Questions 2.0 – Baptism Q&A

Questions 2.0 – Baptism Q&A
Sycamore Creek Church
June 26, 2011
Tom Arthur

Peace, Friends!

We all have questions about God, faith, and life.  Sycamore Creek Church seeks to be the kind of church where you can bring those questions and seek answers together in community.  Today we continue a series called Questions 2.0.  We did this same kind of thing last summer.  In this series, I’m answering questions that people have asked me or that were asked last summer that I didn’t get a chance to answer or answer fully.  Throughout each series, you’ve had the chance to turn in questions you’d like me to answer.  Today is Baptism Sunday, and I asked you to turn in questions about baptism.  Several were turned in or have been asked of me before and I’ve organized them around five different questions.  So let’s dive in.

Baptism Beliefs

Question number one: The Lutheran and Episcopal Church believe in baptism for the forgiveness of sins. Does The United Methodist Church have this same belief?  This is essentially a question about what baptism is.  What is baptism?

There’s a great scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry David comes across a baptism scene.  He doesn’t know what’s going on, and he thinks that someone is trying to drown someone.  So he rushes down to the river and yells at that guy who is holding the other guy under the water.  They are all startled and the guy being baptized gets grabbed by the river’s current and begins floating down stream to the bewilderment and consternation of everyone involved.  Larry David’s unfamiliarity with baptism and what it is isn’t all that uncommon.  What exactly is baptism?

We all know that baptism includes water, and so let’s start with water.  What does water do?  First, water can be very scary.  As a teenager I was a lifeguard at a local country club.  I also taught swim lessons to young children.  They would sit on the side of the pool waiting for their turn with me.  One day a young boy age three or four decided to jump in the pool while I was working with another child.  I looked over when I heard the splash, and there he was at the bottom of three feet of water looking up at me with eyes bigger than I had ever seen before.  He was only a foot or two away from me so it was easy to step over and grab him. No harm done. We got him right back in the pool so that his scary moment didn’t become his defining moment with water.

But water can be more than scary.  Water can be death.  We will face that literally when we join at Valhalla Park for baptisms.  Earlier this month, a young teenager died in the pond at Valhalla.  He was swimming outside the designated area and something happened.  He yelled for help and a bystander dove in, but could not find him.  He was pulled out of the water fifty-five minutes later.  As we gather at Valhalla to baptize, we will also take time to remember this young man and pray for his family.  Water should not be taken lightly.  Water is death.

Baptism is a kind of death too.  Baptism is a death to our sins.  A death to our self-centered ways.  A death to the ways that we harm others.  It is a kind of cleansing and making new.  We read in Acts, “Each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 NLT).  When we are baptized, we die to ourselves.

Water is also life.  Water is a basic necessity.  Have you ever been deprived of water?  How long can you go without water?  Well, you can go without food for days, even weeks.  But depending on the circumstances, you can only go without water for hours.  One time when I was hiking I ran out of water.  I remember the moment we finally restocked our water.  That first gulp was life!

When we are baptized we have new life through the water and the Spirit.  We read in 2 Corinthians that “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NRSV).  We are united with Christ in his life.  Whenever Paul says “in Christ” he is referring to those who have been baptized.  Paul ties together both the death and life of baptism in Romans.  He says, “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was” (Romans 6:4-5 NLT).  When we go under the waters of baptism we go into the grave with Christ.  When we come up out of the waters of baptism we come out of the grave with Christ and the tomb is empty.

Water is death.  Water is life.  Water is also growth.  Whenever Sarah and I leave for a trip we have to remember to water the plants before we go.  I was over at the Deb Ray’s house the other day, and she had this ingenious method of putting water in a bottle and turning it upside down so that it slowly waters the plants while they are gone.  Brilliant!  For plants to grow, they need water.

Baptism is growth too.  It is growth because in baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, God’s presence with us which gives us God’s grace, mercy, and love so that can grow to love more perfectly.  We read again in Acts that “each of you must turn from your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38 NLT).  The Holy Spirit is present in a new and powerful way in our lives when we are baptized.

Water is death.  Water is life.  Water is growth.  Water is also community.  What do these cities have in common?  Lansing.  Grand Ledge.  Portland.  Ionia.  Lowell.  Grand Rapids.  Grand Haven.  They are all on the Grand River.  Communities of people gather around water.  Sarah and I went to Lake Lansing on Memorial Day.  We were missing Lake Michigan in Petoskey where we used to live, so we wanted to be by a body of water with sail boats and beaches and picnics and swimming.  It sounded like a nice calming time.  What we neglected to think about was how many other people would think that being by water was a good time!  It was a zoo!  People naturally gather near water.

