It just occurred to me that the reason my dad went around his whole life telling people they weren’t ‘saved’ bc they weren’t ‘baptized.’ 

Well my dad actually performed my baptism. See I know what it means. Baptism is by fire. The water reference is a metaphor. There was not a worldwide flood either.

The Phoenix must burn to be reborn. And what a glorious sight a reborn Phoenix is. You have no idea. You speak with an authority you did not realize you had. And the way you know you are doing it is how you strike at the soul of the person you are speaking to without even doing it deliberately.

So I got baptized. I walked that path. I guess, in a way my dad was right, but I guess he thought all you had to do was walk up an aisle in front of a congregation and take a poison dip in chlorinated water. Doesn’t sound too holy to me. 

One day he argued with me for several minutes about that not being ‘judging’ and not what the Bible means when it says, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” He kept going because I wasn’t arguing and that was driving him crazy.