Baptism

Baptism of Adult Converts
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If however the person who comes to Christ only as an adult then a traumatic
baptism method becomes necessary. These group includes those people who
come to faith from other religions. In an adult conversion who come from
either a different belief system or from a deviated living pattern which we call
“sinner” status; the conversion is to be traumatic and must be an ordeal. The
more expressive and traumatic the better will be its effect.
Rites of passage generally consist of three stages, originally outlined by van
Gennep:
(1) Separation of the individuals from their preceding social state
(Destabilization);
(2) A period of transition in which they are neither one thing nor the other
(Disorientation); and
(3) An integration phase, (Reorientation) in which, through various rites of
incorporation, they are absorbed into their new social state.
In many initiation rites involving major transitions into new social roles (such
as military basic training), ritualized physical and mental hardships serve to
break down initiates'belief systems, leaving them open to new learning and
the construction of new cognitive categories. This is a once in a lifetime act
whereby the society accepts the persons new status in society.
James S Atherton [ATHERTON J S (2003) Doceo: Learning as Loss 1 [Online]
UK: Available:
http://www.doceo.co.uk/original/learnloss_1.htm Accessed: 18 April 2004]
presents the coversion as supplantive learning compares the conversion as
follows
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