Baptism is Risky

On entering the parallel universe

I was born and raised a Baptist, I pastor an American Baptist church, and shall be formalizing my relationship with that denomination soon, but that’s not the story I want to tell in this post. The reason I mention it is to highlight the fact that in spite of my forays into other Christian traditions, there are some Baptist ideas that are pretty embedded in me—including the one that would hint that you aren’t really born a Baptist or any type of Christian after all.

If there’s one thing that sets Baptists apart from lots of other Christian denominations, it’s how we view the rite, sacrament, or—as many Baptists call it—ordinance of baptism. Namely: that it is a deliberate visible, publicly enacted choice to enter into the life of God through Jesus, and that the way to publicly enact it is by symbolizing Jesus’ own death, burial, and resurrection by being fully immersed in water and raised back out of it.

Lots of people—those who practice the above, often called “believer’s baptism,” and those who baptize by sprinkling adults and/or children as young as babies—like to argue about which kind of baptism is the “right” kind and get very heated about it. I’m not interested in that—in making all the usual points. But the other day as I was talking with my spiritual director (who I believe is an Anglican), we were talking about water as a symbol and she asked me about my view of baptism. And I realized that possibly my view is more “sacramental” than most Baptists, but also that it doesn’t work for any other type of baptism than “believer’s.” And that’s because one thing I deeply believe about baptism is that it’s dangerous, and the danger has to do with the choice.