What is Baptism?

13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River so that John would baptize him. 14 John tried to stop him and said, “I need to be baptized by you, yet you come to me?”
15 Jesus answered, “Allow me to be baptized now. This is necessary to fulfill all righteousness.”
So John agreed to baptize Jesus. 16 When Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Heaven was opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting on him.17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.”
-Matthew 3:13-17 CEB

-Rev Melissa Fain-

There are two truths of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ):

• Every time we gather as a worshipping body we partake in the Lord's Supper.
• We have a believers baptism. 

What is a believers baptism? We believe baptism is a choice people make when they reach the age of accountability. One of our early founders, Alexander Campbell, believed this so entirely he called padeo-baptism (aka infant baptism) a human construct. He would publically debate any serious minister on the subject. He also re-baptized himself, and considered his own padeo-baptism invalid.

Back in September this little jewel was released on YouTube. If you were in the right circles there was a big debate over whether he was really baptized. I'm not answering that specific question today, but I do want to look deeper at baptism.

Whether it's infant or adult(ish), what is it? What is going on? That's not a simple answer. I want to use media to explain different views. I'm not saying these views are perfect, or in some cases even good. Media is like a mirror. They find something to reflect, and they reflect. Sometimes they are reflecting a funhouse mirror, and sometimes their reflection is pretty on point. Let's look:

• Washing of sins: I will always hold a soft spot in my heart for Godspell. Not only was it introduced to me during my first dip in new church planting, but it was written by a person who wanted to find the joy in the Gospels. "I wanna get washed up" is a very Baptist way of seeing, well, Baptism. It looks at sin like dirt, and the baptismal waters like a holy bathtub.

• Holy Sexual Act: Okay, the below video is incredibly offensive. This is one of those funhouse mirrors I mentioned above. It's offensive enough, you might wonder why I'm even sharing it here. Well, the main issue with Arnold (he's the guy singing in the video), is he's playing God. You might be thinking that there is nothing sexual about baptism, and that the song is 100% blasphamy. You'd be wrong.
  
  I heard a very interesting theory from a former Eastern Orthodox Priest, turned professor. He suggested the waters are the womb, and the lights placed in the waters are Christ fertilizing the womb. Now before you flip the table and and destroy your computer, here me out. Birth is a nasty horrible process. It scars a future father's eyes for life. It hurts even with pain killers. It deforms a mother's body. The end result is beautiful. The end result is new life. I love the image of the Spirit being like a sacrifical mother, bringing us into new life. Just something to consider. Which brings me to...

• Born Again: I've seen "born again" to be more of an extention of "washing of sins." I think it could be a beautiful image to also include it into the baptismal becoming like a womb. Just something to consider.

• New Life: Above is the picture of the baptismal at First Christian Church of Atlanta, in Tucker, Georgia. The scripture reads: "He is not here, for he has risen just as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay." Matthew 28:6. The baptismal itself was made to look like an open tomb. The difference between this symbol and the one directly above it, is the need for death to come first. I've personally grown to love this one. We live in a society that thinks we can get change without sacrifice. Everything requires sacrifice, including baptism.

There's my list. What would you add? 

---

We will be at The Daily Grind this Sunday at 2pm for our livecast! We would love to see you. If you can't be there in person, show up online on our Facebook page.

Connect with us in other ways too! Check out our tweets @FigTreeTweet, and visit our subreddit at /r/FigTreeChristian!