All The Stupid Stuff

Recently I was reminiscing about a really nice man I befriended on Facebook years ago. Unfortunately, he suddenly and prematurely passed away to the shock of myself and many others. During the course of several conversations, he told me he had been brought up in church and was given a basic religious foundation, although he did make it clear, "I'm not a believer like you are." I felt led to introduced him to my Sunday blogs which generated many discussions regarding world religions, various belief systems, and especially my faith in Jesus Christ. Although he was very curious about my faith and asked for several explanations of Bible passages he struggled desperately to understand true Christianity. He admitted to having one roadblock that would always leave him doubting any Biblical principle I shared. That roadblock was LOGIC! He admitted, "Certain things just don't add up for me. It's all the stupid stuff you're told to do as a Christian, like baptism. I don't understand it. It's not logical. If a person is baptized as a baby, why re-do it as an adult? Does it not take the first time?" As I was scanning my memory of things he asked me over the course of our online friendship, I thought to myself, maybe there are readers out there with friends or family members with this same question, "Why do I have to get baptized again if I was baptized as a baby? Or why get baptized at all?" In reality, those are great questions. How would you answer someone who asked that of you? Would you know what to say? I want to talk about the act of baptism in hopes of clarifying any confusion or doubt about why it is significant. Even Jesus Himself was baptized!

If someone ever asks why they should be baptized or even re-baptized, remember this little explanation. It might help.
In South Africa as a baby or even a young child, you are not entitled to a passport of your own to fly to another country as we are here in America. A baby born here in the U.S.A CAN get its own passport once a form DS11 is filled out. But in South Africa, you have to be added as a dependant on your mother or father's passport. Doing so then entitles that baby to go where their parents are going. However, when that baby reaches a certain age, they have to apply for their own passport. They now would have the freedom to go where they please by producing their own passport when they wanted to travel to other countries. The border staff or employees at the airport would no longer accept that they travel on their parent's passport.

Consider at my example from a spiritual perspective. When you were a baby, if your parents initiated you into their religion you became a part of their "redemption" because you were not in a position to make such a decision yourself. The Bible never offers suggestions and regarding this subject, it clearly states, "repent and be baptized" in Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." As a baby, you cannot repent as commanded by the Bible because you have no knowledge of God's will and cannot make choices or conscience decisions between right and wrong. Baptism has to be a conscience, free-will based decision to commit your life to Christ which an infant cannot make by their own free will. Therefore, if anyone is baptized as an infant or even a child without knowing true commitment, the baptism cannot be honored. Personally, my parents had me baptized into Catholicism when I was just a few months old. I had no way of knowing what was being done. I was incapable of commitment and I certainly wasn't exercising my free will. Yet, because of the personal beliefs of my parents, I was considered "baptized." I WAS NOT! I was riding on my parent's spiritual passport.

The truth is, at some stage in your life, you are or either will be confronted with various truths about a relationship with Christ just as my friend was. It may present itself in different ways but nonetheless, it reaches out to every heart. The Word of God is everywhere today: on TV, radio, cassette tapes (still around), through missionaries, through Internet applications, on gadgets like The Wonder Bible, smartphone applications, etc. In fact, the entire Bible can be download to your smartphone! At this point, you have to make a decision because you can no longer ride 'piggyback' on your parents' decision for you. Figuratively speaking, you must have your own passport. By making a decision to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, repenting of the sins you've committed and then being baptized, you have made the conscious decision to use your passport. No longer can you lay claim to your baptism as a child, you must now take the step of commitment yourself - your parents cannot sign for your passport, you have to do it yourself. "We may never be martyrs as in the days of old, but we must commit to die to self, to sin, to the ways of the world. This is the significance of baptism. Symbolically we die with Christ and raise to new life." In short, Christian baptism is the means by which a person makes a public profession of his faith and discipleship. It is in the waters of baptism we declare without words yet in action, "I confess my faith in Christ, Jesus has cleansed my soul from sin, and I now have a new life of sanctification." Baptism is not "stupid stuff." Symbolically, as the sinner confesses the Lord Jesus, he dies to sin (Romans 6:11) and is raised to a brand-new life (Colossians 2:12) that represents the cleansed, holy life -- the new start that follows salvation. Romans 6:4 puts it this way: "We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death IN ORDER THAT, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (emphasis mine). Very simply, baptism is an outward testimony of the inward change in a believer's life. I hope something here will help you or someone you know understand the things we sometimes interpret as "all the stupid stuff."

Until next time.
-Pat-