RLST100: Introduction to Religious Studies - Baptism Ritual Analysis

This report analyzes a video of a baptism ritual, focusing on its practices within an Evangelical church. The student describes the ritual, highlighting the use of water, the roles of the pastor and volunteers, and the overall atmosphere. The analysis explores the symbolism of baptism as a public declaration of faith and cleansing, contrasting different Christian denominations' views on the sacrament. The report also reflects on the student's learning experience, emphasizing the ritual's significance and its impact on the individual's faith journey. The student also provides a description of the church's setting and the interactions among the participants. The report also includes a bibliography of related sources.

PAPER TITLE CENTERED AND IN CAPS LOCK
Student’s Name
Subject
Date

1
I have chosen a video of the Baptism ritual. Baptism is a Religious practice and
ceremony and is often also called Christening, conducted on infants. The Catholic Church
requires a method of entry for using water because Jesus Christ was immersed in the Jordan
River. Baptism is often a form of spiritual indoctrination in a particular religious’ community,
where such ritual is practiced. It is assumed to be essential to save a human after death. It's a
must. Yes, baptism is one of the sacraments of the Roman Catholic religion, since Jesus
Christ introduced it as the method for offering salvation to the baptized. Also, the human with
the original sin is cleansed by baptism1. Christ orders baptism, Lutherans say. Whereas, the
Methodists claim that the redemption of their crimes is a spiritual type of gift of grace. The
particulars of the baptismal ritual differ from community to party, although certain rituals
apply. Families and their preferred families usually carry the infant to their priest or minister,
who then pours water in the front of the infant. Any sects of faith spray mud. Any of those to
be baptized was partly or entirely submerged in mud, as was seen in many early Christian
creative activities2. Furthermore, Evangelical Protestantism, or evangelistic Christianity, is a
modern trend that holds the conviction that the meaning of Religion is the message of
redemption through grace alone, and through believing in the Atonement of Jesus. By gaining
redemption, the power of the Bible is a revelation of God to humanity, and transmitting the
Gospel word, Evangelicals trust in the centrality of repentance or knowledge with the "born
again." The trend has long been prevalent in the Anglosphere, and the 19th, 20th, and early
21st centuries were expanding wider3. It was founded in 1738, and numerous religious
movements, including pietism, Puritanism, presbyterianism, and the Moravian Church, lead
to its formation. Primarily during the First Great Awakening, John Wesley and other early
Methodists were at the forefront of this common cause. Evangelicals are also present in
1 Phillip Brandt, 2017
2 Roy Bentley, 2019
3 Frank Macchia, 2020

2
several Protestant groups and in different sects that have not been subsumed under a single
group.
In the video, we can see that the recording of the ritual consists mostly of a minimal
number of recording personals. Like in this video, the recording has been done by one or two
specialists. Maybe one cameraman and one voice recorder. The people of the Church were
given contest to speak about, and they talked about what they think about the ritual the
Church does adult baptism, which a lot of churches don't do. The evangelical Church
practices adult baptisms by total immersion4. The pastor explains what baptism is and why
we do this as we see people getting baptised. The Church has very minimal decorations
inside. It has a square pool for people to get baptized. The pastor and another volunteer
helped the adults to get baptized. In the end the other people seem to be giving little
interviews to the video. Furthermore, the reason behind all those people there, is the ritual of
baptism is something that should be celebrated by all humans. That is also the reason behind
all that cheering after the individuals are getting baptized5. Furthermore, the Church itself
looked like a small church with a podium for the pastor to give speeches and a small square
pool. The place seemed more like a place for baptizing purposes only.
Many of us shower every day and say nothing of it, particularly in one way or another.
Not only do we frequently wash our whole body by washing or showering, even when they
are sick or sleeping, or when we go to bed in the night or get up in the morning, we also wash
our hands and mouths, our feet and all the other areas of our brain. We wash our clothing, our
milk, our vehicles, or even our houses occasionally. And there are all our other hygiene
practices, including combing, washing, hair wraps, wraps, shaves, etc. Currently, we have
4 Youtube, 2015
5 Rebecca Anne Goetz, 2016

