The first sacrament of Christianity is called baptism.
The first of the sacraments of Christianity is called baptism . Through it, Christian character is granted to a person. For example: "Ricardo invited me to his son's baptism" , "The day of your baptism it was raining a lot and we arrived at the church soaked" , "In my opinion, baptism should be a choice for each person and not an imposition of the family" .
The verb baptize derives from a Greek word that has the meaning of immersion and although it refers directly to the first initiation ritual of Christianity, it is also used to refer to any rite of initiation regardless of the religion in which it is performed. It can be used to name any ritual that consists of an act of purification that cleanses an individual of their bad actions and prepares them for a new life.
Christian baptism throughout the centuries
In the case of Christianity, baptism is recounted in the Gospels , where the reasons why followers of Christ must be baptized are explained.
Until the 4th century AD this ritual was performed through immersion. In fact, until then they used to take place on the banks of a river or in large baptismal fonts , where the individual was introduced and immersed for purification.
Until that moment, the ritual was performed on adults who were already responsible, who knew the laws of religion and consciously accepted clinging to this faith: in a voluntary act that allowed them to enter the community of believers . Later this ritual became an almost automatic gesture that lost the true relevance of its origins. However, it is important to note that a person is anointed with water to symbolize that in this way they purify themselves and begin their religious life, and therefore this gesture should be assumed in full control of their faculties.
The ritual of baptism changed over time.
The ritual today
The way this ritual is carried out today may vary in each church, although the main elements of this ceremony are the same. The Christian priest approaches the individual who is about to be baptized and sprinkles water on his forehead, while invoking the Holy Trinity ( Father , Son and Holy Spirit ) through a prayer. With this ritual, whoever receives baptism becomes a participant in the death and resurrection of Christ and joins the church community.
Baptism also implies the forgiveness of original sin (that committed by Adam and Eve ) and any other sin that occurred in the individual who is baptized.
One of the things that many believers and non-believers criticize is that this ritual today is performed when the person does not yet have a developed reasoning capacity (generally during the first year of life); It is her parents who decide to baptize her without the individual being able to choose another type of religion as they cannot choose what type of spirituality they want to develop.
Baptism beyond religion
The notion of baptism is used, on the other hand, in contexts other than religious ones. In such cases, baptism is understood as an initiation or debut. If a soccer player scores the first goal of his career, we can speak of his "baptism in the net." Something similar can be expressed about a writer who has his "literary baptism" with the publication of his first book.
The phrase "baptism of fire" is used to refer to those individuals who enter combat for the first time; This is also the name given to the first performance of a person in a certain activity: "The new Minister of Economy had his baptism of fire when meeting with the creditors of the state bonds."