Custom term paper on Baptism

The Bible depicts in details the rite of Baptism. The Exodus focuses on the description of Baptism narrated by God to Moses. This description lays the foundation to the tradition of conducting Baptism and using water in the course of baptizing. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that Exodus stresses that baptizing can occur en masse that implies the orientation of Baptism and early Christianity on the mass audience and large masses of followers. This concept is very important, taking into consideration the fact that through the mass Baptism, Christianity could gain the large number of followers and believers in a relatively short time. Basically the detailed depiction of the procedure of baptizing provides Christians with clear recommendations concerning their actions in the course of Baptism. At the same time, the detailed description of Baptism in Biblical texts proves the importance of Baptism for Christianity. On the other hand, it is important to lay emphasis on the fact that Baptism has a sacred value for Christians. This is why the process of baptizing was conveyed in details to the major prophet of Christianity, to Moses. As the matter of fact, this means that Baptism is the rite which is sanctioned by God and which conveyed to people through Moses, the major prophet in Christianity. Therefore, Christians should not doubt and undergo the procedure of baptizing.
Furthermore, the concept of baptizing and the mode of baptizing is conveyed through other texts in the Bible along with Exodus. In this regard, the description of Baptism in the New Testament is particularly important. First of all, the New Testament describes the baptizing of Jesus Christ that is another evidence of the importance of Baptism for God and Christianity. At the same time, it is quite noteworthy that the description of baptizing rite is similar to the one described in Exodus. To put it more precisely, Baptism described in the New Testament includes the immersion of men into the water or sprinkling with the water. This rite was conducted by John the Baptist in relation to Jesus Christ and later in relation to his disciples.

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In such a way, from one Biblical text to another the Bible conveys the clear description of the mode of baptizing which includes the presence of a sanctioned person, who can conduct baptizing, and the use of water in the course of the rite as a symbol of purification. In such a way, through undergoing the rite of Baptism, individuals get converted and join Christians.
Remarkably, Jesus Christ insists on the necessity to continue the practice of Baptism after his resurrection. He asks his disciples to carry on baptizing people to spread Christian religion worldwide. His disciples fulfilled the request of Jesus Christ and the tradition of Baptism persists till present days. However, the rite of baptizing has changed in the course of time. Originally, Baptism took place in rivers and ponds, where often a large number of people participated in the immersion. As it has been already mentioned above, this mass baptizing was determined by the intention of early Christians to spread Christianity en masse. In the course of time, Christianity became the mainstream religion. As a result, the need in the mass baptizing has disappeared but people still needed to undergo the baptizing rite.
As the number of Christians increased and baptizing became a norm, the need in the mass baptizing has disappeared and, therefore, there was no need in the immersion of baptized people in rivers and ponds. Instead, priests have started to use sprinkling as a symbolic element of baptizing. In fact, sprinkling naturally involved the use of water as the symbolic element of Baptism. Therefore, the original aim of Baptism was achieved through the use of water but the form of using the water has changed as sprinkling replaced the full immersion. In fact, such a change was determined by practical considerations. As the number of baptized people decreased and a large number of churches built, priests needed to create places where they could baptize people. Naturally, some churches could not be built and were not built next to rivers or ponds. Therefore, they needed some alternative source of water to baptize believers. Hence, priests started to use sprinkling instead of immersion. Nevertheless, the slight change of the form and mode of the rite did not change its essence and significance for Christians. Moreover, Baptism still remains of the utmost importance for Christians. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the fact that in the time of rising Protestantism the heretics were condemned by the Catholic Church for the denial of Baptism along with other heresies. What is meant here is the fact that Baptism played an important part for Christians, namely for the Catholic Church. The violation of the norm of baptizing was treated by Catholics and the Catholic Church as a heresy. Remarkably, in the course of the struggle of the Catholic Church with the heretics, Baptism and the rite of baptizing were defined clearly and approved by the 4th Lutheran and Florentine cathedrals. In such a way, Baptism has proved to be of the utmost importance not only to Catholics but also to Protestants. Therefore, Baptism is an essential element of Christianity and a symbol of the rebirth of believers and their transition from their past sinful life to the new virtuous life where believers are supposed to live in accordance to norms and rules established by Christianity and posed on the mankind by God.