Different Cultures, Same God

I believe we all agree that baptism is an essential process in the Christian faith. This past Sunday I attended church with a friend of mine. This was a small upstart church in Charlotte, but has many other campuses across the world called CityChurch. This particular week there were two baptisms, in a little kiddy pool because they had nothing else. This shows the Christian drive to complete this sacrament by whatever means possible.

The pastor of the church went on later in the service to talk about this drive. He told of a few different ways that this is done in other cultures. Some were a little far fetched but who knows if you have no other way you may need to come up with ideas like these someday.

In Afghanistan, where it is literally a death sentence to be baptised as a Christian, there have been videos coming out where 3 or 4 guys are obviously hiding in somebody's garden around an animal trough. They are intently looking around to make sure no one sees them and one will jump in and they will all cheer. This sounds pretty intense to me.

In Siberia all they have is snow and iced over lakes. They will cut a hole in the ice and lower you into the water. and pull you back out again. This could be why there is a low conversion rate there.

In parts of India where there is not much water they will dig a grave, line the bottom with white sheets. The one getting baptised will be laid in the grave and covered with another white sheet. A small amount of water will be sprinkled on top of the sheet, and it will then be whipped off of the person. The person will then climb out of the grave. This was my favorite example that was given.

To me this proves that it is not a case of how much water is used, or how it is accomplished. I believe that God is looking more at the heart, how the decision was made, and the fact that it is a public affirmation of faith. This is what the Bible talks about, remember all of the passages, where it says that Jesus knew what they were truly thinking because he could read what was in their heart.

Here is the second part of the message. Keep the same energy of faith that you had right after you gave your life to Christ. This video shows a great example of that energy.