{"id":4330,"date":"2015-11-03T22:57:49","date_gmt":"2015-11-03T20:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2015-11-03T22:57:49","modified_gmt":"2015-11-03T20:57:49","slug":"dangerous-baptisms-and-bath-water-christians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/dangerous-baptisms-and-bath-water-christians\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous Baptisms and Bath water Christians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What do you think of when you think of baptism?<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re from a North American context like me you most likely have a picture of a baptistery filled with warm water in a proper church sanctuary.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe you think of a sparkling pool in a manicured yard.<\/p>\n<p>You may have in your mind a pleasant gathering of friends and family with refreshments afterwards so that everyone can shake hands and give a word of encouragement to the newly baptized.<\/p>\n<p>Danger is probably the farthest thing from your mind. The most dangerous thing in most baptisms that happen in the US is the wet floors in the bathroom afterwards.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WCihD_VqXX4\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Last week I participated in a baptismal service in the mountains of Western Georgia (the country).<\/p>\n<p>It started with a 3+ hour service, we sat on narrow wood benches with no backs, the building was not heated and yet the service continued with half a dozen sermons.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn&#8217;t particularly comfortable.<\/p>\n<p>After the service we made our way down the hill, across the pasture, through the woods, across several streams, and down to the river.<\/p>\n<p>It was a bit tricky.<\/p>\n<p>They found a great spot for the baptism, where the river cascaded from pool to pool as it flowed down the mountain side.<\/p>\n<p>It was beautiful but cold.<\/p>\n<p>Then it hit me!<\/p>\n<p>These guys are willing to get into this freezing mountain river in November just to show others their faith! They know it&#8217;s not going to be easy but they understand the costs and they are ready to pay it.<\/p>\n<p>Then it hit me again!<\/p>\n<p>Laying down in a tub of warm bath water doesn&#8217;t really take much faith. It seems that often our methods of baptism closely reflect our presuppositions about the Christian life.<\/p>\n<p>Honestly, I&#8217;m a bit tired of bath water Christians, I&#8217;m tired of Christians who want to serve where it&#8217;s comfortable and give when it&#8217;s convenient. I&#8217;m tired of Christians who judge their churches by the thickness of the foam covering their pews.<\/p>\n<p>Please give me more mountain river Christians, Christians who aren&#8217;t afraid to wade against the swiftly flowing current, Christians who know they&#8217;re going to get wet to bone but don&#8217;t care because they&#8217;re so excited about what Jesus did for them, Christians who faith runs deeper and faster than man-made traditions.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a few words I heard today from a brother in Christ who lives and works in a country not friendly to Christians.<\/p>\n<p>He said,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We never pressure anyone to get baptized, we let them come to that decision on their own because we know that the act of baptism may very well result in them losing everything they have.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For many people in many countries baptism is\u00a0one of the most dangerous things they&#8217;ll ever do, they know that they are risking all because of their faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s time that we took a serious look at how we do baptisms.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe it&#8217;s time that we ask ourselves this question:<\/p>\n<h3>Are you a bath water Christian or a mountain river Christian?<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What do you think of when you think of baptism?<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re from a North American context like me you most likely have a picture of a baptistery filled with warm water in a proper church sanctuary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,370],"tags":[79,388],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ministry","category-new","tag-baptism","tag-georgia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Capture.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3izZc-17Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9659,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/black-sea-baptisms\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":0},"title":"Black Sea Baptisms","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday our Church gathered on the shore of the Black Sea for the baptism of four people. What a privilege it was for Pastor Vadim and I to go into the waters with these two young men and two young women who want to publicly declare their faith\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Updates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/baptism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/baptism.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/baptism.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/baptism.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/baptism.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1212,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/baptism-in-the-black-sea\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":1},"title":"Baptism in the Black Sea","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I've always loved baptisms, it is a time that exudes hope and new life. \u00a0However, since moving to Ukraine I think I have started to like them even more! \u00a0We live less than 10 mins from the shore of the Black Sea so there is really no need to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC00120.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC00120.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC00120.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC00120.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12048,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/summer-is-over-ministry-update\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":2},"title":"Summer Is Over! Ministry Update","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 28, 2019","format":"video","excerpt":"Can you believe summer is already over? I just dropped our kids off for the second day of school! Yes, summer has flown by and I want to take a couple of minutes just to share with you a few of things that went on this summer. Parents 50th wedding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1B7A1178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1B7A1178.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1B7A1178.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1B7A1178.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1B7A1178.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":241,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/hope-for-people-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":3},"title":"Hope for People Baptism","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Today our church \"Hope for People\" had their baptism service at on the Black sea. The service was actually about 45 minutes out of town where there is a small Christian camp. Some of the church members came on Friday or Saturday at stayed a night or two before the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Updates&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Updates","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":422,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/baptism-in-sahanskoe\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":4},"title":"Baptism in Sahanskoe","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"September 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Sunday I had the privilege of participating in a baptismal service for brother Ivan from the village of Sahanskoe. The service was conducted on the shore of a small lake a few miles outside of the village. Thankfully, the sun came out and warmed things up just a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Ministry&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Ministry","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/ministry\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2894,"url":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/what-would-you-tell-someone-who-just-got-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":4330,"position":5},"title":"What Would You Tell Someone Who Just Got Baptized?","author":"Caleb Suko","date":"August 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"On August 18th our church is planning to baptize about 12 people. \u00a0We will gather on the shore of the Black Sea at 8:30 am where we will hold a short service and do the baptism. After the baptism we plan to head back to our church facility (about 15\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Writing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/DSC03117.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/DSC03117.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sukofamily.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/DSC03117.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5957,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/5957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sukofamily.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}