more on Baptism

Hey all, yes, I am still thinking a lot these days about baptism. (I'm considering more and more on prayer as well, but I'll get to that some other time.) As I researched baptism I was surprised to find out that there is a lot more to it - that is to say, some people subscribe a lot more to it and make it a lot more complicated than I thought that it was. For example, I always considered that baptism was the following:
1. a symbol of dying and being resurrected with Christ
2. a symbol of being washed clean (covered with the blood of Christ and having sins washed away)
3. a public proclamation of faith in the Triune God
and my questions were more about #4
4. In Matthew 3:11 - 12 (this is John the Baptist speaking, in the passage before he baptises Jesus) "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn nad burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
So my #4 point/question is more this: when we are Baptized as Christians in line with Jesus' commandment in Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Sprit . . . " does that mean that that physical baptism is also the Spiritual Baptism of the Holy Spirit that was talked about in Matthew 3:11 by John the Baptist? Or is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit something else completely?
5. And I have this vague idea that being baptised changes my relationship towards God - making it firmer and closer somehow. Although, by obeying Jesus' command to get baptised, I suppose the simple act of obedience tightens my relationship with him and may have nothing to do with the physical act of baptism. I do not think that baptism secures my salvation - because it's not magic or anything - but maybe it matures me or grows me (like getting an essential vitamin would help the body be stronger).

In my studies on Baptism I also found that there has been a lot of discussion about whether sprinkling or dunking, or dunking in a particular way makes a difference. I personally like dunking, because it makes the symbolism of #1 more poignant, but I'm not going to say that if you were merely sprinkled that you are not baptised. I still feel like only Christians should be baptised, and that means excluding infants . . . but as I haven't gathered enough evidence or put enough good thought into this I am not going to make that claim.

Well . . . I'll keep thinking. Thanks Grandma for your email and your help on this - I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

On a different topic I went to eat my avocado today during my lunch time and realized that I had no salt. So I sprinkled a liberal amount of crushed red pepper on my avocado instead. Avocado flavor is insanely different without the salt! Much more mild and earthy. Wow. I just thought I'd mention it because two things came to my mind when that happened (1) the verse about "if salt loses it's saltiness" came to mind and I thought about how salt can't loose saltiness if it isn't there to begin with and (2) I had this wild notion of putting salt on everything that I normally don't put salt on and not putting salt on everything that I normally salt - what would the difference taste like? Probably it wouldn't be as bad as my raw garlic experiment, but I wonder.

I've been reading Lamentations yesterday and today and it really struck me about how my mind tends to resonate with the prophetic literature of the Old Testament - I think how they think. Also I was really really stopped in my tracks in reading Lamentations 3:25 - 28 "The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him." After reading that I was struck by how we are supposed to just sit and wait for the Lord to show up. So I sat in silence for a while and thought about that and waited for God to show up. It felt really good. Very peaceful. I like waiting for God. I wish that I had more time to do that - just sit in silence and wait for God. He doesn't have to show up, but sitting there and letting him know that I'm listening if he wants to tell me something seems really good - like telling friends that they can call you anytime and you are there for them. There is really something to waiting for God in silence and allowing him to do what he chooses with the time and that any way that he chooses to do it is fine. It was just a profoundly different sort of experience for me and I wanted to share it with you. Americans don't often sit in silence waiting for someone who may or may not show up - but it really ought to be like that - at his convenience, not mine.

Well, lunch is over, I'll explore more of reality, life, and the world with you later.