Thursday, May 15, 2008

Circumcised and Uncircumcised.

It's Thursday and i dont have class. It's raining and i'm in my room. My gosh, today is 15th of May and my final exam starts on 9th of June!!!! officially crying out loud for HELP....!!! haha...

Being here in ZPH for almost 3semesters, i've witnessed 2 Baptism Services and recently the Baptism of my close friend from hometown - YeeFang. I was so so so glad for her that i almost cried seeing her getting baptised. haha..

But..

Just wondering..
i myseld have been baptised by my church pastor when i was 14years old. That was my public declaration- did i even knew that i was declaring it publicly back then??
At that tender age, all i knew was that i made the confession that i am a sinner and i want Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour. I did attend some sessions, but now thinking back, i am quite sure i have no idea at all what hav i learn from those baptism sessions with church elders.
It was almost like a tradition/trend that teenagers in my hometown church to get baptised when they enter teenage life. So, what i was thinking back then when i got baptised was - i want to be baptised, i want to be baptised, i want to be baptised, it's my turn to get baptised. I never thought deep down to the extend of sharing in Christ suffering, bearing his cross, dedicated and married to God for my whole life, not to live a life of my own but of God's. None of those concepts got into me. I just dont want the biscuits and wine to pass by me during Sunday service and me not being a part of the partakers.
I mean, what would a nerdy 14-yr old gal from a small town think of at that time, only those puppy love, studies, tuitions and best friends, fun.
So, I was very glad that after being baptised, i was able to eat the biscuit and drink the wine during the Sunday of the first week of every month.

I know that baptism is the public declaration out of concious decision to follow God, Jesus.
Only till when i come to Perth and to ZPH, that i heard ppl telling testimonies about getting baptised, of the concious decisions they made and how God convicted them to do so.

Little that i know, being the partaker of the biscuits and wine- literally means being partakers of His flesh and blood. We share everything that is His.
Only when i start to grow spiritually did i realized that being His people means sharing his suffering-loneliness, rejection, temptations, sorrows- in various ways in life.
Being His people also share His glory- joy, victory, power, strength,wisdom,responsibilites,love- in various ways in life.

However, as i continue to be in God's house after that, i have personally experienced God and when i was 16 or so, in one of the prayer sessions, I've seriously out of concious mind (totally having the improved capability to think more mature-ly than i could when i was 14) rededicated my life to God, that i want to follow Him for the rest of my life. How could Jesus die for a sinner like me and love me, forgive me again and again, and call me His beloved daughter?
And from there onward, i have also on numerous other worship sessions, prayer sessions and church conferences, to renew my dedication to Christ Jesus.
So, does that mean i do not have to go for baptism - one decision made out of my own concious?

As i read through the Book of Romans, i came upon this paragraph when Jesus was talking about Jews and Gentiles. Jews were the circumcised and chosen race, they have the Law of Moses with them, while Gentiles not. But if Jews do not follow the Law of Moses, they are nothing more than Gentiles. Gentiles were not circumcised and did not have the Law of Moses ,but they practised the Law of Moses.. Their conduct showed that the Law of Moses is written in their hearts.
The core verses are -
(Romans 2:26) If the Gentile, who is not circumcised, obeyed the Law, will not God regard him as though he was circumcised?
(Romans 2:28-29) After all, who is real Jew, truly circumcised? it is not the man who is Jew on the outside, whose circumcision is a physical thing. Rather, the real Jew is the person who is a Jew on the inside, that is, whose heart has been circumcised, and this is the work of God's Spirit, not of the written Law. Such a person receives praise from God, not from human beings.

So, i guess, this little debate inside me have gotten an answer. God accepted me into His kingdom. So but.. do i still have to make another public declaration..??

^^

3 comments:

siehjin said...

hullo cheahyen... =)

this is just my opinion ya, i think that a second baptism is not necessary... because u hv already gone through baptism... if u go thru second baptism, that means u r saying that the first baptism was not valid...

although u may not have been fully aware of what u were doing, yr baptism was a public declaration of faith... witnessed by your whole church... and after that u became officially a member of the church... and by God's grace, u continued to grow in Him, 'til today u understand the full meaning of the baptism u had gone thru while u were still unaware. to me this 'validates' your first baptism.

it's abit like marriage... maybe wen i married my wife i didn't realise how wonderful, terrible, exciting, fearful, lovely, beautiful, and difficult marriage would be... as the years go by, i learn from the experience of marriage what it really means for two to become one in God... but though my knowledge n understanding of marriage today is so much greater than it was when i was first married, this does not mean that i have to go thru the marriage ceremony all over again...

just my opinion ya... hope my thoughts make sense to you... =)

~*~ LiTtLe MomEnTs AloNg ThE wAy ~*~ said...

SiehJin @ my Pendidikan Moral teacher, thank you for you comment, it helps a lot. and ya, so , i guess i dun hav to go thru second baptism already. Baptism is like marriage, or .. like taking a road. We wont know how it is like till we live our choice. thanks again, SiehJin!

May God continue to use you as His mighty servent to touch hearts and change lives!!!

Unknown said...

Emm... Wish to give my comment too, if you don't mind.
First, Baptism is a ceremony to tell others that you are the follower of GOD. Your old self was dead and you are given a new life. That is what baptism is all about. Secondly, there are basically two types of baptism, water and spirit. For me, water baptism is more of a ceremony, but spiritual baptism is much more important. (correct me if I am wrong). So, referring to your question if a second baptism is needed, I will say that another spiritual baptism will be necessary.

The Most important component in your life is your heart/spirit. God sees your heart,not totally based on what you have done. Though what you think will be reflected via your action. But, your heart is still the most important factor. Based on this argument, we can see that water baptism is not as important as what you have in your heart. For example, if you believe GOD with all your heart and all your soul, but have no opportunity to have a water baptism, will GOD rejects you? NO!

Last but not least, public declaration can be done in many ways. Serving God in the community, not ashamed to be a Christian, helping the weak and the poor are all examples of declaring yourself as a follower of Christ. Ask yourself, will people accept Christ because they watch your water baptism or when you help them going through their tough time with the love of GOD?

So, I think that second water baptism is not necessary, but can still be done if that makes you feel better.

*these are my personal opinion/reflections. Correct me if I am wrong*