It's a sacramental. Like Ghavrel said: an outward, physical sign of an inward grace. Blessed medals and oils are also sacramentals. They are tools used to remind oneself of the spiritual reality that they represent. Toilet water doesn't quite serve the same purpose ...
Insert theme music here.
A question on baptism
- 10/06/2011 09:21:44 AM
1014 Views
To my knowledge, baptism does not stem from the Resurrection.
- 10/06/2011 11:01:17 AM
776 Views
What I meant
- 10/06/2011 11:03:08 AM
605 Views
I don't follow.
- 10/06/2011 11:08:07 AM
590 Views
Re: I don't follow.
- 10/06/2011 11:10:40 AM
666 Views
I don't keep up with RC theology much.
- 10/06/2011 11:15:52 AM
608 Views
Re: I don't keep up with RC theology much.
- 10/06/2011 11:17:53 AM
563 Views
They should, IMHO, but the difficulty of definitively saying is why Limbo was created.
- 11/06/2011 10:39:26 AM
673 Views
Re: They should, IMHO, but the difficulty of definitively saying is why Limbo was created.
- 11/06/2011 11:53:53 AM
593 Views
You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 11:50:53 AM
612 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 11:52:27 AM
548 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 11:55:01 AM
609 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 11:58:36 AM
578 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:16:46 PM
732 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:19:16 PM
574 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:25:08 PM
798 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:26:30 PM
780 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:28:45 PM
585 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression.
- 10/06/2011 12:29:43 PM
608 Views
Circumcision remains common among Christians mostly for symbolic reasons as well.
- 11/06/2011 10:48:48 AM
659 Views
Hm, I don't know. I don't think I know any non-Jews who are circumsized that see it as a symbol
- 11/06/2011 04:44:02 PM
742 Views
I took a holy dip into the Ganges
- 10/06/2011 11:48:26 AM
678 Views
Early Christians and Jews were obsessed with purity
- 10/06/2011 12:56:58 PM
710 Views
Oh, I know about the historical/academic/anthropological reason
- 10/06/2011 01:04:43 PM
652 Views
A first responce
- 10/06/2011 02:09:32 PM
782 Views
Do you want a theological answer or a historical one?
- 10/06/2011 03:16:44 PM
759 Views
The theological. I already had a fairly good idea of the historical
- 10/06/2011 03:18:51 PM
614 Views
My favorite fact about baptism is that is REQUIRES water... but it can be ANY water
- 10/06/2011 04:31:12 PM
693 Views
That is absurd.
- 10/06/2011 08:37:13 PM
795 Views
It is absurd
- 10/06/2011 08:56:19 PM
619 Views
When your post is eviscerated, resorting to "HURR RELIGION IS DUMB" isn't a winning move.
- 10/06/2011 10:00:39 PM
723 Views
Psh.You can dress it up with spiritualism and semantics, but the concept boils down to "magic water"
- 11/06/2011 03:56:03 AM
582 Views
The point is that it's a symbol.
- 11/06/2011 04:45:19 AM
585 Views
I have no problem with water as a symbol
- 11/06/2011 04:59:52 AM
659 Views
You are totally missing the point.
- 11/06/2011 02:46:08 PM
745 Views
Which again, is something that sounds nice and spiritual, but doesn't actually make any sense
- 11/06/2011 03:46:51 PM
714 Views
your problem is you're trying to apply objective logic to religion
- 11/06/2011 04:13:01 PM
971 Views
I'm not, exactly. Religion has internal logic. For example, certain things are "unclean"
- 11/06/2011 04:40:33 PM
606 Views
Beliefs about holy water are internally logical.
- 11/06/2011 07:36:08 PM
651 Views
Shrug. It was on topic.
- 11/06/2011 08:06:16 PM
922 Views
The more I read of your posts, the more I think you fundamentally misunderstand religious symbolism. *NM*
- 11/06/2011 10:51:17 PM
256 Views
Let me clarify: your statements are absurd.
- 10/06/2011 10:14:06 PM
626 Views
Check my response to Ghav for elaboration, but basically, your argument doesn't hold
- 11/06/2011 04:00:18 AM
607 Views
You went from saying spit was good to saying "clean water".
- 12/06/2011 02:04:26 AM
539 Views
I'm completely consistent. I was just staying away from extremes for conversation's sake.
- 12/06/2011 09:02:02 AM
581 Views
No one from a respectable faith thinks of holy water as "magic water". Period. *NM*
- 13/06/2011 04:56:53 AM
258 Views
All I know, Is a Lutheran Pastor told me, b/c i was not baptised I was going to hell, and had *NM*
- 11/06/2011 03:44:38 PM
235 Views
I never thought of it in that way, that is why I like this site
*NM*
- 12/06/2011 04:26:40 PM
274 Views
*NM*
- 12/06/2011 04:26:40 PM
274 Views

