Back a few months ago, The View From Marrs posted the Top 10 Things Heard by Christians. These are actually dumb, outrageous statements made to the blogger at various times in his Christian ministry. One of them was:
“That baptism was not valid in the eyes of God because it was not done in a church baptistry.”
Said to me by another pastor when I was telling the story of baptizing someone in the Pacific Ocean. I asked him what church baptistry Jesus was baptized in. He did not think I was funny.
Amazing! Should I be concerned that my own baptism was not valid then? Our church couldn’t afford a baptistry, so I was baptized in a local lake. Frankly, it was more meaningful for me to baptized with strangers around than indoors surrounded by friends.
The comment above appears to have a less than noble motive behind it and dubious theology to say the least. Sometimes our words reveal us. Which reminds me…
Motivation and background can account for a lot of “less the intelligent” comments. While participating in a baptism service years ago, the conditions were less than optimal. An old church with an old concrete baptistry, filled with too little water set the stage for a small problem. With too little water, the attempt to immerse came just a couple inches short. The top of the head didn’t quite get under. The lady was a new believer. Her husband was not that mature in his faith. He was concerned about whether the baptism “counted”. I assured them it did. God knew their heart.
I confess that I was more bothered by it than they were but for different reasons. Because I was a young pastor, I wondered if I had done something wrong, or hadn’t performed well. Did I ruin their special day? I was miffed that there wasn’t more water in the tank.(I was told that there wasn’t enough hot water.) Perhaps the big learning was that I was more performance oriented than I would care to admit.