Merely a sound-byte!!!?

Did you see the Archbishop’s opinions on marriage this week in the paper? Describing civil weddings as “sentimental fuzz”, he affirmed the central place of God in Christian weddings as an indication that for marriage to work we need help.  God is that help for Christians.While the Arch claimed on radio to have been roundly misquoted, in today’s instantly-published-opinion-piece world, opinions are out there irrespective of accuracy or context. And you cannot unfold the power and majesty of 6000 years of the evolution of Christian marriage in a 10-second sound-byte.  It’s rather frustrating really!So what about baptism?  I’m not sure if there are more or less opinions about baptism?  Perhaps we should ask the West to do a piece on what secular Australia is doing by way of rites of initiation/passage – like baptism?My hunch is baptism would suffer from “the sound-byte challenge” much like marriage does. Does it mean the same today as it did in Jesus’ day?  What is it about?I was talking to one of our numerous St Pips theology students this week who has an assignment due on the changes in baptism practices up until the Roman Emperor Constantine christianised the world and changed everything.  He’s discovered that baptism practices were driven by all manner of things: persecution, plagues, schisms [splits] and heresy [false teaching].  And what about baptised people who walk away from the faith?  That was a big one back then.  And rebaptism?  Another hot topic.  And who should do it?  And when? People have been elevated to sainthood and burned at the stake over questions such as these. Jesus was baptised by John but it was different to what we will do today; Paul denied baptising many people because it was regarded as a status thing; some Christians reckon there are two baptisms, one in water and another in the Holy Spirit.  It’s complex but seems really important.  Some back there believe, “no baptism, no heaven”!  Today it’s “no baptism, no posh school”! (Perhaps as important as no heaven??) Big issues; more than a sound-byte needed to grasp it.Why get baptised?  The answer is, as usual, simple but hard.  People of faith get baptised because Jesus tells us to [Matthew 28:19]!  That’s it.  If you’re a Christian and you’re not baptised you are disobedient – either actively or ignorantly.  But it’s easily fixed : Come and see me and we’ll rectify the problem in no time.If you are not a Christian and you have been baptised, what does that mean? It means that someone, knowingly or unknowingly, has cast you in the river of God’s blessing.  God is knocking at your door, perhaps even this minute. Act on it! Does baptism save you?  No; but it doesn’t hurt you either.  Baptism symbolises you putting your faith in Jesus. It depicts death, cleansing forgiveness and resurrection - Jesus’ work for you.  He saves you, not baptism.  Like I said, way more than a sound-byte.In the learning AdventureMalcolm PS. Did you know that only 1% of Australians give a hoot about all this stuff anyway?