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Baptism

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or all household? What does the scripture teach?<br />

If they indeed affect my final destiny they are very important and I should<br />

seek for an answer through the scripture and through the history. I have tried<br />

to remove all emotional factors and concentrate on<br />

the core realities.<br />

To understand what baptism really means we first<br />

look at the word baptism or its Greek and Hebrew<br />

original word itself. What does it mean?<br />

What is the meaning of the original Greek<br />

word?<br />

The word <strong>Baptism</strong> is derived from the Greek word<br />

baptismos. The verb in Greek is baptizo. It's<br />

meaning commonly is given as "to dip or to immerse". I have seen people<br />

arguing over the proper mode of baptism based on this meaning.<br />

However this is not the primary meaning of the word in Greek. It is only a<br />

secondary derived meaning.<br />

The word came into existence from the smithy of Greece. The primary<br />

meaning of the word implies a sudden change, which I believe, is the correct<br />

implication of the word. It is explained as what happens when a hot iron is<br />

dipped in cold water. The state of the material is changed drastically and<br />

permanently cast. Those who are familiar with the old style smithy will<br />

understand this well. When a piece of iron is to be remolded into a tool such<br />

as axe, knife etc, it is first heated to near melting point and then put on the<br />

anvil and is shaped while the iron is red hot.<br />

(We got the expression, "strike while it is hot" from this method of recasting)<br />

In that condition it is often sprinkled with cold water to bring the temperature<br />

down to a level where the formation of crystals are aligned or dipped in cold<br />

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