Forde-ism 7

“Baptism, is, as I like to say, the absolute divine ‘Yes.’

“It seems to me a horrendous mistake on the part of so-called evangelical theologians, whether they are on TV or elsewhere — (You know, all you have to do these days to be instantaneously authoritative is to show up on TV) — it always seems to me to be a drastic mistake when they begin by saying: ‘You can’t depend on your baptism’ – which they do [say], of course. When you begin that way, you’ve just shot yourself in the foot. There’s no way out of that.

“There’s one incident from All in the Family from some time ago – Archie Bunker and Michael were arguing about whether Michael’s baby was going to be baptized. And Michael says he didn’t want the baby baptized, and Archie says, ‘Well, why not? You’ve been baptized.’ And Michael says: “Yeah, but I renounced my baptism.’ And Archie says: ‘You can’t do that. You can renounce your belly button, but it won’t go away.’

“Archie was a pretty good theologian at that point. These signs become a part of your autobiography, like a broken leg or a scar, and can’t be changed. In that sense, when we say you are marked with the cross of Christ forever, that’s the way it is.”