A funny call about baptism
People are funny . . . I guess I always knew that, but honestly someone should write a book about all the different delusions people put in the place of the truth today.
Several months ago (safely in the past), I got a phone call here at the office. Not that unusual for a Saturday afternoon, but it gets better. An unknown woman was on the line, and I could tell by her voice that she was “mature”. In our conversation, she mentioned how she and her brother were closing in on retirement age and were looking to find a church to baptize them!!!
That perked my interest to say the least! There is nothing more inspirational for a congregation than to witness a baptism service! I immediately began dreaming of having two new members - and their friends - and their friends! So I quickly begain the interview process.
I asked, “Do you presently have a church?”
She answered, “No but we’re fairly new to the area.”
“Well, were you raised in a church?” I queried.
“No, but we watch preachers on television sometimes,” she replied.
“Which ones are your favorites?” I wanted to know.
“I can’t remember the names. But then, it’s been a while,” she informed me.
It seemed the longer the conversation went, the less I knew . . . So I changed tactics and asked what prompted her call. Had she just received a spiritual epiphany? Or had she gone through some sort of traumatic event. Her answer was, “No, nothing like that.”
Asking the next question that came to mind, the truth started to dawn on me. I asked her, “So I presume you and your brother are looking to JOIN a congregation, to become part of a fellowship of like-minded Christian believers?”
Her answer was, “No, not really. We don’t socialize that much. We’re not looking to change our lifestyle or anything like that.”
So, being pretty much at a loss now, I told her how baptism by immersion was simply following in the footsteps of Christ. We do it after we pray to accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, asking Him to forgive our sins.
That’s when the bomb went off. She told me, “Oh, we don’t sin anymore. We used to, but we quit all that years ago.”
Incredulous, I stammered, “Well, that’s a lot better than an old Baptist preacher I know . . . “
Withmy head starting to explode, I simply had to ask the follow-up question, “Well, if you don’t sin, and you don’t want to join a church or associate with other believers, then why do you want to be baptized?”
Without hesitation, she exclaimed, “So we can go to heaven when we die.”
Totally undone, I explained how there is nothing magical about the water, and how God loves her and wants to be in an every closer relationship with her . . . and how I would love to meet with her and her brother so that we could sit down and talk. But it seems I’d lost her interest. I suspect she went right back to whatever list in which she found our name to see if the next church down the page would baptize her and her brother.
Like I say, people are funny.
Stay focused on Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
In Christ,
Pastor Ed