Renewing Our Covenants Idea-Source?

[Duncan]

Whenever I think of the term renew I think of borrowing library books and your time with them is running out or has run out so does our covenant with God ever run out or is possibly ever running out? What does it mean to renew our covenants with God?

[JLHPROF]

Whenever I think of the term renew I think of borrowing library books and your time with them is running out or has run out so does our covenant with God ever run out or is possibly ever running out? What does it mean to renew our covenants with God?

 

I doubt the covenant ever runs out since there are quotes that say we will be held to our covenants even if it takes into the eternities (sorry, no ref right now).

 

As for "Renew", I think it just means to recommit.  Just as in the early days of the Church the saints were frequently rebaptized as a sign of recommiting to the gospel.  Brigham had virtually the entire Church membership rebaptized when they reached the valley as a sign of starting over.  Members were often rebaptized when they gathered to Zion, took upon themselves a new calling or ordinance and things like that.

Renew your covenants just means recommit to me.  We are already under them and that doesn't change.

[David T]

I see it much like a pledge of allegience.

[Maestrophil]

By the time I hit one week from the last time I "committed", I have always broken my promises.  Thankfully the Lord lets me renew them anyway.  :-)

[Ahab]

I see it much like a pledge of allegience.

And how often do you think you need to do that when you see a flag hanging up on a pole?

[MiserereNobis]

In Catholicism, we renew our baptismal vows during the Easter Vigil liturgy (which is this upcoming Saturday night).  After the catechumens are baptized, the water from the font is sprinkled on us so that we can renew.  I think it is important to remind us of what happened at our baptism (especially if we were baptized as infants) and to give us a chance to reflect upon the grace God has given us through this Sacrament (ordinance).

[cinepro]

As for "Renew", I think it just means to recommit.  Just as in the early days of the Church the saints were frequently rebaptized as a sign of recommiting to the gospel.  Brigham had virtually the entire Church membership rebaptized when they reached the valley as a sign of starting over.

 

Here's some more info about the history of "Rebaptism" in the Church. It's from a really good magazine the Church used to publish called the "Ensign".  Don't confuse it with the mediocre magazine the Church now publishes also confusingly called the "Ensign":

 

 

Another practice was that of rebaptism. It was always clear that baptism by immersion for the remission of sins was essential to salvation, and that this ordinance must be performed by one holding proper priesthood authority. However, in the nineteenth century it was not uncommon for members of the Church occasionally to be rebaptized, even though they had not left the Church before the second baptism. Some were rebaptized simply because their original records had been lost. More common was the practice of rebaptism in order to rededicate oneself to the building up of the kingdom. Setting the example were Brigham Young and other General Authorities when they were rebaptized on 6 August 1847, shortly after they entered the valley of the Great Salt Lake. This was a new beginning for them, a time of rededication, and their rebaptism was a symbolic representation of this idea. They did it, said Brigham Young, “to set an example to the Church, and recommend that all who desire to be Latter-day Saints should be rebaptized and reconfirmed.”

“This we considered to be a privilege and a duty,” wrote Wilford Woodruff (Journal History, 6 Aug. 1847, p. 1).

Rebaptism as a sign of rededication continued throughout the nineteenth century. In 1853, Brigham Young gently chided some Saints who had only recently crossed the plains: “I have heard some of you cursing and swearing,” he said, “even some of the Elders of Israel. I would be baptized seven times, were I in your place.” (Journal of Discourses, 2:8–9.)

There were other occasions upon which people were sometimes rebaptized; for the sake of their health, for entry into the United Order, and even, in some cases, in preparation for marriage. In 1878 a circular letter from Joseph F. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve gave instructions to bishops regarding those who should receive endowments and said, “No person, male or female, should be recommended for these ordinances, unless they have first renewed their covenants by baptism.”12 So common were both rebaptism and reconfirmation that the printed forms for ward membership records, introduced in 1877, contained columns for officially recording them, and these forms were not replaced until 1900.

It became clear, however, that the practice of rebaptism could be abused. It could become all too convenient to regard it as an easy way to pay the consequences of sin. So it was that the leaders of the Church reconsidered that matter as time went on. In 1893 the First Presidency instructed stake presidents not to require Saints to be rebaptized before they received recommends to attend the temple dedication, for “the Lord will forgive sins if we forsake them.”

Finally, by 1897, the Brethren had decided to end the practice altogether. As explained by George Q. Cannon, first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, “We hear a good deal of talk about rebaptism, and the First Presidency and the Twelve have felt that so much rebaptism ought to be stopped. Men, when they commit sin, think if they can only get the Bishop to re-baptize them, they are all right and their sins are condoned. It is a fallacy; it will lead to destruction. There is no such thing in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repentance from sin that will save you, not re-baptism.” (In Conference Report, Oct. 1897, p. 68.)

The practice of rebaptism thus was discontinued. The obvious redirection in policy was

not a change in the fundamental doctrine of the Church concerning baptism. It was simply an inspired change in policy with regard to a specific variation in practice.

 

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/07/line-upon-line?lang=eng

Edited April 16, 2014 by cinepro

[JLHPROF]

I think removing the practice of rebaptism is kind of sad.  I totally get that people were abusing it and using it as a "get out of hell free" card.

But I think part of it is a misunderstanding of baptism.

Baptism is also a sign that we've accepted Christ and repented of our sins.  I think there are certain times when we should be able to recommit and be rebaptized.  It's not about "washing away sins" every time.

 

I personally wish it were allowed to recommit by rebaptism prior to or following certain major life events, not just for when we sin.

[cinepro]

So the question is this: did LDS in the 1800's think they were "renewing" their baptismal covenants when they took the sacrament, or did that idea develop later after people couldn't be "rebaptised"?