Maybe just a toe...

“I’m afraid of the water – I can’t.” No, I’m not talking about someone not going swimming. I’m talking about someone with a truly irrational fear of the water. Chills, nausea, vomiting – the good stuff.

Ok, this is a non-traditional blog post. As I’ve said before, I have zero theological training but I do try to help a brother out when in need.

So the other day a friend asked me a question and it’s not something I’d really ever thought about, but I can understand the dilemma. The question was, “Why do I need to get baptized as an adult when I was baptized Methodist as a child,” which was quickly followed by, “how do I get baptized anyway when I’m afraid of the water and my church only does immersion?” He was a Baptist.

Those are two seemingly tough questions that have profoundly simple answers, but it might mean changing churches. Let’s tackle the second question – fear of the water. Some denominations only immerse, others are all in for immersion, sprinkling, or pouring holy water. It really comes down to the denomination and how they interpret the Bible. For someone who is afraid of going under the water or having water over their head or face, Ezekiel provides us a way out. In chapter 36, Ezekiel tells Israel that God will gather the remnant, sprinkle them with clean water, and – get this “give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you” – all from a little sprinkled water! (Ezek 36:25-26, NIV)

For the sake of His holy name…

So if God can sprinkle a little water on a whole nation and in turn give them a new spirit, why can’t a little sprinkled water from the pastor’s bottle represent a new start, a new spirit in you? It can – and it’s biblical. God didn’t do this for the remnant because they deserved it. Nope – He did it because He wanted to, for the sake of His holy name. (Ezek 36:22) It stands to reason if God gave a new spirit to the remnant for His own sake, then he can give you the same new spirit through sprinkling for His own sake as well.

So then, the first question is a little harder to answer because so many denominations believe that baptism is a sacrament and sacraments by their holy nature need never be repeated. So if you were baptized Methodist as a child, which means baptized into the Methodist congregation to seek improvement and holy living by the precepts and guidelines of Methodism, then why would you ever need to repeat the sacrament as an adult?

Since I’m not a theologian and God isn’t typing through my fingers, I’m not going to try and walk down the difference between a child baptism, or a baptism into a denomination, and an adult baptism. I won’t even touch the difference between baptism by water and by holy fire!

Check out Acts 19:1-7 and do some research on that. At the end of the day it’s straightforward.

Christ changes everything.