Okay, there are a variety of thoughts about baptism within the Church (so you credobaptists and paedobaptists simmer down in the back), but this is something else right here:
Here's what happened:
Northwood Temple Academy, a Christian school in Fayetteville, North Carolina, held a chapel service where more than 100 students came forward to put their faith in Christ and be baptized:
This is a regular practice in churches, probably because Jesus said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," or something like that.
Baptism is a means by which a believer shows (SETTLE DOWN BACK THERE PAEDOBAPTISTS) that they have been washed anew in Christ's name. As water washes away dirt, so too Christ's sacrifice washes away our sin.
In churches that practice full immersion baptism, going under water, which often symbolized chaos in Hebrew literature, also demonstrates following Christ in his death and burial, while emerging from the water symbolizes faith that God will raise us again from the dead.
It's pretty poetic stuff when you think about it.
Which is why I can understand that some parents were bummed about missing the moment:
Renee McLamb, the head of the school, sent families a letter to explain.
"The Spirit of the Lord moved and the invitation to accept the Lord and be baptized was given and the students just began to respond to the presence of the Lord," McLamb said in the letter, which was obtained by the Observer.
The school says it typically notifies and invites parents to be present for any baptisms that happen on campus, and "it was not the intention of any faculty member to do anything behind a parent's back or in any kind of secret way."
There was at least one family, however, that really needs to have some basic lessons on theology:
McLamb said that most of the parents that contacted her were glad, but some were unhappy with the move. Some of the children had already been baptized, and at least one family was concerned that a second baptism could undo the first.
Yeah, I don't know if you know this, but baptism isn't some kind of magic ceremony where one ritual cancels out another. If you're looking for that kind of religion, see every single pagan faith past and present.
According to the Law of Moses, Israelites had to ritually wash themselves if they had become unclean. During the time of John the Baptist, he practiced washing people in the Jordan River as a means of ritually preparing their hearts for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.
When Jesus came, he was baptized by John, who was of the Levitical priestly line and a direct descendant of Moses' brother Aaron, to symbolize the beginning of his ministry and the Levitical duty of preparing sacrifices made to God. Jesus was the Lamb who would take away the sins of the world.
I've been to the Jordan River. People go there from all over the world to be baptized and buy "holy" water from the river, but the thing is an oversized muddy crick and it ain't got no magic powers.
The water has no ability to erase your wrongs. And just as the ancient Jewish sacrifices themselves did not actually take away sin, so too baptism does not take away sin.
Christ's death and resurrection alone accomplished that.
Of course... [pulls pin on grenade], Catholic theology teaches that one cannot be sealed for salvation unless one is baptized within the Catholic Church [lobs grenade], and that one must work tirelessly to maintain this seal without any true assurance of salvation [runs away], meaning people like me who have confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in my heart that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9) are damned to eternity in hell [dives away from explosion].
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