Baptism is also community.  When we are baptized we join the body of Christ, the church.  We read again in Acts that “those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church” (Acts 2:41 NLT).  They were “added to the church.”  Baptism isn’t just something between you and God.  If you’re dying with Christ and raising with Christ and joining the Holy Spirit, then you’re doing so along with all the others who are doing so too.  It’s not just me and Jesus in the pool.  It’s me and Jesus and everyone else too.  Baptism is the entrance to the body of Christ, the church.

So do we believe that baptism is the forgiveness of sins?  Yes.  Absolutely.  In baptism we die to sins and are cleansed and made new.  Is that all it is?  Absolutely not.  Baptism is life.  Baptism is growth.  Baptism is community.

Baptism and Age

A lot of questions always get asked about age and baptism.  More specifically, about baptizing infants.  I received this second question about baptism this week: How does it change the meaning of baptism when it’s a child vs. an adult making their own decision?

Sometimes baptism is seen as something that should be reserved for adults.  This is based on the idea that baptism is primarily a proclamation of faith, and obviously an infant can’t proclaim the faith let alone understand what it would mean to do so.

I think it is helpful to remember when faced with this question that salvation includes two things: your part and God’s part.  The important part is God’s part.  I’ve gained a new appreciation for this being a parent.  Micah, my six-month-old can stand up if I am holding him, but if I let him go, he’s “cruising for a bruising” as my own dad likes to say.  So when I’m holding him up and he’s standing, who is doing the work in that moment?  Is it me or is it him?  We’re both doing the work.  But whose work is the most important for him to actually stand?  Mine.  There’s no way he could stand on his own.  There is nothing he could do to stand on his own.  Does that mean there’s nothing for him to do?  Absolutely not.  If he’s not working at it either, we’re both going to be pretty frustrated in the end.

Salvation is like me holding my son.  God’s part is the most important.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  We’ll always be “cruising for a bruising” by ourselves.  Does that mean we have nothing do?  No way.  We participate too.

When an adult is baptized, we are emphasizing our part in salvation.  We claim it.  We participate in it.  We do what we can to understand it.  But in the end, it’s not our part that does the real lifting.

When we baptize an infant, we emphasize God’s part in salvation.  There is nothing the infant can do to gain it.  That’s obvious.  The infant can’t claim it.  The infant can’t choose to participate in it.  The infant can’t come anywhere near understanding what’s going on.  It’s all dependent upon God.

Now a more perfect symbolization of salvation is to have infants and adults baptized side by side.  Now we’re emphasizing both God’s part, the important part, and our part.  That’s what we’ve got here at SCC.  We baptize anyone of any age.  And if you were baptized as an infant and want to claim that now as an adult, you can reaffirm your faith and baptism.  We’ve got several people doing that today.  Last year when Chris Murphy reaffirmed his faith, he said, “God did God’s part when I was a baby, and now I’m finally catching up.”  That was perfect.  I’ve not heard a theologian say it better.

Baptism and Parents

Of course, when we talk about baptizing infants, we immediately think of the parents.  This question was posed to me about parents: How do you go about making the decision to baptize an infant when one spouse is not a believer?  Great question.

There’s a simple answer to this question and a bigger issue that surrounds this question.  Let me deal with the bigger issue which is: What responsibilities do parents have who choose to have their children baptized?  We choose all kinds of things for our children before they are able to do so themselves.  Baptism is no different.  When you make this choice for your child, you are choosing to raise this child and nurture this child so that by God’s grace, when the time is right, your child will be able and willing to choose God for him or herself.  This means nurturing their faith in the home through caring conversations, family devotions, family service projects, and family traditions.

One way that I saw this played out particularly well was in my wife, Sarah’s family.  I was baptized at age thirteen, but Sarah was baptized as an infant.  I sort of remember the day of my baptism, but not anything like Sarah remembers her baptism.  Sarah remembers her baptism?  Didn’t you just say that Sarah was baptized as an infant?  Yes I did.  And yes, she remembers her baptism.  But how?  Because every year on the anniversary of her baptism, her parents pulled out her baptism candle, lit it and told stories about her baptism.  They told her what baptism means.  They told her what they hoped for her.  They prayed for her.  It was a celebration like her birthday.  She doesn’t remember her birth date but she does remember her birthday.  Every year.  Same thing with baptism.  Her parents nurtured her faith in many ways and on many days, but this was one significant way.

