{"id":105,"date":"2005-08-18T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-18T21:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/?p=105"},"modified":"2005-08-18T14:03:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-18T21:03:00","slug":"baptism-in-the-jordan-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/2005\/08\/18\/baptism-in-the-jordan-river\/","title":{"rendered":"Baptism in the Jordan River"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>From time to time, I am with students who desire to be baptized in the Jordan River. Because Jesus was baptized here, they think it would be special and memorable for them to be also. As a river, the Jordan is not particularly impressive, but there’s enough water to be fully immersed, so it qualifies. I have a couple of problems (or questions) with this desire:<\/p>\n

1. Shouldn’t baptism be immediate? I read this morning that Saul\/Paul was a) blinded for three days during which time he didn’t eat or drink anything; b) received his sight; c) was baptized; d) and only then took some food and regained his strength. These days it seems like we do the opposite – not only eat some food first, but eat about six months or a year’s worth (spread out over the same amount of days, of course). I don’t see that with Saul (Acts 9:18), I don’t see that with the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41), I don’t see it with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:36-39), I don’t see it with Lydia (Acts 16:15). Am I missing something? What biblical basis is there for waiting? If this is so, rather than waiting for our trip to the Jordan River, the person who asks to be baptized should be immersed in the first body of water we can find.<\/p>\n

2. It seems to me also, except where conflicting with point #1, that baptism is a public demonstration, ideally done where you live. Baptism is a statement to those who observe (or hear about) it that one’s life has changed, and the commitment is now to Christ. It’s a big deal here in Israel, as that’s the “step” that tells your (Jewish) family that you’re committed and there’s no going back. For many, it means their funeral (they’re not dead, just treated as such). I don’t think I’d counsel an Israeli to go to the other side of the world to be baptized as that public testimony is going to be reduced.<\/p>\n

3. Is this risk of spiritual pride (always looking back and saying, “but I was baptized there”) worth it? Maybe for the sake of your continued sanctification, it would be better to be baptized in the swimming pool than in the Jordan River.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From time to time, I am with students who desire to be baptized in the Jordan River. Because Jesus was baptized here, they think it would be special and memorable for them to be also. As a river, the Jordan is not particularly impressive, but there’s enough water to be fully immersed, so it qualifies.\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toddbolen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}