#biblical baptism

[http-sawposting]

🫀🫀🫀

and he has come to absolve you of your sins, the sacrificial lamb weeps for it knows it’s fate is sealed

[myliftingjournal]

Who's Your Master?

Who’s Your Master?

Romans 6:1-14: Shall we go on sinning so that Grace may increase? (“Hayl no!”) We’re the ones who have died to sin; how then can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the…

[lionofchaeronea]

Baptism of Christ, Domenico Ghirlandaio, between 1486 and 1490

[beloved-of-john]

Happy Palm Sunday everyone!

This year, the observance has really moved me. The image of people lining the streets where Jesus rode through and shouting "Hosanna!" keeps replaying in my mind. It's a word I feel like shouting at the moment. It's a word which means "save us", a plea for salvation, but it's also a cry of joy and praise, like the children at the temple shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!". It's a plea for salvation spoken with the joy of knowing the Saviour will deliver it to you. In the week leading up to my baptism on Easter Sunday, my heart is crying out "Hosanna!" too. ❤️🌿

[blackhholes]

Biblical Imagery in Teen Wolf

genesis 4:8 / genesis 6:7 / 2nd kings 4:30 / psalms 51:5 / luke 23:34 / john 11:44 / john 13:33-34 / john 20:11 / galatians 6:17 / revelations 19:20

[propheticjester]

hard to say what i gained from being raised in a christian household, but goddamn can i spot a biblical allusion when i see one

[holmezc]

[tradfem-princess]

Hi, hope you’re well! I’m really sorry if this is a strange question, but I have been exploring Christianity recently (feeling some things I haven’t felt before), and been thinking about going to a church, but all the different versions (not sure that’s the right word) of Christianity feel a little overwhelming to choose from. Your bio says baptist, so I wanted to ask if you were raised Baptist, or if you chose it, and whether you had any advice on finding which version (?) is best for you? No worries if not, I know it’s a very long question, thank you so much for reading.

I was raised Baptist. But honestly, I'm really struggling with my faith right now, so I'm probably not the best person to ask about this, but I highly reccomened reading 'a case for christ' and 'mere Christianity'

[ultrajustjo]

Of Loving Grace

Word of the day: Covenant

I am deviating from my exploration of visual and aural art to share this sermon mini-series -- a dive into the art of preaching. What follows is a youth sermon, the readings, and a sermon and prayer for the first Sunday of Lent.

Youth

[Before beginning, I distributed shakers and bells to the youth. Unfortunately, that day only adults attended, so I walked among them and asked for volunteer children. I found many! Adults without shakers or bells were invited to use jazz hands or to use ASL for “excited!” or “yay!” when I said the word “Alleluiah.”]

Welcome friends. Brr, it’s cold out today. Can you tell me what season we are in? Winter! Winter will end next month, but we are definitely in the middle of winter right now. We know all four season? Fall, spring, summer, winter. Do you have a favorite, or do you like them all?

Most Christians around the world also follow a church calendar which has different seasons. The church seasons are Advent before Christmas, then Christmas season, after that we have ordinary time, Lent, Easter season, and then ordinary time, again, in the summer. This last Wednesday, we entered the season of Lent. It’s kind of a sad and quiet season because we are preparing our hearts to think about how Jesus died before he came back from the dead. When someone dies, it is sad and we do miss them. But, we have hope that the sad time does not last forever and that we will live with God. The reason we have that hope is because of Easter! On Easter, we celebrate Jesus rising from the dead! Not only did he die then come back, Jesus kept teaching us about God, and now he still lives at the right hand of God. Easter is a happy time for the church! We say Alleluiah! (shake bells)

Here is a quick fact: Sundays are not part of the quiet season of Lent. On Sundays, we all come together to celebrate that Jesus, God’s son, was alive after he died and sits at the right hand of God. That makes each Sunday a little Easter. Today, like every Sunday, is a celebration! Even though the rest of the week is in the church season of Lent, today is the day we come together to thank God for loving us, and for sending Jesus to teach us about that love. And we all say, “Alleluia!” (shake bells)

Let’s pray together: Dear God (Dear God), thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us when we’re sad. Thank you for sending Jesus to teach us. Amen.

Scripture for Feb. 18, 2024

First Reading Genesis 9:8-17

8Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9“As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

License: CC0 Public Domain

Anna Langova has released this “Rainbow” image under Public Domain license. It means that you can use and modify it for your personal and commercial projects.

Second Reading 1 Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water.

