My church just got a baptismal pool installed behind (or at the very back of) the pulpit. The pastor and elders made sure to dedicate and consecrate it during service. A passage was read (from that book church leaders use for special occasions involving church creed) concerning the reason for baptism and how it symbolizes one dying to their old sinful self to be reborn or renewed as a new being in Christ Jesus.

Seeing this Washington Post article on United House of Prayer for All People’s public, street baptism in which a fire hose is used to drench a mass of people made me wonder… the LORD told HIS disciples: “19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20Matthew 28:18-20
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. ¹⁹ Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teach...: or, make disciples, or, Christians of all nations ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.  

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And John the Baptist, didn’t he baptize the LORD Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan River? Isn’t that where John did most of his baptizing? So, I am wondering — it may seem strange to see a large group of people being sprayed with a fire hose for their baptismal act, but it doesn’t make much of a difference, does it? I mean, someone can be baptized with just having a cup of water be poured over their head if that’s all that’s available.

Did the LORD or the disciples teach that one must be fully submerged in a body of water for the symbolic nature of one’s baptism to ‘count?’ Perhaps I missed it, or just haven’t read it yet, but I don’t think the Holy Bible describes where one must be baptized — only that it comes after one believes and that it is done in the name of the FATHER, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Photo caption/ credit: Members of the United House of Prayer use a fire hose to spray a crowd during a mass baptism. (Dominic Bracco II – The Washington Post)