Trouble with Baptism ...

Thursday, Nov 1, 2012. Baptism is a Christian sacrament. It is a sign of renewal, of cleansing, of being forgiven and starting a new life - one with the Lord. But in the past baptism has also led to a lot of trouble.

Reformation times …

In the years before and around the reformation, there was a lot of quarrel around the baptism. There were Christian groups, which did not belong to “the church” and were persecuted. They practiced baptism and many other rituals of faith in a different way. It was a difficult time, without freedom of faith, without freedom to dispute what is right. A time, where too many people pretended to do God's will, but were far from him!

The purpose of the reformation was to go back to the roots. Its purpose was to rediscover the original “evangelical” Christian faith. The church had been moving away from the origins, secular people were leading and determining its fate. It was an important time for the church, with strong impact still today on all of its branches.

The reformation also prepared the enlightenment, the time when the human reason and the individual with its rights and dignity became more and more important. From an Christian point of view, enlightenment is also going back to the roots - fully developing those parts of the Old and New Testament, where the individual is seen with its full existence, loved by the Lord with all his might. Without doubt, the bible strongly focuses on individual life and its transformation by the spirit of the Lord!

What Jesus wants …

In the New Testament, Jesus and the apostles have unity as a main goal. But it is not necessarily unity of all rituals. It does not mean everyone has to use the same words all the time, everyone has to follow the same path. It is unity in spirit. It is unity in forgiveness. It is unity in being connected to the Lord in faith and friendliness.

There can be unity, even if some doctrines still cause trouble. Today, we have many Christian churches and groups. And there are differences. For example, the catholic church sees itself as the body of Christ - as an institution. Evangelical groups understand “the body of Christ” to be a spiritual entity, built by all believers in all churches. This is a difference which can cause a lot of practical trouble and often makes cooperation difficult.

But we all believe in the same Christ. We all follow his teaching, with all the discussions about our different areas of life and how discipleship is best practiced. Jesus would want us to find the unity in all the differences! With respect to baptism, but also all other parts of life … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts