NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

What Is The Meaning Of Baptism

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Baptism expresses the commitment to becoming a better, more capable, more informed Christian.

Baptism Is Symbolic and Ceremonial
Not Mystical

Baptism is usually thought of as a Christian rite but many different non-Christian religions have initiatory practices that resemble baptism: Mandaeism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Shintoism and even Judaism offer rites involving water that are similar to Christian baptism.

This post, however is focused on Christian baptism and in it we’ll answer questions like:

  • Is baptism necessary for salvation? In other words, will I only go to heaven if I have been baptized?
  • If so, which baptism is the right one?
  • If baptism isn’t necessary to get to heaven, why bother getting baptized?

The last question is the primary point of this post.

Popular Christian Meanings For Baptism

As the above questions indicate, Christian baptism is understood in very different ways:

  • Some Christian denominations do believe baptism is essential for salvation. In other words, if you’re not baptized, you’re not saved. Catholics, Church of Christ, and even Mormons are known for this belief (although Mormons aren’t Christian). And they are proprietary about it. Each religion refuses to accept baptisms from other religious groups.
  • Others believe baptism is only a public statement of commitment to Christian living. In infant baptism, the parents are committing to raising their child according to Christian principles. Adults who get baptized are committing to living by those principles. In both cases, baptism is looking forward to life yet to come.
  • Some will baptized only believers, meaning any person of any age who is capable of confessing their faith in Christ is a candidate and the event looks backward and forward. It celebrates the rebirth that occurred at salvation and anticipates the new life in the future. Believers know they have been changed and expect to be different. Baptism expresses a commitment to that expectation. It is a celebration expressing praise for the experience of salvation and hope for the future.

Why We Talk About Baptism

The importance of baptism is proven by two significant observations.

One, it featured so prominently at the beginning of the New Testament that it became a nickname for the first preacher, John the Baptist (a phrase used no less than fifteen times in the Gospels).

John baptized hundreds and he preached what became known as the baptism of repentance (Mark 1:4). What that means is baptism came after repentance, not before.

Although Jesus baptized no one personally, under His leadership, the disciples continued this tradition (John 4:2).

Second, and most importantly, after Jesus rose from the dead and before He ascended into heaven, He clearly commanded His disciples to evangelize everywhere and baptize those who believed. Jesus’ instructions clearly state:

Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)

All of that is to say we can’t be dismissive about this important issue. We need to understand it as best we can and apply to our ministries. [Read more…] about What Is The Meaning Of Baptism

14 Thoughts On Gay And Trans Issues

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Even if you don't believe the Bible, it's still an ancient document that sheds light on the past.

No One Fits The Pattern
Of God’s Original Design

When people argue over gay and transgender issues, the arguments are often taken from two different sources: The Bible and science.

Between the two, Bible arguments are the ones that vary the most and those differences come from the way people view it.

  • Some don’t believe the Bible at all and dismiss it entirely.
  • Some accept the Bible as significant and take a vigorous approach to interpretation.
  • Others take the Bible so fanatically, every word is taken literally, no interpretive effort required. This third type is usually referred to as Fundamentalist.

Those who don’t believe the Bible usually avoid any conversations involving the Bible. But there is a very important idea that non-believers need to consider.

The Bible is an ancient document, and we study ancient documents to understand how cultures of the past handled social, cultural issues.

And since the Bible factors largely in discussions about moral and even political issues today, it is imperative that everyone join the discussion, not so much to bash the Bible but to understand the what and why of Bible content.

So even if you don’t believe the Bible, it’s important to be mindful of what it says.

That’s reason for any person, even non-believers, to engage the discussion.

But whatever the case, there’s no question that the biggest problem is interpretation. The Bible is a book. It conveys a message, but what the Bible literally states is not always what the Bible intends to teach and everyone believes that even when they say they don’t.

The answer to this dilemma is for everyone to consider relevant cultural and historical issues for the time period in which laws were given before trying to apply those laws. That is the interpretive process and it should be exercised every time we approach any passage in the Bible. [Read more…] about 14 Thoughts On Gay And Trans Issues

11 Reasons The Churches Of Revelation Don’t Represent Church Ages

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Churches are neither inspired nor predestined.