So back to the question about one spouse not being a Christian.  If both parents are not Christians, then obviously they won’t be nurturing faith in the home, but if one parent is a Christian and is able and willing to nurture faith in that child, then there is no reason not to baptize that child.  If on some rare occasions, that person will be a guardian or grandparent, then it could be appropriate to baptize the child too.

So how do I go about deciding to baptize if one parent is not a believer?  I do it by asking, will at least one parent or adult be responsible for daily nurturing faith in the home?  If there is one adult like that in the child’s life, then baptism is an option.

Baptism and Other Faiths

Of all the questions I was asked this past week, this one was the most interesting to me:

Do all faiths practice baptism?  It was interesting to me because I didn’t know the answer to it!  I actually had to do some homework.

So after doing some reading and checking with some friends who are in other faiths, here’s what I’ve found.  Most faiths practice some kind of initiation rite or ritual, and many of them include water, but not all.  Buddhist practice varies quite a bit, but many Buddhists are initiated into Buddhism by proclaiming a set of beliefs and having water sprinkled on them or incense burnt around them.  Others receive markings on their body to become Buddhists.

Jews, theological “cousins” to Christians participate regularly in a “Mikvah” or ritual cleansing or bathing.  This is where our practice of baptism comes from.  If you want to convert to Judaism from another faith, you must partake in a Mikvah.

Muslims have more public or private initiation rites depending on their broader culture, but they all include the Shahada or belief that “There is no God but God and Muhammad is God’s messenger.”  While this alone is enough to become a Muslim, there is a ritual cleansing than takes place privately in one’s home after one has pronounced the Shahada.

Interestingly enough, not all Christian churches practice baptism.  For example, the Quakers believe that there are no “sacraments”, and so they practice a kind of continual baptism in the Spirit.

Mormons are closely related to Christians, but are different in some significant ways.  Mormons practice baptism in an almost identical way as Christians, but when they baptize in the name of the “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” there is enough difference in their belief about what that means that neither Mormons or most Protestants recognize the baptisms of others.  So if you converted to become a Mormon from a Protestant church, you would have to be baptized (they would not say “rebaptized” because they would not recognize your baptism in Protestant church as a real baptism) and vice versa.

Perhaps the bigger issue around this question is: What makes baptism baptism?  If a baptism is done in another church, we recognize it if it used water and was done in the name of and with a similar understanding of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Getting Ready for Baptism

One last question: Often I meet people teens & adults that have not been baptized, they feel that they aren’t ready for baptism because they still have questions about their beliefs in God & Bible. They feel they aren’t living a good enough life; like they have to earn Baptism.  Is this right?

I think what someone like this is feeling is that baptism means something and should be taken seriously.  Yes, this is right.  Baptism should include repentance or dying to one’s self.  If someone wants to be baptized but just plans to keep living the same ole same ole, then I’d recommend they wait to be baptized.  But you don’t have to have all struggles resolved to be baptized.  In fact, baptism might just be a way that God helps you overcome those struggles.  Baptism is a means of God’s grace working in your life making you more like Jesus.

What about doubts?  Yes, there are some basic beliefs that one should be able to grasp hold of and claim in baptism.  Take for example the Apostles’ Creed.  It is a basic statement of faith: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth…I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord…I believe in the Holy Spirit.  But do you have to no longer have any doubts or uncertainties?  If that was the case, I couldn’t be your pastor.  I still have my own questions and uncertainties.  Again, baptism can be a means of overcoming those doubts.

Here at Sycamore Creek Church, we seek to ignite authentic life in Christ.  Baptism is part of that.  We seek to reach out to people who are new to Christianity or maybe who were once involved but have since left.  So when it comes to that moment of baptism, it is important for us to take some time to reflect upon what baptism is and prepare our hearts, our minds, and in some ways even our bodies to be baptized.  This year we’ve introduced something new to SCC, a baptism small group.  Those who are being baptized or the parents of those who are being baptized have taken time to reflect upon this decision.  They’re taking it seriously.  Each week they asked one another three simple rules: Did I avoid harm?  Did I do good?  Did I stay in love with God?  Together we explored the Apostles’ Creed and the history of our church.  They did this and today they are ready to be baptized.  Does this end their journey?  No way.  The journey of growing in maturity so that we love more perfectly never ends.  But these folks being baptized have claimed this journey with this community of Sycamore Creek Church.  What they were really doing was just claming a journey that God had already claimed for them.

