Baptism

Baptism is something that each believer does as an outward, physical demonstration of the new relationship they have with God.  A person gets baptized by entering a big tub of water called a baptistry (some churches do not have a baptistry and will baptize new believers in a swimming pool, lake, river, etc.) where the pastor (or other church official) will ask them a question about their faith in Jesus Christ, give them a chance to respond and then baptize them, "in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".  Then, the pastor will immerse the believer in the water and then quickly help them back up.  Usually a prayer of dedication of the new believer is given either before or after the baptism, and an opportunity for the new believer to speak is usually given, too.  The reason a person is completely immersed in the water (or "dunked" as some call it), is that the action identifies the believer with what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.  Jesus died and was buried (the act of going down into the water) and then was resurrected (coming back up out of the water), therefore, our baptism reflects what happened to Jesus and we are then making a statement that we believe that Jesus died, was buried and then, most importantly, rose from the dead.  Also, the scripture tells about Jesus' baptism (you will find this in the gospels located in the beginning of the New Testament), and so it follows that if He believed it was important for Him to do then we, as His followers, need to follow in His footsteps.  It has been my experience (not only personally but as I have spoken with other Christians) that the Lord will direct you to get baptized when the time is right. 

There are differences in opinion about how baptism is done.  Some call it "sprinkling" as the pastor will only sprinkle water on the head of the believer.  I personally believe that because Jesus was Himself immersed, according to the scriptures, that is the way that most closely reflects what Jesus did for us as described above.  The most important thing to do is to ask the Lord to direct you. (This is the end of the basic blogs; please select a topic of interest)