baptism
This morning I went to a baptism at my church here in Yilan. One of the five people who were baptized has been a student at our English Bible study since last year. She's a really sweet woman with two daughters. They joined us on our trip to the botanical gardens last semester too.
Here are some interesting things about baptism in Taiwan:
- Yesterday in Taichung there were over 700 people baptized in an outdoor swimming pool. It made the evening news. I'm not sure if it was because of the sheer number or because it's only about 13 degrees outside here now.
- Taiwanese churches often do baptisms on Christmas or Easter, or very close to them.
- My church back home baptized by immersion where you went backward into the water. Here many people kneel and are dipped forward so just the front half of their body gets wet.
- And an interesting theological point: in Taiwan if you ask someone if they're a Christian, their answer is based on whether or not they've been baptized. There's a lot I could say about that, but I've probably blogged about this before.... comment if you want more deep theological discussion on this blog ;)
Interesting that you say that... I have found that baptism is regarded much differently in France than North America also. I think that the main reason for it here is that it marks a break with the infant baptism practices of Catholicism. One thing that I found surprising was that believers may not take Communion unless they have been baptised.
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