Baptism

This week in class we are studying Acts 21-28 all of Romans. Within this assigned reading was a specific subject I was supposed to study, which this week was baptism. The LDS church treats baptism a little bit differently than the rest of the Christian world. We believe that baptism is not necessary until the age of 8. Once we reach that age, which we call the age of accountability, we then must be baptized by immersion, meaning to be completely covered by the water for the remission, or complete forgiveness, of sins.

In Romans 6 we learn that in order to be baptized we must first completely remove our sins through repentance. After we have cleansed our spirits of our sins we may be baptized.

The Baptismal process is full of symbolism but as I was studying in this chapter two ideas in particular stuck out to me that the process of immersion symbolizes the death of Christ and the reemergence from the water is representative of his Resurrection.

I believe that the symbolism is why immersion is such an important step in baptism. We believe that it represents both the death of our Savior as well as the death of our sins.

This chapter also discusses something about a "newness of life" and how it can be maintained. I think two ways in particular are that we must first be baptized then we must avoid sin so that we might not be under its control

We were also told to read in Mosiah 3:19 and search for which part of us will ideally die after baptism. This verse tells us that the natural man, or the part of us that seeks after sinful and unholy things, is the part of us that will ideally die.

Back in Romans 6 we learn more about how to recognize whose servant we are; A servant of righteousness or a servant of sin. While I was reading I came across two basic indicators of being a servant of sin, you are ashamed of the fruit of your actions, and the actions of a servant of sin typically end in death, whether that death be physical or spiritual. However a servant of righteousness is free from sin (of course), obedient to the laws of God and filled with joy and peace.

While reading this, I came to realize something, in our society freedom has come to be defined as being able to do whatever you want. While this is true, it also seriously overlooks one thing: though we may be free to choose our own actions, we cannot choose the consequences. When we make poor decisions we get unpleasant consequences, which restrict our freedom. In order be truly free we must make righteous choices that will bring us joy and peace.