more familiar you are with it, the more you're going to enjoy reading it. So my advice to you, in addition to just developing the discipline, if you're looking for something to bridge the gap of wanting to read it, I think you need to learn more about it. I think you need

to have a better idea of the big picture of the Bible. And one thing you could do to help you with that is get Greg's videos on the Bible fast forward, which you can get at our website. Because if you have a framework, if you understand the big picture of the Bible, as you're reading through, things are going to make a lot more sense and they'll be more meaningful to you. So I would recommend getting a big picture. I also recommend reading more at once, at least a chapter. Don't just read a tiny bit and try and get something out, quote, get something out of that tiny bit. The way the Bible is meant to be read is as a meaningful book. So you need to read more

at once if you want to understand the bigger picture framework, but also how these parts fit in with that. So get a big picture, read more at once. If you can read several chapters at once, that would be great. Another thing you might want to do is maybe focus on one book, read the same book every day for a while and memorize it. Work on memorizing it. That will increase your love for that book especially, but maybe that will ignite some love for the Bible for you. Another thing you can do as you're starting off this habit is to listen. You mentioned this as a possibility you were driving in. The ESV app is so easy to use and their narrator is great. Sometimes you

have a Bible. I usually read the NASB and I'm not really happy with the narrator. So when I'm listening, I'm usually listening to the ESV. It's so easy to use. The app is free. You just find your passage, you press play. There you go. It's very easy to do. You get in the car, you can listen. You're brushing your teeth, you can listen. So that's another way to get through more of it and to familiarize yourself with it. Again, the more familiar you get with it, the more you will enjoy it. So don't take this the way you feel about reading right now as how it's always going to be just because of that's who you are.

That's not true. If you can get, if you can develop this habit and get over this initial resistance, if you can get a framework, if you can read more at once and think about what you're reading, maybe do some memorizing, I think all of these things will really help how you enjoy reading the Bible.

And especially commit yourself to read through the entire Bible. And I've talked about this before, having the Bible in a year, check off squares, but I don't read it in a year, it usually takes me four years. But I can check off squares when I complete the reading for that square. It might take me two or three days for one square because if it's three chapters for the square, I'll just, you know, I'll just

wait until I finish the three chapters and then check the square. But if you keep doing that, then you're getting the full counsel of God in your life. I would add one other thing is don't make a demand on yourself that you have an exhilarating experience every time you read the Word or are in prayer. It just doesn't work like that. There's an ebb and a flow, maybe those are words, and there's sometimes it's going to be better than others just depending on a whole host of things. C.S. Lewis talks about us being kind of our foot in two worlds.

We're one in time and one in eternity is the way he expresses it. And so we are kind of always up and down and up. He calls it the law of undulation. There it is, the law of undulation. That's in screw tape letters, by the way. So just don't make a big emotional demand on yourself regarding reading scripture. Just build a consistent habit. And all those other things will take care of themselves over time.

Sometimes it's not going to be that fun. That's okay. Just do the job and then move on. Just a couple quick more things. One thing you might want to do is have a notebook there or a computer there. And if there is something that if you notice how some things fit together or you have an idea of this passage that you see God in a different way or it helps you to understand something, just write it down.

And sometimes just doing that will help you to see more things like that. So if you're ready to make a note and to think about what you're reading a little bit, then sometimes that helps you to have more of those moments. The only danger with that is that if you think you have to do that, that can stop you from reading. So don't think that. This is just something to maybe kind of prime that pump a little bit. And then finally, pray about it. Ask God to help you do this. Because again, there's a spiritual battle going on. There are spiritual forces out there that don't want you to read the

Bible. So pray that God will help you through this and encourage you and help you to develop this habit. And that's it, Greg. There we go. We talked about baptism and prayer and the Bible. We didn't make it to any questions on the church, but maybe we can save that for another time. All right, we'll do. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate hearing from you. You can send us your question on X with the hashtag STRask or go to our website at str.org. This is Amy Hall and Greg Kochel

for Stand to Reason.