In her interesting book, Founding Fathers and Facing Facts, Christadelphian author Ruth McHaffie wrote the following about John Thomas and, from a Christadelphian perspective, John Thomas’ baptism is questionable and perhaps ineffectual(!):
By Christadelphian
criteria, "brotherhood" depends on beliefs held at the time of
baptism. As Dr. Thomas explained with italicised emphasis,
The principle which
first turned up as the result of proving all things, was that the immersion
of an individual whose "faith" was not the faith of the gospel was a
valueless immersion - it was not christian baptism... Out of this principle
grew another, namely, that a knowledge of truth acquired subsequently to
such an immersion did not convert it into obedience of the gospel of christian
baptism. (Thomas, Herald of the Kingdom, Vol. I, 1851, p. 2)
And again, as he
wrote (to Robert Roberts),
No one should be
recognised as one of Christ's brethren who is not sound in the first principles
of the gospel before immersion. (Roberts, Autobiography, [1939 edit.],
p. 115) (Ruth McHaffie, Finding Founders and Facing Facts [Edinburgh, 2001],
100)
In a footnote to the above, we read:
Despite this
attestation, we must remember that John Thomas himself was baptised while
believing in immortal emergence (see his Anastasis, p. 25). That doctrine would
today forbid immersion into our community and would be counted as legitimate
reason for disfellowship should any existing member express it. The logical,
but appalling, conclusion regarding our pioneer would, however, be too
distressing for our community to contemplate. (Ibid., 100 n. 25)
