So I'm getting baptized this Sunday...full immersion of course (sprinkling is for babies, quite literally). It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. I mean I 'accepted Jesus into my heart' at the tender age of about 8 or 9, so waiting another 13 years before being baptized isn't exactly Biblical practice when it comes to baptism. In fact Biblical practice seems to be that someone can only be converted when they're within 10 yards of a water source, such is the immediacy of new believers' baptisms as told in the Book of Acts. But seriously, what really is correct procedure with regards baptism? Infant baptism, adult baptism, post-Junior Cert baptism, instant baptism? I've always found the act of baptism to be a strange beast, which is why I've just ignored it for so long.
I guess I just never understood it's significance. I almost treated it like circumcision, in that it was something the people of old had to, but in the 'New Covenant' it didn't really matter what outward actions were undertaken. There are of course no Biblical texts to support such a stance, but that was some of the reasoning going on inside my head for quite a long time.
I also developed quite a cynical attitude to baptism. I'd see people being baptized in our own church, but then in a few weeks or months or years they'd be living lives that didn't really reflect any kind of spiritual growth or renewal, so what was the point? Was baptism just some kind of seal of salvation which then permitted people to live however they pleased in the knowledge that their name is written in the 'Lambs Book of Life'? Being a devout legalist, that didn't sit well with me.
Also, being as stubborn as am, I never wanted to just do something because that's what my parents wanted. I didn't want to be baptized solely to please my parents. I mean baptism is supposed to be an outward symbol of an inward reality (I think). I didn't want that inward reality to be 'at least now my parents will stop asking me to think about being baptized'. I wanted the decision to be baptized to be my own, which is why I have problems with infant baptism. I don't believe the Bible explicitly has problems with it, because we never read anything about infants being baptized or not being baptized. We do read about households being baptized, so you'd expect some infants were baptized, but it's never made clear.
Anyway, after a long and painless process of ignoring baptism, I decided a while back that it was time to take the plunge. I wasn't sure when exactly I'd do it, but I had in mind the next baptismal service in our church. Unfortunately however, I was away at Encounter when it was announced, so when I came back they had already taken names and organised a teaching on why one should be baptized. I just shrugged my shoulders and said 'Next time'.
I was handed a second chance the very next Sunday though, when the church announced that anyone else who'd like to be baptized can sign up for it and get the teaching in a couple of weeks. I suppose that kind of confirmed for me that this was the right thing to do, so that's what I'm doing in 4 days time.
I know I kind of brushed over the 'why?' question. I went from being a baptism cynic to wanting to get baptized in the space between paragraphs. To try and explain that shift in thinking, I guess over the last few months I've been really learning about what it means to be a Christian. I sort of drifted through the previous 13 years with a very childish approach to the Christian life. The kind of approach common to many children brought up in Christian homes, where you're utterly dependent on the Christianity of your parents, even though you should be able to stand on your own two feet. I sometimes wondered to myself 'When I leave home, will I keep this up? Is this just my parents way, but not my way?'
Well after 13 years, I can safely say that this is not only my way, but it is the way. Jesus described Himself as 'The Way'. I mean what other way is there that brings life? People will search until the bitter end of course. They'll look to drink, they'll look to sex, they'll even look to something good like marriage, but they will remain lost; they will remain unsatisfied. Any honest person who has looked to these things for completion will say as much - of that I am convinced.
I've finally come to a point where my faith isn't blind. I used to think faith had to be blind in order to be authentic, but not so. The Christian life involves being called out of blindness and into sight. You step out of darkness and into light. It's not just some fool's hope to hold onto during this life. It's not insurance for a safe passage to heaven, just in case such a place exists. The Christian life is the only kind of real life available to the world. In fact it's the only life that actually is life. You only have to taste but a small portion of all the other kinds of 'life' available to realise their emptiness.
So for me, being baptized will be a symbol of this sure faith, as well as an act of obedience of course. The bottom line is that Jesus was baptized, and so should I be (I probably could have wrote that one line and just left it at that. Oh well.)
I guess I just never understood it's significance. I almost treated it like circumcision, in that it was something the people of old had to, but in the 'New Covenant' it didn't really matter what outward actions were undertaken. There are of course no Biblical texts to support such a stance, but that was some of the reasoning going on inside my head for quite a long time.
I also developed quite a cynical attitude to baptism. I'd see people being baptized in our own church, but then in a few weeks or months or years they'd be living lives that didn't really reflect any kind of spiritual growth or renewal, so what was the point? Was baptism just some kind of seal of salvation which then permitted people to live however they pleased in the knowledge that their name is written in the 'Lambs Book of Life'? Being a devout legalist, that didn't sit well with me.
Also, being as stubborn as am, I never wanted to just do something because that's what my parents wanted. I didn't want to be baptized solely to please my parents. I mean baptism is supposed to be an outward symbol of an inward reality (I think). I didn't want that inward reality to be 'at least now my parents will stop asking me to think about being baptized'. I wanted the decision to be baptized to be my own, which is why I have problems with infant baptism. I don't believe the Bible explicitly has problems with it, because we never read anything about infants being baptized or not being baptized. We do read about households being baptized, so you'd expect some infants were baptized, but it's never made clear.
Anyway, after a long and painless process of ignoring baptism, I decided a while back that it was time to take the plunge. I wasn't sure when exactly I'd do it, but I had in mind the next baptismal service in our church. Unfortunately however, I was away at Encounter when it was announced, so when I came back they had already taken names and organised a teaching on why one should be baptized. I just shrugged my shoulders and said 'Next time'.
I was handed a second chance the very next Sunday though, when the church announced that anyone else who'd like to be baptized can sign up for it and get the teaching in a couple of weeks. I suppose that kind of confirmed for me that this was the right thing to do, so that's what I'm doing in 4 days time.
I know I kind of brushed over the 'why?' question. I went from being a baptism cynic to wanting to get baptized in the space between paragraphs. To try and explain that shift in thinking, I guess over the last few months I've been really learning about what it means to be a Christian. I sort of drifted through the previous 13 years with a very childish approach to the Christian life. The kind of approach common to many children brought up in Christian homes, where you're utterly dependent on the Christianity of your parents, even though you should be able to stand on your own two feet. I sometimes wondered to myself 'When I leave home, will I keep this up? Is this just my parents way, but not my way?'
Well after 13 years, I can safely say that this is not only my way, but it is the way. Jesus described Himself as 'The Way'. I mean what other way is there that brings life? People will search until the bitter end of course. They'll look to drink, they'll look to sex, they'll even look to something good like marriage, but they will remain lost; they will remain unsatisfied. Any honest person who has looked to these things for completion will say as much - of that I am convinced.
I've finally come to a point where my faith isn't blind. I used to think faith had to be blind in order to be authentic, but not so. The Christian life involves being called out of blindness and into sight. You step out of darkness and into light. It's not just some fool's hope to hold onto during this life. It's not insurance for a safe passage to heaven, just in case such a place exists. The Christian life is the only kind of real life available to the world. In fact it's the only life that actually is life. You only have to taste but a small portion of all the other kinds of 'life' available to realise their emptiness.
So for me, being baptized will be a symbol of this sure faith, as well as an act of obedience of course. The bottom line is that Jesus was baptized, and so should I be (I probably could have wrote that one line and just left it at that. Oh well.)
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