A Once Controversial Topic

  

   First of all let me begin with the obligatory I haven't blogged in awhile and had almost  forgotten I had a blog, and now on with the show. Once upon a time there was an issue that divided people, families, and communities; it even landed some people in jail. It was a hot topic issue that people held deeply seated opinions about and yet today it's pretty much a non-issue to most of us. The issue I'm discussing is, please don't be offended by this, baptism.
   To be honest it's never been much of an issue to me and still isn't one I'd get upset over but I find myself in a position of reevaluating my assumptions on the topic. I believe almost all Christian denominations practice baptism in one form or another, it and communion being the only sacraments recognized by most protestant denominations, but when and how you get wet has led to splits in churches and all the aforementioned hubbub. I was raised in the Baptist tradition and was indoctrinated in their belief of full-immersion, believers baptism (I'll explain this in a minute if your not sure what I mean) but I've almost certainly left the Baptist denomination and have been visiting other mainline Christian churches which will perform and accept the Baptist style of baptism but they also practice sprinkling or pouring of water and (the thing most foreign to the way I was taught) infant baptism.
    Now let's get into the mechanics of it all for a bit. There are some denominations that believe baptism is required to gain salvation and thereby getting your get into heaven card, others (including Baptist) believe that baptism is just an outward show of something you've already done internally (believers baptism), while others believe baptism is a rite, something that all Christians have been commanded to do and it symbolizes what Christ did for humanity, not anything that humans ourselves have done (hence the baptism of infants). Also the manner of ceremonial washing is a dividing point between Baptists and other mainline Christian groups, the sprinkling and pouring work fine for ceremonial purposes for most protestants but Baptist's (and others like them) believe you must get dunked; this belief comes both from the fact that Jesus was dunked in the Jordan River and it's representation of death and rebirth.
    Last Sunday in the liturgical calendar was the Sunday to celebrate Jesus' baptism and as we were visiting Central United Methodist Church (CUMC) in Uptown Shelby this issue was brought to mind, and (as is usually the case in my family) it brought about a humorous situation. At the end of the service the pastor poured water into a baptismal fount and invited the congregation to come forward dip their fingers in and touch it to their forehead to help them remember their baptism, their initiation into Christianity if you will. I started forward to do so, I was baptized around the age of 12 (the median age for Baptists I believe) at Ross Grove Baptist Church in Shelby, and my younger boys saw that there were kids their age going forward and they wanted to go participate as well. Now coming from a Baptist church neither of them has been baptized, but I didn't think it would hurt anything to let them come with me, I and my 7 yr. old son both dipped our fingers and touched them to our foreheads, then my 4 yr. old dipped his fingers in and proceeded to stick them in his mouth. He didn't understand. It was all I could do not to laugh during what was suppose to be a solemn time.
   As we contemplate joining the Methodist denomination we are faced with the decision of when or if to baptize our children. Our oldest has already been baptized, in the baptist tradition, and our other older children will have to decide for themselves but there remains the question of the younger ones. Now I'm looking across this bridge long before we're even close to crossing it, we've by no means committed ourselves anywhere as of yet and when we do I'm sure there will be pastors and others to help us make this type of decision. For me personally, baptism is a tradition and it doesn't bother me when it's done (I'm really more of a humanistic Unitarian with a Christian leaning than a hardline bible thumper) but I'm sure our (almost wholly Baptist) family would not be comfortable nor understand the baptizing of young children. My only other concern in the situation is that if a child doesn't choose for themselves to be, and is not old enough to remember being baptized will it mean anything to them? But then again, while I remember my baptism, I can't say that it holds much meaning for me.
    This so far has been the only big difference I've noticed between the Baptists (in general) and the Methodists. The more specific difference I've noticed (from the baptist church we were attending and CUMC), and the one that started this inquiry into other denominations, is the thankful lack of political posturing. Because I don't want politicians telling me what to believe and I don't want preachers telling me how to vote.
   So what use to be a big church splitting, family tearing issue has become more a matter of preference and inclination, an issue that we may have to come to terms with in the future, or not. I'm sure even within a non-Baptist mainline Church, we could wait and let the kids make that choice for themselves.