21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you — not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Baptism of Christ, Ethiopian Biblical Manuscript (20th Century) - Public Domain Orthodox Painting - Shalone Cason

Shalone Cason, January 7, 2023

Gospel of Mark 1:9-15

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. 13 He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

14Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

©tonktiti at stock.adobe.com

Sermon

This week’s readings contain a lot of symbolism, don’t they? We have rainbows, water that washes away sinners in the flood, water that washes away our sins in baptism being demonstrated by the baptism of Jesus who was sinless, and we have wild beasts in the wilderness. We also see convenental language, and by that I mean words and phrases for each symbol that signal to us a contractual relationship. These symbols really drive home an understanding of God’s connection with us, and God’s promises for us.

These readings are right up my alley. Thanks for asking me to be here today! This is a great week for me, and I hope, for you! (Woo!)

Does that sound odd, in the beginning of Lent, to be celebrating? We did talk earlier about how Sundays are Little Easters within the Lenten season. I would say that the solemn season of Lent moves us toward the celebration of resurrection and God’s ultimate covenant, and for that we can be excited!

Last Sunday, many of us read about the transfiguration on the mountain, where the radiance of Jesus nearly blinds James and Peter while they are surrounded by the cloud from which they hear the voice of God the Father.

This week, we read about the arch of light -- the rainbow-- that is set by God within the clouds in the vast sky, a symbol so large that Noah’s vision is filled with a sign he and God can see.

Friends, God’s magnificence radiates to us and we can’t miss it. God’s majesty reaches us in the clouds, in the light, on the mountains, in all of creation, in times when we are terrified of what we witness, and in times of storms that seem unending. God entered into relationship with creation and chose to limit God’s divine and majestic power to be in relationship with us. We see God choosing to limit divine power in 2 of our readings; in the covenant promise of the rainbow and in the presence of Jesus Christ who comes to us in a limited human body - a body that now walks through Lent toward the cross.

Let’s look at this symbolism a bit more. I want to share with you a Sunday School story for today that I’ve borrowed from Feasting on the Word curriculum in 2017. The story is called, “Rainbow People.”

“One day, a young mother was taking a walk with her small son and they saw a rainbow. The four-year-old boy looked up in wonder and said, ‘Mommy, can we take that home and put it in our house?’ His awestruck question prompted the mother to write a poem she titled, ‘A Rainbow in My House.’ She took her son’s question literally, imagining what it would be like to have a rainbow in their house, on their walls, emanating from the windows and doors, coming out the chimney. The house was transformed, and it could not contain the glory of the rainbow and its colors.”

We can’t miss it, we can’t avoid it. God’s covenant with Noah and with us radiates into every part of creation, including into us, into our very being.

What does that mean for you and me? Take that question home and wrestle with it if you need to, but don’t dismiss it. What does it mean for you, for your life and your mental health and for your inner soul, that God’s promises and God’s being radiates through creation and includes you?

Maybe you don't want to meditate on that -- some of us need to have it laid out for us. Just give it to me straight - level with me, Doc. You know what I mean? For those of you who want a straightforward answer, here it is: You are wonderful.

Yep. Even if you yelled at your kids or your dog this morning, and even if you had a bad shift at work, or if you flipped someone the bird on the road this week, or if you are watching on zoom from a prison cell. You, my friends, are part of creation. God has made a covenant with you and placed his open bow facing away from you and all parts of the earth so that you will be protected.

Scholar Dianne Bergant, in Exegetical Perspective, writes that the flood narrative is a story of deliverance and of relationship with God. The covenant is made with all of creation. Bergant’s word, “deliverance,” signals for us protective language.

The symbol of the rainbow in this story signifies the first covenant between God and God’s people. Our call to worship today was taken from Psalm 25 which refers to another covenant between God and God’s people, when the people left Egypt to follow the path God set them on. God’s promises continue and are everlasting, from generation to generation.

I will continue this look at why you are wonderful, and how God is faithful to God’s covenants, but first, let’s move quickly to Mark. Our gospel shows that, in Jesus’s baptism, Jesus willingly enters the “renewal movement” (Oxford Bible, p. 1793) begun by John to prepare God’s people for Jesus’s presence. At the end of our reading today in verse 15, Jesus proclaims the Good News of God and asks the people to turn to God and believe. In our reading, the word used is “repent,” but that’s what repent means, to turn. It doesn’t mean to embroil yourself in agony and guilt, and to then beg for mercy. That seems to be a common, modern understanding of the word. Actually, repent means to re-align yourself, to turn to God whose mercies are new every morning (does that sound familar? It’s a verse from the Old Testament in Lamentations).

