Baptism, which Peter calls an appeal to God for a good
conscience, has been the source of division in the church even though both
those sprinkled as infants or dunked as adults claim to be baptized into one
body. But since there are no step by step instructions in the scriptures as to
when, where or how much water to use it’s been left to the church to fill in
the blanks, which always means the body of Christ takes a beating. The adult
dunkers dismiss the infant sprinklers baptism as invalid because of not enough
water and besides babies can’t believe. The infant sprinklers defend themselves
saying the adult dunkers are all wet and miss the anecdotal evidence in the
scripture of whole households baptized or the meaning of Jesus’ command, “Let
the little children come unto me.” I believe all of our rules and regulations
surrounding this ritual miss the point that Peter is making. Baptism is an appeal to God for a good
conscience, which is the opposite of a guilty one. A conscience free from guilt
and the only thing that brings one to God is Christ dying once for all, the
righteous for the unrighteous. Baptism
is a sign not the source of salvation. And if there was any doubt as to the
extent of God’s mercy even the spirits in prison who were baptized in the flood
– a little too much water if you ask me – get paroled.
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