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Script:
Jesus once said that "no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless they are born of water and the Spirit." Today we understand
these words to describe the rite of Christian Baptism.
Baptism is a personal event--it's a spiritual
rebirth! Baptism is also the initiation rite into the church of
Christ--some churches encourage believer's baptism, others believe in
infant baptism
It is in baptism that we are made a new creation in
Christ Jesus. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!" 2. Cor 5:17
According to Romans 6, it is how believers
participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
"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." (Romans 6:2-4)
There is evidence for every form of baptism from
writings and records of the ancient church. Christian Catacomb paintings
from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, for instance, depict
different baptismal practices.
This spot is identified as one of the possible places
of the origin of Baptism: Jesus himself was baptized by John in the river
Jordan. According to the Gospel of Mark,
"just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw
the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well
pleased."
While Judaism no longer uses the term baptism it is
clear from the biblical record of John the Baptist that the Christian rite
of baptism grew out of the Jewish practice of ritual washings, such as the
Mikvah.
No matter the method, baptism is a source of
inspiration and strength for Christians everywhere.
Different churches have different methods. There is
baptism by submersion--backwards or forwards, once or three times, by
pouring or sprinkling water over the head of an infant.
Locations, too, varies from tradition to tradition;
baptisms are performed in sanctuaries, pools, rivers, and some even at
places like the ocean beach.
Baptism is how we become “born from above” and it’s
how we become part of the invisible body of Christ that supersedes all
church denominations. In the end there is only one Lord, one faith, and
one baptism.
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