Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 10
Susan “highly recommend[ed] anybody getting baptized again” if they were only sprinkled in the Amish church, connecting it to “freedom” from being “bound to all their rules and the way you dress”; what does her experience suggest about baptism’s relationship to allegiance, community boundaries, and obedience—and how does this challenge common modern claims that baptism is optional, merely symbolic, or unrelated to real-life freedom?
Another way to ask: What does Susan’s choice to be baptized again say about baptism, loyalty, and breaking free from a rule-based community, and how does it challenge the idea that baptism is optional or only a symbol?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Susan’s experience suggests baptism is tied to real allegiance and community belonging: her second baptism marked a decisive break with Amish authority and brought a sense of freedom from rule-bound identity. In her story, baptism is not treated as optional or merely symbolic because it triggered clear community consequences and personal release.
- She distinguishes her first “sprinkled” experience as motion without understanding, done because “it was what you did.”
- After leaving Amish church attendance (June 2021), she and Samuel “both got baptized again” in late August 2021.
- That act drew a boundary response: when the bishop (Samuel’s dad) found out, “that kind of kicked us out…they kind of put us out because we…baptized again.”
- She links the second baptism to freedom: “I would highly recommend anybody getting baptized again…because I did experience freedom and not being bound to all their rules and the way you dress.”
- Her excommunication followed (September 2021), showing baptism affected real-life relationships and identity.