I've been blogging away the past few days but I've been putting off this post because I knew I'd have to chew on exactly what to write for a while. I shoot for 75% photos and 25% narrative in my posts, but this one will be a little different...so grab a cup of coffee and bear with me.
Sprinkling vs. Dunking
Graem was raised Baptist, I was raised Presbyterian. Baptists baptize upon profession of faith...Presbyterians baptize infants. When Graem and I were looking for a church home here in Lexington, we visited lots of different churches, some Baptist and some Presbyterian and even a couple of Methodist. After much prayer and discussion, we decided on
Lexington Presbyterian (PCA -- there is a huge difference between the branches of the Presbyterian church, but that is a discussion for another day. For purposes of this post, all Presbyterians baptize infants). All the churches we visited were great, but the deciding factor ended up being that we felt our beliefs most closely aligned with the PCA and the teaching at LPC was the best.
For me, joining our church just meant a transfer of membership from the church I grew up in (Westminster PCA in Clinton), but for Graem, this meant joining a church that had some theological differences from what he was raised to believe -- and one of those major differences was baptism.
We had many discussions amongst ourselves and with our pastor about the biblical significance of infant baptism. Until that point, I had never really given infant baptism very much thought -- we sprinkle babies and that's that. I knew that being sprinkled didn't "save" the baby; and likewise, being dunked doesn't "save" someone. For that matter, you don't have to be baptized at all to make it to heaven. Both types of baptism are signs -- but what are the roots of these beliefs? Graem's questions forced me to dig into Scripture to really understand why I believe what I believe.
Father Abraham had Many Sons
In the Old Testament, God made a covenant with Abraham. What was the covenant? A
promise of blessing. The Lord promised Abraham that he and his descendents would know God's blessings on the basis of
faith (see Genesis 15 thru 17). No one receives God's blessings from personal merit or because of some ceremony, but by God's grace through faith.
What does a covenant with a Jewish patriarch have to do with US? God told Abraham that "All nations will be blessed through you" (Galations 3:8 and Genesis 12:3). Paul said "So those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith" (Gal 3:9). WE are Abraham's spiritual descendents.
What does this have to do with sprinkling water??? In the Old Testament, before Christ's birth & death, the covenant sign was circumcision. Circumcision causes bleeding {ouch} -- which signified the blood that Christ shed on the cross. After Christ's death, the covenant sign changed from circumcision to baptism -- the water signifies the washing of our sins. See how it all ties together?
But why babies??? "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household" (Acts 16:30-31). Paul didn't mean that the entire household would automatically express faith in Christ...but the presumption is that the faith of the head of the household would govern the life and faith patterns of the rest of the family. So...in the Bible, entire families (including babies) were baptized together (Cornelius & his household in Acts 10, Lydia and her household in Acts 16, the household of Stephanas in 1 Corinthians). There were also baptisms of individual adult believers that didn't have households (Paul and Simon).
The important thing to remember is that no mere ritual will save anyone. So...why do it???? In short, to honor God and his promise.
Whew.
All that being said, it is easy to get bogged down in theological technicalities. People have a tendency to get a little defensive of their beliefs, which is only natural. My grandfather was raised Baptist and joined the Presbyterian church after marrying Gigi...he encouraged people to stick with the basics and not get caught up in all the minute differences between Christian denominations. Good advice. By no means do I believe that only Presbyterians are going to heaven.
Sorry folks, but I'm not done with this post yet...
Team Jesus
Our pastor, Clay Werner, used an illustration during an infant baptism several months ago that has really stuck with me. When Clay and his family moved to SC from TN earlier this year, people in our church started giving the Werner children USC and Clemson jerseys, trying to win them over to one side or the other.
He made the point that people in SC are very passionate about our football teams, and everyone knows this holds true in the Clark household. We put our team colors on our children from a very early age.
Mason knows who Cocky is...he loves wearing his jersey and his USC football helmet...he even likes watching the games on television. We have taken countless photos of both boys in USC gear which we hope they will treasure as they get older. Are Mason and Roper actually Gamecock fans? Of course not -- they are obviously too young to understand what any of this means. But...it is our hope that our boys will grow up to embrace the Gamecocks and be bigger USC fans than we are!
Infant baptism is a commitment by a child's parents to raise the child in a Christian home -- hearing about Jesus, singing about Him, praying to Him, learning about Him...wearing His team's colors and being surrounded by His fans! We hope and pray that our boys will grow up to understand the meaning of all this and embrace Christ as their Savior. I pray that they will never know a day without the love of Jesus Christ!
By no means is this the only way or the right way to do it...this is just what we believe, and since I've come to a better understanding of why we believe it, I thought I'd share. All that being said, one day I hope to take a trip to the Holy Land...when I do, I plan to be "dunked" in the Jordan River.
This leads me to Roper's baptism last Sunday. He was so sweet -- he fell asleep in my arms at the beginning of the service. Most of you know about the precious gown that he wore (Graem has been reassured that our boys will only wear a dress once in their lives). Roper's great-great-grandmother, Mama Ruth, made the gown and the slip by hand. Roper was the 15th covenant child to wear the gown, which was also worn by yours truly, my brother and my cousins, my Daddy and his siblings and of course Mason. The beautiful irony in all of this is that Mama Ruth was Baptist...so that kind of ties it all together.
(Sidenote -- my grandmother never ceases to amaze me. I hope I inherited the gene that will make me look as good as she does at 85. She will tell you that the secret is sunscreen; this is advice which I heed. Don't you love her coat? Hands down my favorite color.)
Wow -- my all-time record longest post, hopefully it will stay that way for a while because these fingers are tired of typing! :) I debated on whether or not to include a list of all the children that have worn the christening gown...might as well go for it...this is in chronological order:
1. Aunt Beth
2. My Daddy
3. Uncle Houston
4. Aunt Ruth
--next generation--
5. Alice
6. David
7. me
8. Rob
9. Sydney
10. Kate
--next generation--
11. Caroline
12. Robert
13. Ruthanna
14. Mason
15. Roper
