XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.fan.tolkien, alt.religion.tolkienology   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, alt.religion.christian   
   From: awostenbergNospam@psalmweaver.com   
      
   Ash Wyrd wrote:   
   > "Steve Hayes"  wrote in message   
   > news:3f4c7a4a.188597831@news.saix.net...   
      
   >>A good place to go after that might be "baptism".   
   >   
   >   
   > Ok this one has changed over time, and it seems there is disagreement from   
   > whence the word had originated. One dictionary sais it comes from a the   
   > greek "Batos" which is literally translated as "drown by submersion" another   
   > from the Middle English "baptis" which does not seem to indicate   
   > submergence, but rather cleansing.... My understanding, buth scriptural, and   
   > linguistic, leans closer to the Greek origin   
      
   Ash it's s good to remember the image of baptism as "drowning" because   
   it is a form of death -- death to sin. Flannery O'Connor wrote a classic   
   story _the violent bear it away_ exaggerating this imagry which you   
   might enjoy. We forget that baptism is not an outward sign of an inner   
   conversion. It's a sacrament that effects what it signifies.   
      
   -- Alan Wostenberg   
   got psalms? http://www.psalmweaver.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)