Baptism and Entrance into God's Kingdom

I'm not yet done with my comments on baptism. Hopefully, you're not tired of this or done with your comments either. Some of your insights are probably far more profound than mine.

I find this discussion fascinating for at least two reasons: (1) believers baptism is a key characteristic of our heritage in Churches of Christ; (2) believers baptism is experiencing a revival of sorts in the broader Christian world today just as it is waning in some of our churches. I hope to talk about #2 in a couple days. But now for #1.

I'm not proud of the way we have at times made baptism a heaven or hell issue. Now hold on before you leap ahead of me & think I am dismissing baptism!

What I'm not proud of is this: in Churches of Christ, we reduced baptism to bar-code status. Either you had it or you didn't. If you didn't have it -- and by "it" I mean the right baptism for the right reasons -- then you were destined for hell. Many people were guilted into the water, fearful for their souls, eager to get their life insurance policy. Baptism in this sense became the giant bar code on our souls without which we would be rejected by the giant scanner in the sky.

Now, I should add that not everyone's experience of baptism was so minimalistic. Some experienced the richness of a commitment to follow Jesus. Others knew the blessing of belonging to the family of God. Still others were inadequate in their initial thoughts about the Christian life but grew to realize the importance of a relationship with God and His people.

But sadly, too many people "got baptized" because someone told them they would not go to heaven unless they did. Some did it to be safe. Others did it out of fear and have subsequently lived their entire Christian lives in fear of anything that might invalidate their bar code. Instrumental music? Don't do it. It cancels your bar code! Listen to a woman teach? Don't do it cause it cancels your bar code! Take communion on Monday? You guessed it. The list goes on and on.

Some stories are too sad to share. Here's one that needs to be told:

A woman in the Czech Republic signs up for conversational English courses with an American group back in the early 90s. This campaign group consisted of US Christians sponsored by a large Church of Christ in the Southeastern US. This woman ends up with a "teacher" who seems very friendly. They exchange stories.

Daily meetings occur over a couple weeks. The woman finds her new American friend to be trustworthy, so she tells the campaigner a dark secret: she recently gave birth to a stillborn baby and is still heartbroken.

The American has been reading passages from Matthew with this woman in order to discuss & "practice" English. The American has been looking and praying for an inroad to "reach this Czech for Christ." Hearing her tragedy, he senses an open door. He tells the woman that she can be with her dead child only if she is properly baptized. The woman apparently consents and is baptized but immediately afterwards disappears and is never again seen by the campaigner, the missionaries or any Czechs in the American-established church.

In my opinion, this is an example of our bar-code mentality gone amok. Is this woman better off today because she "got baptized"? Do people like this American campaigner even understand what they are doing or feel any guilt for such manipulation? Do people even know what baptism is supposed to be about?