«
»

The What If Game

September 2nd, 2008 by Jeremy Sprouse

What if someone is on the way to be baptized and they suddenly have a heart attack and die? What if someone’s health condition prevents them from being baptized by immersion? What if someone wants to obey the gospel but does not have enough water to be immersed? What if someone doesn’t have a Bible? Often, these questions are used to call into question the scriptural doctrine of baptism for forgiveness of sins. Someone is caught without a Scripture to use so he/she begins to play the “What If Game.” It’s a bombardment of questions about people in extreme situations designed to show the ridiculousness of believing one must be baptized by immersion to obey the gospel. This kind of arguing, however, is fundamentally flawed for three reasons.
First, “what ifs” change the focus from us to someone else. The course of study has been changed from what we need to do to what is going to happen to imaginary people. In John 21:18-22, Peter seems to get a little uncomfortable when Jesus tells him about his death and asks about John’s death. Jesus responds: “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” It didn’t matter what was going to happen, Peter’s focus needed to be following Jesus. Our response to Jesus should not be based on the situations of others, but on ourselves.
Second, “what ifs” change the situation from the actual to the improbable. “What ifs” rarely have anything to do with the actual situations of those involved in a study. The discussion has been changed from the here and now to the may never happen. There are billions of theoretical possible scenarios and ways things can happen. It would be ridiculous to consider every imaginary situation before making a decision. We are not the judge of men; Jesus’ words will be (John 12:46-50). It is not up to us to decide the fate of men in various situations. It is up to us to obey His word (Matthew 7:21-23, John 14:15). We have been given enough information to respond to the gospel (John 20:30-31, 1 John 5:13). We need to take the information given to us and apply it to our actual situation rather than worrying about imaginary scenarios.
Third, “what ifs” are never conclusive—there is always a counter “what if.” For every “what if this happens” there is a “what if it doesn’t?” What if the person does not have a heart attack? What does he need to do? What if the person does not have health problems? What does he need to do? “What ifs” can go on forever without coming to any conclusions. Dwelling on them makes us no better than those dwelling on myths and endless genealogies (1 Timothy 1:3-7). They are just a distraction to the matter at hand: how are we to respond to God’s Word?
Most “what ifs” can be answered logically, but this doesn’t solve the root of the problem. Many people doggedly hold to beliefs with no Bible support (e.g., The Sinner’s Prayer). We need to let go of man’s beliefs and traditions and hold to God’s (cf. Mark 7:1-8). How about this “what if”: What if we stopped questioning God and simply obeyed His word?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:49 am and is filed under Bulletin Articles.

Leave a Reply