First of all, I am a Christian and therefore I try to learn from Jesus of Nazareth, and I try to follow what he suggests we follow.Jesus commands us to be baptized and to baptize. So what does this mean for us? Paul, in Romans 6 connects baptism with death to sin. Baptized people then have died and have been raised and set free from the chains of sin. We can then be presented as instruments of righteousness (6:13). Each of these instruments of righteousness is then a member of a single body which is that of Christ.I feel that at this point I must say that as with much of Christian teaching today, the point has been lost. Not because baptism doesn't still perform the task God set it to do, but because we are not fullfilling our obligation to become members of the one body.
There are many things that come into play here. First, we use Baptism as more of something which is used to witness to a persons commitment to Jesus..... When in fact baptism is about Christ's commitment to us!!!!Second, when we lose the point of baptism, which is to bring death and then new life as a member of the body of Christ, we also lose the new community and distinctiveness which God has set us as believers out to be. Similar to losing the point of Baptism, we have lost the point of Christianity. THIS IS KEY HERE!!! The point of Christianity is not salvation!! The point is the same as the path, which Jesus states is to Love God with all that you are, and to also Love your neighbor just the same!!!With a correct understanding of Baptism and the point of Christianity, we can see that the Body of Christ stays together, that individualism does not take presidence over community any longer, and love can reign beyond the fake and absurd kind of love which much of the Church displays today.
With a correct understanding also comes the responsibility of teachers and leaders to step forward and teach the Truth withoutindividualistic intent, but only with the humble and ever forming knowledge that we are all together in the Body of Christ. Our New Community which God has formed can only be sustained and have a significant "witness" to those who are not a part of this new community if this worldview is understood. Baptism is only apart of this worldview. But just like in anything, if a piece of the puzzle is broken, the rest of the puzzle is not complete. And since I think that a lot of puzzle is broken. We might as well start by seeing that baptism has more meaning than the surface level and most of the time even fake and blasphemous tradition which we have made it.So I suppose that Baptism is very significant! But like I said before about the puzzle..... we have to make an affect on every single piece of the puzzle if we are going to see what being a member of the Body of Christ really means.
I would have said a few years ago that Baptism was just a tradition that didn't have much significance, that the heart is what matters. I have been thinking about why Christ would have told us to keep doing these things, and I figured that we must have blurred these things just like we mess everything up. So, now I think that Baptism has a lot of significance, except we have lost that significance and that is why we as young people and people of the "post-modern" era don't really see a point in things like Baptism and Communion. It is because the Body of Christ has gone off the path with many things blurring God's purpose for these things. It is our job as members of the Body of Christ to see where we have errored and then ask God to restore himself as the center of the Body.It is our responsibility to tear down our belief system and rebuild it in order to get the junk out and reveal the truth which The Bible has tried to tell us over and over again. And which the Holy Spirit has been telling Humanity since Jesus sent us The Helper. Anyway, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Also, do you think this also applies to communion (which I'd also like to talk about sometime)?
JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING(Another thing..... God calls for one baptism, that is the one that truly brings death to sin and resurrection into the body of Christ. This I believe can occur in infancy or when a person becomes aware of his or her situation in the world. I feel that it can be both because if we as the Body do our job and succeed with our responsibility to Christ's Body then the infant that was baptized will be nurtured as a part of the Body , as opposed to that child growing up not even knowing that it is apart of a Body and therefore being another broken piece of the puzzle. Which again reinforces the idea that we need to tear down our beliefs and practices and use the Truth to seek God's will.)
There are many things that come into play here. First, we use Baptism as more of something which is used to witness to a persons commitment to Jesus..... When in fact baptism is about Christ's commitment to us!!!!Second, when we lose the point of baptism, which is to bring death and then new life as a member of the body of Christ, we also lose the new community and distinctiveness which God has set us as believers out to be. Similar to losing the point of Baptism, we have lost the point of Christianity. THIS IS KEY HERE!!! The point of Christianity is not salvation!! The point is the same as the path, which Jesus states is to Love God with all that you are, and to also Love your neighbor just the same!!!With a correct understanding of Baptism and the point of Christianity, we can see that the Body of Christ stays together, that individualism does not take presidence over community any longer, and love can reign beyond the fake and absurd kind of love which much of the Church displays today.
With a correct understanding also comes the responsibility of teachers and leaders to step forward and teach the Truth withoutindividualistic intent, but only with the humble and ever forming knowledge that we are all together in the Body of Christ. Our New Community which God has formed can only be sustained and have a significant "witness" to those who are not a part of this new community if this worldview is understood. Baptism is only apart of this worldview. But just like in anything, if a piece of the puzzle is broken, the rest of the puzzle is not complete. And since I think that a lot of puzzle is broken. We might as well start by seeing that baptism has more meaning than the surface level and most of the time even fake and blasphemous tradition which we have made it.So I suppose that Baptism is very significant! But like I said before about the puzzle..... we have to make an affect on every single piece of the puzzle if we are going to see what being a member of the Body of Christ really means.
I would have said a few years ago that Baptism was just a tradition that didn't have much significance, that the heart is what matters. I have been thinking about why Christ would have told us to keep doing these things, and I figured that we must have blurred these things just like we mess everything up. So, now I think that Baptism has a lot of significance, except we have lost that significance and that is why we as young people and people of the "post-modern" era don't really see a point in things like Baptism and Communion. It is because the Body of Christ has gone off the path with many things blurring God's purpose for these things. It is our job as members of the Body of Christ to see where we have errored and then ask God to restore himself as the center of the Body.It is our responsibility to tear down our belief system and rebuild it in order to get the junk out and reveal the truth which The Bible has tried to tell us over and over again. And which the Holy Spirit has been telling Humanity since Jesus sent us The Helper. Anyway, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Also, do you think this also applies to communion (which I'd also like to talk about sometime)?
JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING(Another thing..... God calls for one baptism, that is the one that truly brings death to sin and resurrection into the body of Christ. This I believe can occur in infancy or when a person becomes aware of his or her situation in the world. I feel that it can be both because if we as the Body do our job and succeed with our responsibility to Christ's Body then the infant that was baptized will be nurtured as a part of the Body , as opposed to that child growing up not even knowing that it is apart of a Body and therefore being another broken piece of the puzzle. Which again reinforces the idea that we need to tear down our beliefs and practices and use the Truth to seek God's will.)
Hm. I'm not sure if my comment was posted.
ReplyDeleteAh okay, I see what I did wrong. Let me re-put my comment here.
ReplyDeleteI agree very much that the church has lost true sight for what God ordained baptism and communion to truly be. I have been in many churches before, and baptism and communion a lot of times come off as silly ritualistic to just do what the Bible "says", but in reality, all it is is dead religion without Living Water from Christ. I do disagree with you though concerning infant baptism, but that could be discussed another day, haha.