If you know all those languages then that is really cool. Kudos to you. And don't worry, we don't baptize this way in our church. haha It's quite a bit more peaceful. :P
To answer your question, yes. Oh you don’t know what the question was? The question was, “Didn’t someone (Bryan) already write about Baptism forever ago?” The answer is, yes. But I’m writing about the covenants we make at baptism, which is the reason we place so much importance on it in the LDS church.
When someone is baptized into the LDS church they “take upon them the name of Christ”. This is meaning that we will do our best to act like him; to be a part of him. It’s like when a girl gets married and she takes the last name of her husband. She is tying herself to him and showing that her husband is a part of her, that she is devoted to him and that they have joined together to move forward towards the same goals. It is this way when we take Christ’s name upon us. It shows that you readily stand up for the church, your standards, God and the Savior. You take his name upon you and covenant to always behave in a way that would never taint his name or disrespect it.
In the LDS church we take the sacrament every Sunday, which I know is not just something the LDS church does. I’ve been to a catholic mass before and they also had the sacrament there. I was surprised because I didn’t realize that others religions take the sacrament. For them, the sacrament is just performed and partaken of to remind them of Christ’s suffering for us. The bread=body, the water=blood. That’s basically common knowledge I know and in the LDS it also means that. However, it means more than that for us. When we take the sacrament we are renewing the covenants we made at baptism. We are cleansing ourselves of the sins we may have committed over the past week just as we were washed clean of our sins at the initial baptism.
I usually try to use mostly biblical scriptures, but since I'm talking about something that is LDS specific I will use Book of Mormon scriptures to explain our ways on the topic.
These are baptism scriptures talking about taking the name of Christ on them.
3 Nephi 18:11
Moroni 6:3-6
Mosiah 18:8-10 (The full written out version of the covenants we make. In what I wrote, I generalized what the covenants were by saying "taking on the name of Christ."
The following are sacrament scriptures talking about taking the name of Christ on them which is what we do at baptism. We renew our covenants during the sacrament as well.
D&C 20:77,79 (These are the sacrament prayers)
3 Nephi 18:7-10
In most Christian meetings the sacrament is referred to as "Communion", "The Lord's Table", or the archaic word "Eucharist".
ReplyDeleteSome Catholic churches still teach that the bread and wine actually "transform" into the flesh and blood of Christ.
Great post tho Michelle, gives us non-LDS an insider look at what goes on in those wards ;)
One sentence that stands out to me more than the others is this: "We are cleansing ourselves of the sins we may have committed over the past week just as we were washed clean of our sins at the initial baptism."
In Christianity, we believe Christ paid the price for sin... Past, present, future... When we accept the gift of Salvation we are then and there wiped clean in God's eyes. Jesus gives His perfect record to us, since without it, God would be unjust in giving us any sentence other than death, the penalty of sin.
I understand that in LDS theology, Christ merely made a way for people to "earn" their salvation by works. So I guess it makes sense that LDS would have to continually have their sins washed away... the only thing that I'm confused about is when you said "We are cleansing ourselves of the sins we may have committed..." Is this what you meant? Can LDS "clean[s] [them]selves"? Or does Christ cleans your sins every time you partake of sacrament?
Thanks!
Sorry for not being clear. It is Christ who cleans us from our sins. It just happens through us partaking of the sacrament. We have the option to partake of it. Pretty much everyone does, they only don't if they feel they are unworthy to at the time. And yes Christ did pay for our sins, but that doesn't purge (is that a good word? ha) us from our accountability from things we still do. We still have to repent for mistakes we make. Taking the sacrament is a part of that. Ta-da! :)
ReplyDeleteNo need to apologize :)
ReplyDeleteHow exactly does an LDS take care of the accountability that Christ doesn't purge? Does taking the sacrament take care of everything that wasn't taken care of at baptism?
Everything was taken care of at baptism that we had done up until our baptism. The sacrament is for things after baptism. I'm slightly confused about the first question...
ReplyDeleteOh yeah.. so i changed my picture... i didn't like that the last one was all professional cuz i'm more chill than that. :P haha hopefully it doesn't confuse people and make them think it's a different michelle...
ReplyDeleteDifferent Michelle Carter!? Like the one in your class!?
ReplyDelete