Baptism Sundays is a common thing in churches. On these days, people get baptized en masse, and I guess it’s convenient to do it that way. But there are a couple of things I don’t like about it.
First, pastors tend to encourage repeat baptisms.
Take my old church for example; whenever baptism Sunday was around the corner, the pastor would also encourage people who had already been baptized to do it again. Why? Because they might have done some living and need to wash it away and get a fresh start.
And it worked! I know a guy who got baptized at least three times within two years. And I know he had accepted Christ before the last two baptisms.
But I don’t believe Christians should go through baptism multiple times. Baptism is an outward expression of the inward transformation resulting from knowing Christ. If we are only saved once, doesn’t it mean we should only get baptized once?
Besides, if someone has fallen off the wagon and is ready to repent, a pastor should prescribe discipleship and guidance, not another baptism. The blood of Christ washes us clean, not water.
My second issue is spontaneous baptisms.
It’s not uncommon for pastors to call for people to get baptized on the spot. They would often say if they feel the Holy Spirit nudging them, to go for it or something like that. But I wonder, is it really the Spirit nudging them or the flesh? I mean just look at the environment of the call.
We have the pastor saying how awesome it is to get baptized (no mention of sin) and calling for brave people to come on up. We have a wild crowd cheering and applauding for volunteers. And in some cases some “fake volunteers” who are assigned visible areas in the audience to get up first so others may feel comfortable also to answer the call.
All this contribute to appeal mostly to our emotions and flesh. People might desire to get baptized not because they understand the weight of their sin and recognize only Jesus can wash them clean. But because they want to be part of the experience, the thrill, the fun.
Now I am sure there are some people who are genuinely saved and may need a nudge to take the next step of going public with their faith. But I believe that they are in the minority. Most respond out of emotional manipulation. I don’t think anyone even checks if those people are genuinely saved before allowing them to get baptized.
It seems it’s all about the numbers. More baptism means more “salvation,” I mean, if someone decides to take a dip in the water, he/she must be saved right? It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the environment of excitement and thrill pastors foster on baptism Sunday. And more salvation means more success and evidence of God’s favor on the church, which is why they always make sure to give the exact number of people who got baptized.
Baptism is supposed to be a symbol of a new life in Christ, but nowadays, it’s only a symbol of the performance of the church.
