So, last night we had a discussion about baptism and how the word was derived.

Many words in the Bible are translated in order to be understood in modern times.  Baptism, on the other hand, is transliterated.  In other words, it has not been modified much from its original form,  but brought from the Greek language into English, almost letter-for-letter.  The word “baptism” appears to originate from one of two Greek words.

The first word was “bapto”, while the second word is found to be “baptizo”.  So, why is there such a deal about which word was used?

For this, an example was given to distinguish how the two words differed from each other.  Several centuries before Christ, a recipe had been written which used both words.  A recipe on how to make pickles (That’s right, that means that even back then, they knew that sandwiches needed pickles to taste good, especially those historically delish Peanut Butter Pickle sandwiches…).

In that recipe, it says that in order to make a pickle, the cucumber should first be dipped (bapto) into boiling water and then immersed (baptizo) in a vinegar solution.

As we can see, the act of “bapto” or dipping the vegetable does not in any way change the cucumber.  It is the act of “baptizo” which produces a permanent conversion of the cucumber into a pickle.

So, in much the same way, the act of baptism shouldn’t be seen as originating from the word “bapto” since that, in no way, produces any change, but from the word “baptizo” which signifies a permanent change within one.

Now, with us knowing the meaning behind the word baptism and how it represents an outward sign of an inner permanent change, several important questions come to mind:

Does this mean that Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales has not been baptized yet? Is there any thought on his side to do so?  If he does get immersed, will he turn into “Larry the Pickle” or “The Pickle Formerly Known as Larry”?  And once a pickle, will it affect his relationship with the rest of the VeggieTales cast because of his new cologne?

I’ll write more on this topic if an answer ever presents itself…