For some days many of us have followed the saga of Abdul Rahman, Afghani Christian on trial for his life, with interest. Having now been released, he has (at least at this writing) reportedly disappeared. One can only trust for his safety - Italy, for one, having expressed its willingness to grant his request for asylum should he succeed in escaping Afghanistan.
At this point the details regarding Mr. Rahman's conversion are somewhat sketchy, other than the fact that he was led to faith through reading the Scriptures after coming in contact with a Christian relief organization in Pakistan some years ago.
Within our own national culture in which "Christian" identity can at times become as much cultural as spiritual, it is difficult to grasp the full meaning of such commitment - in terms of not only resultant societal hostility, but sense of reality attendant one's entry into Christian faith and profession.
This is oftetimes evidenced in the meaning ascribed to baptism in hostile anti-Christian settings. More than ritual espousal of "covenantal identity" or "act of public witness," baptism is often viewed as the act of commitment itself - the requisite qualities of repentance, faith and profession inhering one's so placing family relationships, friends, economic well being, and at times life itself, on the line as an act of allegiance to Christ.
Jesus defined one's acceptance of him in a two-fold sense: 1.) Faith ("he that believeth" - which Peter would characterize as including repentance and "appeal to God for a clear conscience," Acts 2:38; I Pet. 3:21), and 2.) Public identification with him ("and is baptized," Mark 16:16; - seen by Paul as also involving verbal witness to Christ's reality and present existence, Rom. 10:9). It is in this complete sense that Peter writes of the believer's being "saved by baptism" (again, I Pet. 3:21).
As believers, have we not tended at times toward an imbalance of extremes - salvation in the physical act of baptism alone or, again, in an inner resolution to which the visible, physical response becomes little more than ritualistic confirmation?
Perhaps we can learn something from one another here.
Burl Ratzsch
