The following is from a letter written by a Cambridge reader, who asks for our advice:—
“I have a friend who is a Seventh Day Adventist. He differs from them in a few points, however. He was adult-immersed by them. As a believer in the Second Coming of Christ he is staunch, and he believes in Conditional Immortality. He himself does not believe in the Doctrine of the Trinity, although many Seventh Day Adventists do so. He agrees doctrinally on almost all points with [us], but maintains that his baptism by the Seventh Day Adventists is valid… One cannot say (he argues) how much has to be believed for salvation. The ‘first principles,’ he says, are quite arbitrary, and he claims that no one has the right to limit God’s salvation, by asserting that so and so are essential for salvation, while other things are not essential for salvation.”
We quite agree that “one cannot say how much has to be believed for salvation,” or define with any authority what things are “essential” and what are not. Our own view can be summed up by saying that we must believe “the Truth” as we ourselves see it, and hope that we shall be accepted as worthy believers on the Day of Judgment.
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Author: P. H. Adams
Keywords: baptism, rebaptism, rebaptised, rebaptized, anabaptist, anabaptism, correct doctrine, essential doctrines, first principles, catechism, change of beliefs, baptismal interview, catechumen, Catechist, doctrinal statement, statement of faith
Bible reference(s): Acts 8:36-37, Acts 18:25-26, Acts 19:3-5, Acts 16:30-31
Source: “Belief and Salvation,” The Testimony, Vol. 23, No. 265, January 1953, pp. 28-9.
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