I came across a video of some people being baptized in Siberia.  It was so cold that they couldn’t find any water that wasn’t frozen.  So the pastors chopped up the water with machetes, and the new Christians were polar bear baptized.  Now that’s taking the journey seriously!

So do those who are baptized need to already have their life together and all their questions and uncertainties figured out?  No.  Baptism is the place where they join in and do their part in participating with God in the journey.

You may have a lot more questions now that you’ve heard these.  I’ve posted several more that often come up below.  If you don’t find an answer there, drop me an email.  Or maybe after hearing these answers today, you’re ready to be baptized.  What’s your next step?  Join the small group that will begin in January or February so that you can begin to prepare yourself for baptism next June.

Baptism is death.  Baptism is life.  Baptism is growth.  Baptism is community.

More Baptism Questions

The Meaning of Baptism

1. If I sin after I’ve been baptized, does that mean my baptism was no good?

No.  There were some in the early church who believed that if you sinned you lost whatever benefit your baptism gave you.  This led some to put off baptism until just before they died or after they had sown their wild oats as young adults.  But we do not believe this.  We expect that there will be times that you will fall back and sin.  This does not give you license to do so.  That would be called “abuse,” not “love.”  Baptism joins you to a community of friends who are walking together to grow in ever deeper maturity in following Jesus’ way.  You can and should expect to grow and not sin as often or as much over time.  We even believe that it is possible for some to grow so deep in Christ that while they are not incapable of sin, they no longer actively desire or do what they know God does not desire of them to do.  This is called “perfect Christian love.”

2. Do I have to be baptized to be saved?

This is a tricky question.  Yes and no.  Salvation is about being in right relationship with God through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.  You are saved by faith through faith (your own faith but more importantly the faithfulness of God in Jesus Christ).  Given time and opportunity, there seems to be no reason not to be baptized except a willful disobedience to what Jesus has commanded.  If there is a willful disobedience, then it seems that we’re dealing with something else besides the actual issue of baptism.  We’re talking about a relationship so broken that the question must remain as to whether there is any saving relationship at all.  The key part here is the relationship, and if you should die before having the opportunity to be baptized, I believe you can rest in God’s goodness and mercy, and that you were baptized “in spirit.”  But if you have time, why put it off?

Baptism and Age

3. Don’t children have to know and understand what is going on in baptism to choose it for themselves?

Baptism is one of two sacraments.  “Sacraments” is Latin for “mystery.”  Both baptism and communion are essentially a mystery.  If knowing and understanding what is going on in baptism was the requirement to partake in the sacraments, then none of us would meet that requirement whether we were a child, youth, or adult.

4. Isn’t baptism all about making a public profession of faith?

Yes and no.  It is about making a public profession of faith, and an infant who is baptized should be given the opportunity and encouraged to make a public profession of faith when they are old enough to understand what that means.
This is often called confirmation which means to make firm for oneself the decision that was made for one when one was too young to make it for oneself.  This is also called a reaffirmation of one’s baptism.  But baptism is not just a public profession of faith.  Something spiritual and supernatural takes place in baptism.  God and the community claim that child as God’s child and a member of the body of the Christ.  This isn’t a magical wand that means that child will never fall away from God, but it does mean that God is uniquely present in the life of that child, particularly through the parents and the church.

5. What age is appropriate for a child to choose for themselves to be baptized or reaffirm their baptism?

Usually this age has been referred to as “the age of accountability.”  It is the age when a child knows the difference between right and wrong and has the responsibility and ability to choose right over wrong.  This age is probably different for every child.  Traditionally “confirmation” happens around sixth, seventh, or eighth grade.  While I would baptize any child of any age, I do think that waiting until later in Jr. High or High School can be beneficial for the experience of baptism or confirmation for a child.

6. If an infant dies before it is baptized, will it go to hell or limbo?

No.  This is based on an old Catholic belief that teaches that every person, even infants, carry the guilt of original sin, Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden.  Baptism is believed to wash away that guilt, and so if an infant dies before being baptized, then they still have the guilt of original sin.  Because they have no actual sin (because an infant can’t choose to sin), they would then go to limbo, a place somewhere between heaven, hell, and purgatory.  Catholics no longer believe or teach this.

7. If I was baptized as an infant, can I be baptized again?

No.  Baptism is a one time act.  When you were baptized, God did everything that needed to be done.  If you were baptized as an infant, but fell away from God and have come back to God, then your baptism is being made full and complete.  Your baptism “worked”!  Reaffirming your baptism would be a great option for you at this point in your life.

