So last night we had small group at my new apartment. I got a nice fica plant/tree from Andrew and a mystery gift from Josh and Amy. Thanks you guys. During church service last week pastor Neil (or Mr. Neil, as Brad would call him) spoke about Baptism and it was evident from the beginning of the message that it is a subject that he is very passionate about.
I want to thank my small group for the amazing discussion that we had last night. I learned a lot from what all of you had to say and that is truly a great experince. However, I know not all of you love to get into those heated discussion and sometimes would rather just share about life and struggles that we may be going through. I apoligize for not having a prayer and share time last night to those of you and I promise I will try to do a better job in the future of getting deeper and, as Sandals would say it, more REAL.
As many of you discovered last night, I am not baptized and, at this moment, have no intention of doing so. Up until about two weeks ago the issue of Baptism had never crossed my mind nor the many spiritual conversations that I tend to get myself involved in. Because of this the idea of Baptism simply never appealed to me.
A couple of weeks ago I was reading a book by Brian McLaren and he brought up baptism, calling it a "public...ceremonial washing-symbolically expressing your belief that you have previously been dirty and now you are clean." I agree with McLaren that it is ceremonial and symbolic and nothing more. I don't believe that anything super-spiritual or magical happens when one is Baptized. However, I do believe that anything, symbolic or ceremonial, that is intended for our almighty heavenly Father is to be done with the upmost sencerity and commitment, with a worshipful and sacrificial mindset, just like when we are praying or worshiping Him with song on Sunday. He deserves nothing less than our complete devotion. If I was to get baptized this very instant, I don't think that I could honestly say that I was doing so. Although, baptism is a public confession of faith, it is not about the people watching, nor is it even about the one getting baptized. It is about something greater, something that we should be striving for in every action that we take throughout the day (work, school, putting your shoes on) and that is glorifying Him who saved us from our transgressions. On the day that I get baptized I don't want the people who are watching to say, "Wow, look at the man/Christian that he has become." No, I want them to say, "Wow, look at what Christ has done in him. What an awesome God!"
2 comments:
After that gathering of hearts and minds if in or against baptism through various arguements, I decided I'm not going to get baptised on the 24th. This is thanks to some comments made about the act as a reference to the crowd or peoples scattered about the pool or water or whetever have you. At the last church I attended, they too held almost weekly baptism for volunteers as a personal request, not really held as a calling on stage during service, but merely something encouraged in a "call our office" kind of way. before anyone would be baptised (in one of those elevated pools behind the stage), the person would appear larger then life on the projector screens flanking the stage, where they would talk about the changes they experienced in their life. These short movies were obviously edited for length and, in turn, cut to sound identical from person to person. More so, the only people I saw baptised were kids (around 7) or old drug addicts new to the church. No one my age was ever up there, nor seemed inclined to. As I was baptised once as a child, I felt like this was something I should be doing too, but why? I eventually realized it was about the people who would see me on that screen or in that pool, for what I wanted was a way to make sure people knew I was a Christian. I figured that was what's important, yeah? The profession of faith to any and all around. But I put it off, embarrased of age and uncertainty. Someone once told me that baptism isn't important, merely the heart behind it. To weild my heart and mind and words correctly would be more respectful then a hastily chosen dunking in a tub. Then I came to Sandals, saw it on the blue card and checked it. But in hind sight, I am not excited or anxious about it at all, more indifferent. I don't feel some heady sense to get baptised to complete me or anything having to do with me, really. I don't think being baptised would stagger me, realizing the sin I didn't see or hear, taste nor touch until the water hit my skin, and I don't think I'll be more clean after the fact. I just want people to know what I am and, after the other night, that doesn't seem like something that will done correctly through these partioned means. Seems like it would be an affront, maybe even insulting.
Interesting thoughts AJ and I would like to discuss this with you sometime. One thing I do want to say is when I see followers of Christ being baptized in church or other places, whether young or old, I thank the Lord for the work He alone has done in their life. I don't think I have ever witnessed a baptism and said "Wow look at that Christian." I agree with your statement of saying everything we do in life should be in complete devotion and worship of the Lord. Amen! Amen! Red lights start flashing in my head when I hear of people using baptism to bring glory to themselves. Call me judgmental, but I question their sincerity. Thank you for this post. It reminds me to really think of why I think baptism is important and actually Biblical. A few questions to think on... Why did John baptize people (even Paul baptized some believers-1 Cor 1)? Why was Jesus baptized? Why did Jesus command us to "Go and make disciples of all men, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"? Why, throughout the New Testament, is baptism connected with so many of the salvation testimonies (a few examples: Acts 16-Lydia v.14-15, The Jailer v.33, Acts 8 esp v.12&13, Acts 18)? These are a few things that come to my mind. Thanks for your thoughts AJ. I'm interested to hear more as you continue to think about this subject.
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