Friday, April 16, 2010

A Baptist's Worst Nightmare

A review for "Scriptural Baptism" by Uuraas Saarnivaara
Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, of White Horse Inn fame, first recommended this book to me in college. He has prefaced this book with a forward in the reprinting, as with anything written by this man, it is worth a read itself.
The book is phenomenal in its clarity. It is written as a dialogue between two lay people, one a baptist and the other a Lutheran. They then examine different Bible passages and commentary concerning them from famous baptist theologians as well as those of "baby sprinklers". The arguments of the baptists are thoroughly destroyed and discredited, but not in a mean manner.
For baptists who are really wanting to examine the validity of their own position, this is a must read. For Lutherans who are being plagued by Baptist Bible thumpers and suspect these thumpers to be wrong in their interpretation but can't put their finger on it, this is also a must read. Or if you just want to shut your obnoxious baptist in-laws up, after they thoroughly ruined your post baptism luncheon in which you wanted to celebrate your child's new found relationship with God, then this is the book for you. Really, anyone wanting to study what the Bible says concerning Baptism and the nature of faith, original sin etc. This book needs to be read.
Pastor's, who often share my bad habit of speaking a confusing parochial language can also benefit greatly reading this book. It gives you a new vocabulary that allows you to speak clearly concerning the topic at hand.
The Baptist's worst nightmare is a Christian who has read this book!

4 comments:

Steve Martin said...

It sounds like a winner!

Thanks, Bror!

Bror Erickson said...

It is.

Kelly Klages said...

I had this book in my list of recommended further reading for my book "Water with the Word: A Baptism Q&A." My book deals with a similar idea: a simple way to discuss the efficacy of Baptism with Christians unfamiliar with the idea. It draws on my own Baptist background and the questions I had when first considering Lutheranism. It's a free download here: http://www.bythefont.com/baptismqa.zip

Bror Erickson said...

Kelly,
Thank you, any resource in this department is extremely helpful.