Two Baptisms

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Harold_A.Dupre

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Hail to The King!

Dear friends in Christ,

I am currently sharing faith with a sincere protestant who believes that one must be baptised twice in order to obtain salvation. My thought is that she must be thinking of being born again of Water and The Holy Sprirt. I would really like to know what the Catholic Church teaches on this subject before continuing our discussion. Please help me.

All praise and glory to God!

Harold A. Dupre
 
The Creed says it all:

“We believe in ONE baptism for the forgiveness of sins.”

Most Protestants believe this too.
 
Jesus only died once. We only have to die once, through baptism.

Josh
 
Some of the other religions baptise and submurge their people three times (Father, Son, Holy Ghost). I wonder if this is what she is thinking.

We Catholics believe in ONE BAPTISM. So maybe you need to ask her what the two are for.
 
It is very possible that your friend is not saying that 2 baptisms are needed (this is easily proved wrong in Ephesians 4:5), but that the Catholic baptism is not valid, therefore a second baptism is needed. That used to be my thoughts on the matter before I was convinced of Catholicism. What type of Protestant is she?
 
We are not Baptized once with water then Baptized again with the Holy Spirit (in either order). We are Baptized once, with water AND the Holy Spirit.
 
Joseph Bilodeau:
We are not Baptized once with water then Baptized again with the Holy Spirit (in either order). We are Baptized once, with water AND the Holy Spirit.
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Yes, and this is where most people take the ‘born again’ thing, too far (Evangelical Protestants). We are all born again, at baptism. Baptism for Christians is the new Covenant, it is to Jews what circumcision was. It is why Gentiles didn’t have to be circumsized in order to attain salvation, etc.
 
As a baptist for 20 years (I’m home now;) ), I was taught that these are three separate experiences:
  1. Conversion. At some point a person makes a “decision” (Billy Graham) to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. At that moment he is “born again”, according to this system.
  2. Baptism. One makes a simple confession of faith in Jesus, and is baptized by being immersed once, “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
  3. Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This has nothing to do with water, but is a spiritual experience, usually signified bt speaking in tongues. This was not very much emphasised in my church, it was almost like an “optional extra”. The Pentecostals I knew considered it much more central.
I was baptized Lutheran as a child, and then again in the Baptist church at 18. When I was a Baptist, I was taught to consider my Lutheran baptism as no baptism as all, because I was too young to make a profession of faith. Now, as a Catholic, I (or rather, the Church does) consider my Lutheran baptism as valid, and my Baptist baptism as invalid because it was superfluous. If I hadn’t been baptized as a child, my adult Baptist baptism would have been the valid one. Water baptism is once only.
 
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