baptism

religion

Waterboarding is not funny, Sarah Palin

Former vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, gave a one-liner to an audience at the National Rifle Association that likened baptism to waterboarding torture. Palin said in her speech:

They obviously have information on plots to carry out Jihad… Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.

It appeared that the joke was well received with the NRA audience. The rest of her speech was delivered with a snarky and sarcastic tone.

To Sarah Palin, waterboarding and baptism are such minor realities in her worldview, that she feels the need to belittle such serious topics. Senator John McCain, who was Palin’s running mate in 2008 and a former prison of war, has denounced the practice of waterboarding because it is torture.

Palin has made it abundantly clear that she is a born-again Evangelical Christian. Sarah Palin and I believe in the divinity of Christ, the salvation of God, and the importance of the biblical call for baptism and repentance of sin. However, where we completely differ is how we talk about baptism and torture.

On her Facebook page, Palin defended her remarks:

If some overly sensitive wusses took offense, remember the First Amendment doesn’t give you a right not to be offended. Perhaps hypocritical folks who only want Freedom of Speech to apply to those who agree with their liberal agenda might want to consider that the evil terrorists who were the brunt of my one-liner would be the first to strip away ALL our rights if given the chance.”

I believe in free speech, but also responsibility for that speech. Torture is a horrible practice. Jesus Christ was tortured on a cross. I cannot imagine that Jesus would want anyone to suffer such fate. Palin’s extreme rhetoric only hurts the Christian witness. For a public figure who is a Christian to share such a joke leaves the impression that Christians do not take torture seriously. Such talk treats violence, without any thought about the dignity or sanctity of human life (no matter how evil the actions of a person) as a casual topic.

To jest that waterboarding is how she would “baptize terrorists” shows a complete lack of respect and reverence for the ordinance of holy baptism. Sarah Palin has a lack of self-awareness. Some would say, “Hey lighten up. Terrorists are the enemy.” However, Palin’s track record of such inflammatory statements do nothing to advance the kingdom of God. The act of baptism is the mark of a Christian who dies to sin and is raise into new life through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ did not die so that the act of baptism could be used as fodder for a political agenda.

We Christians must speak out again such ignorant and un-Christ like talk. Jokes about terrorists and baptism treat both topics as a drive-by joke to be laughed and used for scoring likability points.

I know folks will disagree with me on this issue of torture. No matter your view on torture or waterboarding, please treat such topics with all seriousness, good faith, and respect.

sacrament

Guest Blogger: Tripp Hudgins the AngloBaptist

Part III: Sacrament vs. Ordinance: Guest Blogger, Tripp Hudgins (AngloBaptist). Check out Part I & Part II.

Alan generously asked me to participate in this blog series on Baptist sacramentality and immediately I said yes. I wanted to chime in. But it took me a while to figure out how I could share my thoughts. As a baptist, I think the testimony might be the best mode of communication in this instance. I hope you will all bear with me.

I was in seminary listening to a lecture on the Eucharistic Prayer, that traditional prayer that many denominations use when celebrating the Lord’s Supper. We were walking through some of the history, form, and theological function of the prayer and when we got to the epiclesis I had an epiphany. Really, one hopes for an epiphany at the epiclesis, but how often does that happen? And yet, there it was. Whammo!

The epiclesis is the part of the longer Eucharistic Prayer (aka anaphora) where the presider (priest or pastor, typically) prays for the Holy Spirit to be present in the elements at the table. I was listening with Baptist ears on as my Episcopal professor explained the historical use of this prayer. I was on the lookout for magical thinking, or mechanistic ballyhoo. None. Zilch. Nada. Then…Then it hit me.

Hold on! What are all the elements present at the table for communion? Bread, wine (or juice), a presider of some sort, and, well…the people. The gathered faithful, The Body of Christ, are present at the table of the Lord! Don’t baptists believe that the Holy Spirit transforms us? Don’t we believe that we are somehow renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit? Don’t we pray that God would be present in our hearts? Isn’t this the same thing? Is this baptist sacramentality?

Baptists

Early Baptist Use of Sacraments

Much to the ignorance of many modern day Baptists, the word “sacrament” or sacraments was used by Baptist framers in their creeds and confessions. Yes, I said it. I used the words “Baptist” and “creed” in the same sentence. Recent Baptist history upholds that Baptists are non-creedal, however it is clear that Baptists in the 17th and 18th centuries used creeds. Later, Baptists called these creeds “confessions of faith” as did many other protestant groups.

Baptists affirm the theological statements in the creeds but do not use them to be identified as a “Baptist.” But, some Baptists used

confessions of faith as creeds. This is the paradoxical nature of Baptists and their confessions of faith because their statements were directed at excluding other completing theologies. That is exactly what the creeds do, among with affirm what people believe. We receive the word “creed” from the Greek word credo meaning “to believe.” Clearly, the Baptists were using creedal statements and formulas, but many Baptists did not want to call these doctrinal statements creeds in reaction to the creeds of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church.

Alright, on to the use of the word “sacrament” in early Baptist thought and writings. William Joseph McGlothlin compiled a collection of early creeds and confessions of faith that our modern day Baptist life is modeled from. McGlothin’s, Baptist Confessions of Faith, was written in 1911 is a very helpful source book to understand how Baptists used “sacraments.”

The following are excerpts from, Baptist Confession of Faith, of the “English” living in Amsterdam in 1614, who desired to correct John Smyth‘s “errors” :

sacrament

Sacrament or Ordinance? (Part 1)

Recently, Karen Bullock, professor Christian heritage and director of the Ph.D. program at the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute, commented on Baptists celebrating their 400 year anniversary by saying, “…several theologians across the past half century have advocated that Baptists reconsider both the terms and meaning of sacramental acts…Some of this thinking re-engages the sacramental notions of churchly acts and ordinances…”

Over the past few years, I have been actively involved in reading confessions and writings of early Baptists who saw a theological strengthening in the acts of baptism and communion. Normally, to contemporary Baptists, the word “ordinance” is used over “sacrament.” This was done to avoid the Catholic understanding of “sacrament” and to avoid any hint of works related faith. However, over the next few weeks and months, I will present scholarly and lay research on the case for strengthening sacramental language among Baptists.

Indeed, the word sacrament was used among Baptists in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, “ordinance” stuck in favor of Zwingli’s view of baptism and communion. Even modern British Baptists use the word “sacrament” when they speak of baptism and communion.

I found this little bit of encouraging research that opted to spiritually understand what happens at communion. The 1689 London Confession of Baptist Faith, states:

Waterboarding is not funny, Sarah Palin

Guest Blogger: Tripp Hudgins the AngloBaptist

Early Baptist Use of Sacraments

Sacrament or Ordinance? (Part 1)

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