bapti-

1. The advocacy of adult baptism on the grounds that only as adults can people responsibly accept and declare their faith.
2. Any of the churches of western Christendom that separated from the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation resulting in a Protestant movement in the 16th century that believed in the primacy of the Bible, only baptized believers, not infants, and believed in complete separation of church and state.

A member of a movement of the Protestant Reformation who believed in adult baptism, freedom of religious beliefs, separation of church and state, the rejection of war, and other beliefs that were rather advanced for their time.

Anabaptists believed that infants were not punishable for sin because they had no awareness of good and evil and thus could not yet exercise free will, repent, and accept baptism.

Denying the validity of infant baptism, they accepted adult baptism, which was regarded as a second baptism by those outside the group who identified them as Anabaptists (from the Greek for "rebaptizers"). Confident of living at the end of time, early Anabaptists sought to restore the institutions and spirit of the primitive church.

The denial, on scriptural grounds, of the validity of infant baptism.

Someone who denies, on scriptural grounds, the validity of infant baptism.

Someone who has an interest in or fondness for collecting Christian baptismal names.

1. The immersion or dipping of a believer into water, symbolizing the complete renewal and change in the believer's life and testifying to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way to salvation.
2. A ceremonial immersion in water, or application of water, as an initiatory rite or sacrament of the Christian church.
3. A trying or purifying experience or initiation.

As with most Christian practices and beliefs, the background of baptism lies in practices of the Jewish community. The Greek word baptizo, "immerse, dip, submerge" is used to represent something else or symbolically to mean, "to go down, to perish".

A some point, close to the time of Jesus, Judaism placed a heavy emphasis on ritual washings to cleanse from impurity. Jews started baptizing Gentile converts, although circumcision still remained the primary entrance rite into Judaism.

1. A member, or members, of a Christian denomination that baptizes people by total immersion when they are old enough to understand and declare their faith.
2. A member of any of various Christian groups that affirm the necessity of baptism; usually of adults or older children, and by immersion, following a personal profession of Christ as their Savior.
3. A member of an evangelical church following the reformed tradition in worship, and believing in individual freedom, in the separation of church and state, and in baptism of voluntary, conscious believers.

During the 17th century two groups of Baptists emerged in England: General Baptists, who held that Christ's atonement applied to all people, and Particular Baptists, who believed it was only for the elect.

Baptist origins in the American colonies can be traced to Roger Williams, who established a Baptist church in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639.

Baptist growth in the United States came about by the Great Awakening in the mid-18th century with a series of religious revivals that swept over the American colonies. The 1814 General Convention showed divisions among U.S. Baptists over slavery; a formal split occurred when the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845 and was confirmed when the Northern (American) Baptist Convention was organized in 1907.

African-American Baptist churches provided leadership in the 1960's civil rights movement, notably through the work of Martin Luther King. Baptist belief emphasizes the authority of local congregations in matters of faith and practice; worship is characterized by extemporaneous prayer and hymn-singing as well as by the exposition of the scriptures in sermons.

1. A building or a part of a church in which baptism is administered.

In the earliest examples, it was merely a basin or pool set into the floor; later, the Christian Church set aside a separate structure for the ceremony.
2. A tank or pool in a Baptist church used for baptisms by total immersion.

A part of a church or formerly a separate building for baptism; also spelled baptistery.

1. The immersion or dipping of a believer in water symbolizing the complete renewal and change in the believer's life and testifying to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the way to salvation.
2. To immerse someone in water as a sign that the person has been accepted into the Christian faith; an alternative practice is to sprinkle with water.
3. To give a personal name to someone during the Christian ceremony of baptism.
4. Etymology: from Old French batisier (11th century), from Latin baptizare, which came from Greek baptizein, "to immerse, to dip in water"; also used figuratively; such as, "to be over one's head" (in debt, etc.), "to be soaked (in wine)"; in Greek Christian usage, "baptize"; from baptein, "to dip, to steep, to dye, to color". For sense development, baptism originally consisted of full immersion.

The meaning, or process, of baptizing is not the same for all Christian groups. For some denominations, the sacrament of baptism is performed by immersing the whole body in water, and this is done with adults.

More generally among many church denominations, the ceremony is performed by sprinkling water on the face of a person, whether an infant or an adult, and often with an infant, he or she is given a first or Christian name; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which is called "Christening".

Baptism is not just to cleanse the body, but as an outward sign of an inward spiritual cleansing and commitment. Baptism is a sign of repentance, as practiced by John the Baptist, and of faith in Jesus Christ, as practiced by Jesus’ disciples.

From the Latin word credo, "I believe", which is the religious practice of baptizing only individuals who personally confess faith in Jesus, therefore excluding very young children.

A person must come to a saving faith and profess Christ as Lord and Savior.