Jesus, as the good news himself, has come to remind us of God’s covenants. We are to remember that God made a promise to us in a covenental way -- like a contract with two parties - God and creation, including us. Jesus says that the time is fulfilled and that the kingdom of God is near.

We see more protective language in our gospel reading, but we have to look a little harder. In Mark, we see that Jesus is pushed to the wilderness, i.e. away from God our protector, and is tested with struggles and dangers like Satan and wild beasts. The language of Mark here refers us back to Psalm 7 and Psalm 91, prayers of the people seeking God’s protection from evils represented by wild animals. Jesus, according to Mark, personally acts out the Psalms by leaving God’s refuge, wrestling with temptations, and being cared for by angels from God. God’s covenant is great. God does not leave us to struggle alone.

That is why I declare to you, friends, that you are wonderful, because you are created by God, in covenant with God, and protected by God. You are invited to keep turning to God through this season of Lent and your season of life, preparing your heart not just for the wonder of divine love, but for the celebration of our eternal salvation through Christ.

Friends, Dr. Maya Angelou once recalled the people who had shown her kindness. She said, “I've had so many rainbows in my clouds." That, my friends, is a sign of God’s radiance. Kindness is one way that we can share the hope of the cross. Let us go forth today, trusting in the rainbows, and being rainbows to others, knowing that Jesus Christ is there before us, having led the way and having wrestled with - and beaten - all temptations, We go forth trusting that we are God’s covenant people. We remember that verse from Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; God’s mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Our Prayer for blessing:

Almighty God,

Grant that the words we have heard this day may, through your grace, both honor and praise you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[craigtowens]

Year-End Review (2023 Edition)

An overview of all the sermon series at Calvary Assembly of God in 2023.

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. https://craigtowens.files.wordpress.com/2024/01/year-end-review-2023-edition.mp3 The apostle Peter said he wrote two letters to the church “as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking” (2 Peter 3:1). And Paul reminded his young friend Timothy to “keep reminding…

[lionofchaeronea]

The Baptism of Christ, Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) and workshop, ca. 1580-88

[yeyinde]

The 141 finding out you've never had sex.

Just casually drinking, playing cards. A joke causes it to slip out.

body electric: the virgin edition

Gaz, the instigator, mutters something about not having been fucked in ages. this springs up a sudden surge of comradery, because, yeah. neither have they.

Soap's devote Catholicism (i like to imagine) leaves little room for flippant intimacy. he tries to be a good boy. key word, of course, being: tries. but the last serious relationship was years ago. back when he was grunt. he's pent up. abstinence, yeah? he holds it tight in his hand. but the thing about fists is that they're often mistaken for anger. Soap's a realist masquerading as an optimist. he knows whoever falls into his jowls next will be a MacTavish by the time he's through with them. and commitment. well. his comes at a price. a hefty one.

Ghost prefers casual flings where he doesn't have to take any clothes off. unzips his trousers, frees his cock, and then tries to pretend he's a real, flesh and blood, human. to feel something, anything, except a vacuum between hollow bones. but his tastes are peculiar. on the side of unhinged. he hasn't found the perfect body yet satiate himself with.

Price. well. with his bloody hands, he thinks he'd rather not dirty the same people he swears to protect. and divorcing at the age of 30 does that to a man, maybe. his role as a captain (an excuse in retrospect) also keeps him from unleashing his wants. the very same ones that are probably best under lock and key, anyway. it's just for the best, really. something he ought to do because the moment he has another chance to sink his teeth into someone's neck, he'll tear them apart. break them into pieces.

despite bringing it up, Gaz knows the real reason he's single is because he's pushy. he wants. so he takes. and then takes some more. more. more. until his gullet is full of the person he's obsessed with. carrying them around in his breast pocket everywhere he goes. the perfect mate. the one he can shower with unfettered affection. a deluge, in all honesty. one with the ideation to drown. biblical floods. trapped beneath him. he likes it more than he should, but. singedom, then, he supposes.

and then you roll the dice. admit, sheepishly, that, technically, you have them all beat. zero is always lesser than five, ten, twenty. but it's this misstep—zero, never—that catches their attention.

suddenly, you're not surrounded by kin but a pack of wolves. all hungry in their own ways, all starving. it just makes sense to quench their hunger with you, doesn't it? friend, ally. pretty little thing. so sweet for them. and perfectly mouldable. putty they shape to their hearts desire. the perfect mate.

