Rebaptism

[aron]

When I went into the LC, there was a not-so-subtle pressure for new ones to get baptized, and in my case re-baptized. I came in from Protestant Christianity where adult baptism was the norm, but in my LC crowd you were merely an associate member until you got LC baptism. Didn't matter if you were already baptized elsewhere.

The official stance of course was "it's up to your conscience", but the unofficial stance from the rank-and-file was, are you sold out for the (LC) church life or not? And baptism into the LC was a crucial step.

(The story I heard was that once WL gave a message on baptism, and the whole LC population subsequently re-baptized itself. Groupthink, much?)

Did anyone else feel this pressure for conformity in this manner? Catholics of course got re-baptized, because as Protestants (the LC was a Protestant spin-off) the infant sprinkling meant nothing. And Chinese of course got baptized as genuine heathen.

But what about already baptized Christians? Did anyone else see this? My sense was that this was the LC norm, not just in my group.

Also, did anyone see previously baptized Christians resist this pressure to conform, yet be able to be "full members" of the LC nonetheless?

And this reminds me of the ICOC cult, where baptism outside meant nothing, and baptism into the ICOC meant that you were a true disciple. Essentially ICOC practiced baptismal regeneration. Until you gave yourself to the ICOC (via baptism) you were a heathen. The LC wasn't this extreme explicitly, but the pressure to conform fully, via baptism in this case, was pretty strong.