I want to be extra-careful to present this to you as my opinion, because I believe that neither I, nor you the reader, nor anyone at all can provide a definitive answer to this question of "baptism."

I was baptized definitely three times (and possibly a fourth time, but my memory is a bit fuzzy on the circumstances of the fourth) in the ICoC. However, according to their theology concerning baptism, none of those baptisms "took"! So, how many times does one have to get baptized to finally be a Christian/a "disciple"/saved? This is a question for which I STILL have no sensible answer from the ICoC standpoint.

To begin with, the ICoC is one of those groups that believes you aren't a Christian/a "disciple"/saved unless you are baptized. This dilemma is commonly identified in Christian circles as the concept of "baptismal regeneration" and is a source of endless argument, even among those who have no ties with the ICoC. Churches which believe in and practice "baptismal regeneration" are typically those that have their roots in Stone and Campbell's "Restoration Movement." I am providing links here for Hotbot searches of the terms "Restoration Movement" and baptismal regeneration in order that you may easily locate more information about the subjects if you are unfamiliar with these terms.

Frankly, I think it's pointless to argue about whether baptism "saves" you or not, as there are Scriptures which could conceivably prove either viewpoint.

However, those in the ICoC don't see it that way. To them, no other baptism but theirs is valid.

From an ICoC member's perspective, if you were baptized as a baby, they say that doesn't count because you didn't make that decision yourself, and based on my own understanding of Scripture, I would agree with that. BUT - since I don't think that baptism has any power to save, I think it's kind of a moot point.

If you were baptized as a baby and found Jesus Christ for yourself later in life, just get baptized as an adult and don't let anyone try make a federal case of it. The point is that you were obedient to Scripture, not that the water has any actual power to "regenerate" you.

Adults who have been baptized in other Christian churches aren't allowed to "place membership" with the ICoC without being baptized by the ICoC - well, I should say only very, very rarely does anyone "get to" do this. I never personally witnessed anyone placing membership at an ICoC church without benefit of ICoC baptism myself.

The ICoC predicates its whole belief system on the fact that they are right and you are wrong, and in order for you to be right, too, you must re-align your thinking so that you believe as they believe about EVERYTHING. It doesn't serve the ICoC organization's purpose for you to be thinking that you did anything right at any point in time. From an ICoC leader's perspective, giving you the benefit of the doubt about your salvation or your Christianity gives you too much power. They want you to believe that you can't be a Christian/a "disciple"/saved without the ICoC's help.

A favorite phrase is that "there are 'disciples' out there who just haven't found us [the ICoC] yet." But almost without exception, all these people who encounter the ICoC will be discovered to have some "sin" in their lives that will be judged to have prevented them from truly becoming a "disciple" at any time before encountering the ICoC.

Again, "allowing you" (in their minds) to have found salvation before you found the ICoC would give you too much power. People who know that Jesus Christ is responsible for their salvation (not the ICoC organization) have no problem leaving the ICoC if circumstances warrant it. BECAUSE WITHOUT THE PERCEIVED POWER TO GIVE AND/OR TAKE AWAY SALVATION, THE ICOC IS "JUST ANOTHER CHURCH." The reality is that this "church" only has as much power as WE GIVE IT. So why don't "we people" stop giving them the power? The answer is complicated on a psychological and emotional level. I hope to discuss this more in a separate essay.

No matter how many times one is baptized in the ICoC, the thinking is that if a person "falls away," he/she was never really a "disciple" to begin with. Many who leave the ICoC and go back end up submitting to another baptism (that is, after all the gut-wrenching hoop-jumping you must do to prove to the leaders that you are "worthy" to be a "disciple" again). It is interesting to note that while ICoC leaders don't typically allow the "retroactive understanding" argument for anyone else, Kip McKean, the sect's leader, has never submitted himself to the ICoC's baptism.

Who can actually look into a person's heart and see what's there? According to the ICoC, people just as fallible as us. And in the ICoC, there's no room for exploration or mistakes on your spiritual journey before someone decides you're "not a disciple" and leaders begin wanting to "get with you" to talk about it.

It is SUCH a vicious cycle.

From a Christian perspective, I view the ICoC's practice of "rebaptism" as a HORRIBLE abuse of God's grace. If you're a Christian, it's like saying Christ's finished work on the Cross isn't enough for you, and you have to keep submitting yourself to baptism because you lack the faith to believe that God has already granted you his wonderful grace.

You end up repeatedly trying to save yourself through baptism, because that is what the ICoC teaches that you must do in order to be in God's good graces. In practice, the ICoC is really an extremely humanistic system of religious belief, and in my opinion, the baptism issue is but one of many proofs of this humanism.