Soap grips his rosary. the sign of the cross, heavenly Father and Holy Spirit, digging into his palm like the burn of a baptism. what's devotion if not pain? he cuts himself on the gold. offers blood of the sacrament to whoever might be listening, and leans in, sniffing.

Price's knuckles are white. he leans back, hidden in shadows. all you can see is spark of burning orange from his cigar as he takes mouthful after mouthful of smoke, contemplating. assessing.

"that so?" he doesn't even need to look at his Lieutenant to know that the man has gone still. too bad for you, it's not from shock.

Ghost barely holds himself back. keeps tight in his seat. fists clenching. unclenching. he has a good enough read on the people around him to see the unfiltered desire ripping across their face. scorching. but to bite, with his mouthful of jagged, seraded teeth; ones meant to rip, break, tear, would ruin you. permanently. unequivocally. and—

"wanna give it a go?" all eyes turn to Gaz, electric in his seat. eyes smouldering umbre. "i mean, you trust us the most, don't you?" us. it's stunning, he thinks, the way Gaz can weave tapestry in the air like this with just his words. one tangled like shibari binds. "and we care for you a lot. we'll be gentle. it's up to you, of course, but—"

Soap's bloody hand disappears under the table. you gasp. "yer askin' fer it, ain't ye? beggin' so pretty fer it."

"n-no, i—"

"mind your manners." Price. his voice is chiselled into char, authoritative; low. a lulling command spoken in a breath of smoke. "and don't lie, love. or i'll have to take you over my knee."

the tension is thick. Soap's arm moves, slow. deliberate. Ghost has clench his jaw to avoid bearing his teeth. snarling.

Gaz cuts it with a knife. hews compliance into your skin with a fine needle point. "it's okay. we'll take such good care'a you. make you feel so good."

your submission is a heavy thing. oppressive. the shallow dip of your chin, the blistering heat simmering under your flesh, burning right, is the prettiest fuckin' thing he's ever seen. he does clench his jaw this time. tight, tight. tight

until something pops.

"okay." you yield. head bowed. beautifully submissive.

when he looks around, catches the predatory crackle in the air. his hackles raise. immediate. instinctual. and ah, right.

it's easy to forget he's surrounded by a wild pack of stray dogs. starving ones, too.

[cryptotheism]

So, Moses is a cleric, Solomon is a wizard, Joshua is a paladin, David is a bard, Jesus is a sorcerer, his apostles and Paul are warlocks, Elisha is a druid, Elijah is a monk, Samson is a barbarian, Tahkemonite along with Eleazar and Dodo are fighters, John the Baptist is a ranger, Jacob is a rogue

I'm really cautious about using DnD terms to describe nuanced historical metaphysics like this. DnD's cosmology is a mess. I don't know how it works because the writers don't know how it works. It's very easy for readers to come away with the wrong impression, and tbh it often comes off with this corny-ass "hello fellow kids did you know the Buddha was literally a hecking druid" type energy.

I wanna stress: This is fun to think about, but please don't treat this as meaningful analysis of real-world religions. I wanna demonstrate how quickly these terms break down when you're looking at actual historical metaphysics.

If we wanted to analyze biblical characters with DnD terms, every Charismatic Jewish Holy Man would be classified as a warlock. Moses is not a nebulous intermediary between gods and mortals. The man famously had a covenant. The whole covenant thing is a pretty important part of Judaism. But then again, that brings up problems for what the destruction of the first temple would mean for the classification of Judaism. Does the development of the rabbinical system suddenly turn everyone from warlocks into clerics? Within Judaism, the word of God is the law under-girding the whole of the world, including nature. Does that make every Rabbi a druid?

Jesus certainly wouldn't be a sorcerer, hes just a God. His power isn't hereditary, he is literally God. Calling Christ a sorcerer would be heresy.

Solomon is a wizard. The DnD wizard archetype is quite literally based on the biblical character of Solomon.

Samson is kinda a paladin? I'm not entirely sure what he would be classified as.

The Apostles are tricky, because their classification would probably change as the doctrine developed. Initially they would probably be classified as warlocks who "inherited" the laws and works of the new covenant with God, which is warlock metaphysics. But, several of them were kinda in charge of writing the new laws of the covenant, which I guess would be cleric metaphysics. Several of them also have priestly vows, which is paladin metaphysics.

John the Baptist is the only one on this list who could be considered a DnD Druid. Baptism as a rite probably has non-jewish pre-christian roots. I guess its the closest thing Christian metaphysics has to "nature magic." But my even suggesting that the power of baptism stems from a source other than God would be heresy.