3
placed a great deal of effort into a wash, caring for and exhibiting our bodies. It's just a life
component. We will quickly remember, if we avoid talking about it, that without washing life
is something that we will rather not dwell about. Luckily, several of us don't have a bath
unless we are a random mass demonstration goal! Yet frustrated citizens are either reluctant
or unable to dive6. They typically stay in town, sometimes alone, feed and sleep away from
the majority of civilization. They exist in town. Your unwashed state is an symbol of your
position beyond "appropriate" society. Before we meet others who do not brush, we take it
for granted. Then, we know it is not only natural but vital, to keep ourselves safe. Not
washing has both environmental and social implications. The more soil we receive, the more
likely we would be to acquire various diseases from the increasing dirt.
Christians generally accept baptism as a symbol of a Christian individual. And while
particular Christian churches ought to be baptized, many more receive some Christian
baptism. And of example, non-Christians are usually conscious of how individuals are
publically marked as Christians is the rite of baptism. The first cause of people who have
embraced the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to be baptized is simple: the public mark and
the indication that the individual is now a Christian is generally known. This is the second
baptismal force7. When we're a Christian, we have ties directly to Jesus Christ, the one for
whom the Christian Church is named. Everybody of every faith can obviously read the
Gospels and benefit from Jesus' knowledge. However, even Christians view Jesus Christ as
"God With Us," as the Creator's unique human being and world Existence8. When we call
ourselves Christians and, indeed, through baptism we bring our children into Christianity, we
and our children are a large fraternity of Christians through which we believe our Creator,
6 Maureen Waldron, 2018
7 Mike Stallard, 2018
8 Annemarie Mayer, 2018

4
Father and Savior, Jesus Christ, will love and worship. We have always talked about and
done incorrect and bad stuff. These are like psychological mud, which is stuck to our body. It
would start to mount up within us until we become odious to the citizens around us if we do
not wash the dirt from our mindse9t. Worse still, it can drive humanity through mental
sickness and death. We will never reach the divine glory and elegance of the afterlife because
we are morally filthy. We ought to wash ourselves and be washed by performing inner
baptism to do so. This immersion includes the washing of all our negative feelings, impulses
and acts every day. Yet as Christians, we do it through Jesus Christ's influence operating in
us. By this regular divine purification symbolized by baptism, we become Christians in spirit
and truth, and not just in the word10.
So, after watching the video, I have learned a lot about Christianity. I have learned
what though baptism is, it is in the end, only a ritual, and not essential to Christian life and
salvation, if there is an opportunity, I will recommend anyone, children or adults, who are
Christians to be baptized. First of all, the rite of welcoming Jesus Christ to his Church was
immersed as an explanation of all Christians. Another statement that we human beings have
our practices, though it might sound like just an arbitrary practice. Nature orders us to follow
these procedures. It's a definite idea to be a Christian with our hearts and mind. Yet to convey
this devotion by baptism provides the power of a collective, tangible activity that takes our
emotional engagement to its completion and fullness. Adults who are welcomed into the
congregation of Jesus Christ also sense a force and desire to which was unexpected by them
from getting baptized, being "only a practice."
9 Craig Alen Satterlee, 2018
10 Burkhard Neunheuser, 2018

5
Bibliography
Brandt, Phillip L. "Baptism of Our Lord Series A 2017." (2017).
Bentley, Roy. "River Baptism." Southern Review 55, no. 3 (2019): 458-459.
Goetz, Rebecca Anne. The Baptism of Early Virginia: How Christianity Created Race. JHU
Press, 2016.
Macchia, Frank D. "Spirit Baptism and Spiritual Formation: A Pentecostal
Proposal." Journal of Spiritual Formation and Soul Care (2020): 1939790920903262.
Mayer, Annemarie C. "The common gift of Baptism-a field for catholic learning. Ecumenical
investigations along ecclesiological linea." Služba Božja: liturgijsko-pastoralna
revija 57, no. 2 (2017): 196-211.
Neunheuser, Burkhard. Baptism and confirmation. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018.
Satterlee, Craig Alan. "How Baptism Doesn't Form Us: Why We Seek Other Ways to Grow
the Church." (2018).
Stallard, Mike. "Reflections on" Baptism Now Saves Us" in 1 Peter 3: 21." Journal of
Ministry & Theology 22, no. 2 (2018).
Waldron, Maureen. "Reflection for Monday, January 8, 2018: Baptism of the Lord (US)."
(2018).
“What Is Baptism?” 2015. YouTube Video. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=KoPEMVTAl9M.