[George W. Bush]

I would baptize the man using the canteen water. That was also the choice of the baptist chaplain and of many of those who later discussed the incident. There were those who opposed the notion....they also cited the thief on the cross as their reason for saying baptism is optional.

Well, proper baptism is by immersion, the uniform example in the New Testament. However, baptism is an ordinance of the church, not a sacrament. Baptists are pretty strict scriptural minimalists. That is our greatest spiritual contribution, I think, and it is why we are legitimately regarded as children of the Reformation churches. However, since the Bible only gives examples of adults being baptized by immersion, we follow that practice. I think that baptism is viewed by Baptists as an act of obedience. At almost every baptism, a Baptist minister will tell his flock that there is nothing magical in baptism. And Baptists believe this.

However, I have no doubt at all that many Baptists see in their own baptisms a special private blessing that God has given them. It may also have some merit in wedding a Baptist to the rule of the Word which offers a uniform example of belief in Christ followed by the simple obedience of baptism. Or a Baptist might see it as his formal claim upon the promises of scripture and see it as an induction into the priesthood of believers.

I believe there is a blessing bestowed via baptism. I also believe the situation allowed for both the chaplain and the dying soldier to respond. Neither Jesus nor the thief on the cross were in any position to respond.

In this instance, few Baptists would condemn this battlefield sprinkling. However, Baptists would object to taking an act of harmless spiritual charity in extremis and then using it to justify some general principle of sprinkling or infant baptism or other unbiblical practices.

You still haven't acknowledged the inherent weakness of arguing theology from such extreme circumstances. Personally, I think there are deathbed conversions but they're pretty rare. So your example has little to do with the spiritual life of most Christians throughout history.

[xzins]

GW, I agree that it was an in extremis event and that one can't properly form an entire theology around such things.

My point, though, had to with Jael's declaring OP to be heretic and a non-Christian because he belongs to a denomination that practices infant baptism.

I was checking to see how far she would go with her "proper baptism is the cause of salvation" ideology.