THE BAPTISM IN THE CONTEXT OF
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
In all matters of religious issues, when it comes to
Christianity, the basis of our faith is in the Scripture. To determine
therefore if it is safe and right to do such thing is to check in the Bible,
the Scripture which is composed of 66 Books, from Genesis to Revelation.
As we live now in the Gospel Age, the source of
authority in matters of religious actions both in exercising our freedom to
believe and freedom to act on ones believe must be in the New Testament.
Baptism is a Command of Christ
Baptism is a command of Jesus for it is written “And
Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matt. 28:18-20
Matthew records about baptism and so also Mark in chapter
16 verse 16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved”.
No wonder when the first gospel sermon was preached by
Peter on the day of Pentecost, he said “Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Acts 2:38
When the Eunuch asked what hinder him not to be
baptized considering he already understood what he read, Apostle Luke records
that “and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and
he baptized him.” Acts 8:38
As we move forward in the Book of Acts, in chapter 9
verse 18, Saul “and arose, and was baptized”. He was baptized by Ananias.
Cornelius was baptized in the 10th chapter
of the Book of Acts; definitely Peter administered his baptism for Peter
“commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.”
Baptism To Have
Fellowship With the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Christ
Romans 6:3-6 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore
we were buried with Him through
baptism into death, that just
as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For
if we have been united together in the
likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing
this, that our old man was crucified
with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Death, Burial and Resurrection of Christ is the GOSPEL
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received
and in which you stand, by which also you are
saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you
believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of
all that which I also received: that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
(1 Cor. 15:1-3)
The same gospel Paul preached to the Romans wherein he said “ For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ, for it is the power of
God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also
for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it
is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
The righteouesness of God is revealed in the
gospel of Christ thus baptism is indeed important.
Element of the Baptism
There is
now “One Baptism” as Paul said to the Ephesians in his letter (Eph. 4:4)
The
Eunuch said to Philip “See, here is water. What hinders me from being
baptized?”
The
conclusion of Peter in regard to the case of Gentiles “Can anyone forbid water,
that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just
as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the
name of the Lord. Then they asked him to stay a few days.” Acts 10:47-48.
It is clearly seen from the Scripture that the New
Testament Baptism existing today is the water baptism.
Let us study the
Water Baptism in the Context of Freedom
of Religion.
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Freedom of religion is the right of an individual or
community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching,
practice, worship, and observance. It is generally recognized to also include
the freedom to change religion or to not follow any religion (sometimes
referred to as “freedom from religion”)By Katharine Gammon, Freedom of
Religion, https://www.livescience.com/21328-freedom-of-religion.html
“Religious freedom is a fundamental right which is
entitled to the highest priority and the amplest protection among human rights,
for it involves the relationship of man to his Creator (Chief Justice Enrique
M. Fernando's separate opinion in German vs. Barangan, 135 SCRA 514, 530-531).
In the Philippines setting, the Freedom of Religion is expressly
manifested in the 1987 Philippines Constitution.
Section 5, Article III, 1987 Constitution states that “No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of
religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall
forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of
civil or political rights.”
We are blessed of living in a country wherein the
Freedom of Religion is duly recognized.
TWO ASPECTS OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION
One should also remember that “Freedom of Religion”
has two aspects, first “Freedom to believe or not to believe” then the second
one is “Freedom to act on one’s believe”.
The right to
religious profession and worship has a two-fold aspect, vis.,
freedom to believe and freedom to act on one's belief. The first is absolute as
long as the belief is confined within the realm of thought. The second is
subject to regulation where the belief is translated into external acts that
affect the public welfare (J. Cruz, Constitutional Law, 1991 Ed., pp. 176-177).
LIMITATION ON THE
EXERCISE OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION
The sole justification for a prior restraint or
limitation on the exercise of religious freedom (according to the late Chief
Justice Claudio Teehankee in his dissenting opinion in German vs. Barangan, 135
SCRA 514, 517) is the existence of agrave and present danger of a
character both grave and imminent, of a serious evil to
public safety, public morals, public health or any other legitimate public
interest, that the State has a right (and duty) to prevent."
Absent such a threat to public safety, the expulsion of the petitioners from
the schools is not justified. (Narvasa, C.J., Feliciano, Bidin,
Regalado, Davide, Jr., Romero, Nocon, Bellosillo, Melo and Campos, Jr., JJ.,
concur.http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1993/mar1993/gr_95770_1993.html )
It is proven above that the element of baptism is
water, thus there is no violation in the context of Freedom of Religion both in
freedom to believe and freedom to act on one’s believe when one immersed in the
water as he believes that his sins be forgiven.
But suppose if Christians practice that the element
in baptism is literal blood of human as symbol for the blood of Christ, is this
practice then be justifiable in the name of freedom of religion? Certainly not.
Think of how many human blood need to be shed for
someone to be immersed for the remission of his sins if that is the case.
Certainly,
one can see the beauty of baptism that in an element of water, the Lord
use it for baptism in such way the sins be forgiven.
-MEN MARK A. TUMANDAN-
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