The Practice of Baptism

8. Shouldn’t all baptisms be full immersion?

Baptism should include as much water as is possible.  It should be generous, because God’s grace is generous and being stingy with the amount of water makes it look like God is stingy.  In our cultural context where water is abundant, enough water should be used so that after you’re baptized, it looks like something happened to you, because it did!  But if you’re hiking in the desert with your buddy and you’ve gotten lost and are about to die and your buddy decides they want to commit the rest of their very short life to Christ, then use whatever water you have.  And if you don’t have any water, then spit in your hands.  If you can’t spit, then pretend, and trust that God’s grace is generous.

9. But doesn’t baptism require a pastor or priest?

There is a long tradition even in such hierarchical churches as the Roman Catholic Church for recognizing that a situation may arise where there is the need for an “emergency baptism.”  If someone is on the brink of death and a pastor/priest is not available, then any Christian may claim the priesthood of all believers and baptize that person.  Admittedly, this kind of situation is rare.  It is best if a pastor who has been trained, ordained, and authorized by the church administers the baptism.  This does not mean that it is the pastor alone who actually does the baptism.  Family members, close friends, or a key mentor are encouraged to assist in the baptism.

10. What’s the deal with oil after baptism?

Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit and being anointed with oil is a symbol of blessing in the Holy Spirit.  In the early church, one was baptized and then anointed with oil.  As the church got bigger and larger and more infants began being baptized, the anointing with oil was separated from baptism and included as an act in confirmation.  Being anointed with oil can happen more than once and so there is no reason not to anoint with oil after baptism and again when one is confirmed or reaffirmed.

11. What is reaffirmation or confirmation?

Reaffirmation is usually done by a teenager or adult when they decide that because of a particular experience or commitment, they would like to reaffirm or confirm for themselves the work that God did in their life when they were baptized as an infant or child.  Reaffirmation or confirmation looks very similar to baptism except that you are given the choice to do for yourself whatever would be helpful for you to remember your baptism.  You may go under the water yourself or you may pour water on your own head.  The difference is that you do it yourself rather than having someone else do it for you.

12. Can I be reaffirmed or confirmed more than once?

Yes.  You can reaffirm or confirm your baptism as often as you would like.  In fact, at every baptism, everyone is given the opportunity to remember their baptism and reaffirm if not with a full public profession of faith, at least to themselves and God.

13. What if I was baptized by another church (Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, etc.)?

If you were baptized by another Christian church using water in the Trinitarian name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we recognize your baptism.  Sometimes other churches are more conservative on this issue than we are.  This may be the case if you join a Baptist church.  They may not recognize your baptism here (or your infant baptism), and they may want to rebaptize you.

14. What if I was baptized by another religion (Jehovah’s witnesses, Mormons, etc.)?

If you were baptized by another religion, then what happened in that moment was not quite the same as what we have been talking about.  That could mean that the other religion, such as Mormons, have a significantly different understanding of the God (or even the Trinity) than do most Christians.  The good news here is that you can be baptized!  It is not a “rebaptism” because we did not recognize what happened as baptism in the first place.  This is probably true from the other perspective as well.  For example, if you converted to the Mormon church and were baptized in our church, your baptism would not be recognized and you would go through their initiation rites for the first time.

15. Can we have a baptism in our private home?

Generally the answer to this question is no.  Baptism is a public act whereby the one being baptized joins the body of Christ, the church.  This identity of being in Christ and a member of Christ’s body becomes more fundamental spiritually than even familial ties.  So baptism should be done in the presence of the body of Christ as a public act of worship.  However, there may be times or circumstances (e.g. lack of mobility) when a baptism can only be done in a home.  If this is the case, then as many members of the church who can fit should be invited to participate in the baptism.

16. Must I be baptized to receive communion?

There is a long tradition in the early church of being baptized before you can receive communion.  Visitors weren’t even allowed in the same room during communion (or, interestingly enough, the time of prayer!).  We uphold the spirit of this teaching if not the letter of the law of it.  That is to say that no one is checking each person who comes to receive communion to make sure they have been baptized, but if you have not been baptized and are receiving communion, that means that you have responded to the desire to live at peace with God and with others and the question becomes, what is keeping you from being baptized?  Baptism is the surest sign that you desire to live at peace with God and with others.  If you are receiving communion, but have not been baptized, let’s talk about being baptized!