Leaving Denominationalism as a Boy

Many years ago I left the church of my upbringing—the Lutheran Church. I was just a young man thus it continued for a number of months. In fact, I have written elsewhere on this website about my experiences in leaving the one and going to something else.

Today is sort of a “remembrance” of that memorable day. It was today as a day of the past that I made my decision with the formidable consequences of this dramatic decision. I know that today this may not be considered a major decision but to me (and probably to others in our little village/town) it was a major step. We are convinced that it was a good decision but it changed my life completely.

This decision was to leave the only church or denomination with which I was familiar but it was also to be baptized again. Actually, it was not to be baptized again since the first experience as a baby, I was not really baptized as God would look at it. (To be honest, I have been baptized since but at that time I was thinking that this was God’s will for me.)

By baptism, this is what I mean. I had been “poured” (actually, it was “poured on” and not poured since I was not poured myself!) as a baby. This time, I was immersed into water to indicate my choice of the Lord and His will. And I was not an infant but a thinking boy who could made a decision on my own.

I recall it well. I was picked up by two unknown but kindly men and we went to the woods (actually a park) nearby. There was a sizeable hill that led to the water and one of these men followed me to the water’s edge. I don’t remember the details but do remember that he immersed (baptized) me in the cool waters of a slow-flowing stream after I confessed my faith in Christ Jesus. Sometime after this, we ascended the hill, entered their car, and I drove home. As I said, my life was radically altered after this for it was something of a climactic event. Keep in mind that I was somewhat of a shy lad who had spent numerous hours with an open Bible and eventually (at this time) was able to be immersed in water. I had studied this, read about it, planned for it, and finally my opportunity came.

No, this was not a baptism, per se, for I had come to the conclusion that my earlier religious experience that I had thought was a baptism (an infant baptism or baby baptism) was really no baptism—thus I needed to be genuinely baptized. This is the same conclusion and thoughts that had motivated the so-called Anabaptists 450 years before. (Now it would be perhaps much longer ago.) Thus, I had not truly been “baptized” but merely received a “wetting” when I was a baby.

(Although the so-called Anabaptists were persecuted for their belief, I was not nearly as much. Some 5,000 of them were killed (with the Anabaptist women being drowned and the Anabaptist men being burned to death) by the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Calvinists. Further, we might also point out that these well-meaning and sacrificial people were devoted, much of what they professed was wrong, including the meaning and purpose of baptism!

Thus, today is something of a memorial to that important day of years ago. Although much, much has passed since that time and God has brought me to further elements of truth, still I am thankful for all that He did at that time and since. Since that time, I have been truly baptized into Christ and can look back with some gratitude and joy. May He be blessed and may He continue to lead me from one degree of glory to another.

Richard Hollerman