The Seven Churches Reveal Seven Problems
That Can Happen To Any Church
At Any Time

The book of Revelation fascinates everyone. From start to finish, the mysteries pile up. It mentions many things we haven’t seen or experienced personally, and because those novelties are represented in terms we can’t readily explain (four living creatures with six wings each and full of eyes), one of two things happens: we avoid the text completely or become so obsessed no rational outcome is reached.

That may be why the book opens with some words to encourage us to hold the line.

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things written in it; for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

We’re told up front that this is prophecy, meaning it points to future events, things that haven’t happened yet. The perspective is very much forward looking, but it’s also important to note that it has a starting place. Jesus addressed Himself to people of that day, not ours.

What Jesus said does apply to anyone at any future time but He addressed Himself specifically to individuals who were living at the time the Book was written. Jesus delivered his message to real churches in real time.

Seven churches were targeted in the first three chapters and Jesus had a individual message for each of those churches. Those churches were located in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and all of them were started by the first generation of Christians. From their experience, today’s churches can learn a lot.

But what do these messages mean? How should we interpret this material?

One school of thought suggests that these churches, aside from being local and individual, also characterize periods of time or ages from the first century till now. The people who teach this say we are in the Laodicean period today which, obviously, is the last period characterized in this list.

Not only does that idea argue against the church age theory, there are also many other reasons to reject this idea. [Read more…] about 11 Reasons The Churches Of Revelation Don’t Represent Church Ages

The Main Point Of The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

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If 71% of churches went astray after only 50 years, what should we expect after 2000 years?

The Answer To Robotic Literalism
Is Rational Literalism

The Book of Revelation is important to this discussion because it is the book where you find the seven churches of Asia Minor addressed by the glorified Christ. He had something to say to each of these churches and His message to each is recorded in the first three chapters.

Revelation, by the way, is either an interpreters delight or nightmare depending on how the book is approached. It is filled with graphic text describing things we do not and cannot naturally understand.

It doesn’t provide an appendix, index or endnotes to help with unfamiliar words or phrases. The language of the book defies colloquial and academic language in our day and that is true even in the time it was written which was almost two thousand years ago.

The writer was not contributing to an ongoing discussion on popular issues. The message of this book was not something anyone saw coming.

Some of the unusual events and descriptions in Revelation are found in earlier books but with no more explanation than John’s discourse. John simply puts them together chronologically in one place.

But even with previous mentions of some of these ideas, he’s telling us what we do not readily understand and describing things we’ve never experienced or seen before.

And that is where the seven churches of Asia Minor are mentioned. [Read more…] about The Main Point Of The Seven Churches Of Asia Minor

Review: Unclobber – Rethinking Our Misuse Of The Bible On Homosexuality

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It's intellectually lazy to reference the Bible and dismiss it at the same time.

Deliberation Or Pugilism
Which Is The Better Way
To Find An Answer

Finally!!

A much needed book focused on what the Bible actually says and how a more informed reading should lead us away from the anti-woke doctrines of prominent Catholic politicians.

No, the book doesn’t focus on Catholics or Catholicism. In fact, I don’t remember the words Catholic or Catholicism mentioned at all in the book.

That bit is an add-on by me but an accurate one since Catholics have dominated the discussion regarding acceptable sexual/moral norms for centuries. It’s also true that several vociferous Catholics presently holding significant positions of power are pushing their doctrines on an unwilling public. A public that largely rejects these ideas.

Consider the fact that Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, both governors of two large influential states, both Catholics and both representing the more intolerable version of the Catholic Church. And both aggressively pushing a Republican Party first and anti-woke agenda more unbendingly, irrationally and demandingly than good sense, or the law, allows.

Their leadership is inquisition-like, only with a little less blood shed, as far as we can tell.

DeSantis’ strident form is easily understood once you learn how committed his family is to Catholicism. With an aunt who’s a nun and an uncle who’s a priest, how can he demonstrate an equal level of commitment other than by damning anything and anyone who oversteps the Church’s boundaries, all from high political office. Abbott can’t claim such pedigree so we can only attribute his asininity to a stubborn nature.

You may know this but the Supreme Court is also loaded with Catholics.

But I digress. Back to the book.

There were several reasons I enjoyed this book and hardily recommend it to others. [Read more…] about Review: Unclobber – Rethinking Our Misuse Of The Bible On Homosexuality