Monday, January 24, 2011

To Fulfill The Law

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Each Sunday, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. Regardless of your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

Third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins

To become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we must be baptized by immersion by one having Priesthood authority.  Baptism is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as we are buried completely in the water and are brought back up again, clean and pure.

We believe that baptism washes us clean of our sins, just as we are washed clean in the blood of Christ. Of course, we won't remain perfect forever, which is why we have the blessing of repentance

Jesus Himself was baptized, as we read in Matthew 3:13-17:
13¶Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be abaptized of him.
 14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
 15And Jesus answering said unto him, aSuffer it to be so now: for thus it bbecometh us to cfulfil all drighteousness. Then he suffered him.
 16And Jesus, when he was abaptized, went up bstraightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the cSpirit of God descending like a ddove, and lighting upon him:
 17And lo a avoice from heaven, saying, This is my bbeloved cSon, in whom I am well pleased.

We are to follow His example and show our commitment to Heavenly Father by our own baptism, converts and members from birth alike.

One thing particular to the LDS Church is that we don't baptize infants. We believe that Satan cannot tempt children, so they cannot sin and are therefore pure until they are old enough to be held accountable for their own actions. We believe that children reach the age of accountability at the age of 8, when they, at the very least, have a basic understanding of right and wrong. I was baptized, by my father, about a week after my own eighth birthday.

I wrote before about the baptismal covenants themselves - here

I am grateful for the blessings and promises of the baptismal ordinance, and the opportunity to be part of something eternal.

2 comments:

Emmaleigh504 said...

I'm really enjoying these Sunday posts.

LeAnn said...

What a great blog missionary post.
Thanks you for this one; I enjoyed reading it.
The Sunday post idea is awesome.
Blessings to you! LeAnn