Gone baptizin'

[The title of this post comes from a classic "Simpsons" moment. As with many of these classic moments, it's nowhere to be found online except on weird Eastern European websites. However, there's an even more classic moment that comes right after which I was able to find on a known site.]

Last week I attended a baptismal service, the first one I'd been to in a couple of years. Javier, a man who lives in my complex, was the one who was baptized. His wife is LDS and is in my ward, attending with their toddler-aged daughter. Javier has been attending with his family the last several months and is a great guy. It was a sweet experience to see him accept the gospel and begin on the path which will see him sealed to his wife and child in the near future.

It was interesting to me to note the contrast between the brevity of the baptismal ordinance and its importance. In a meeting that lasted nearly an hour, the actual baptism lasted about a minute, including the time it took Javier and the man who did the dunking to walk down into the font. In a flash, one of the most important events of Javier's life was over. I remember when I was baptized, when I was 8 years old, as soon as I came up out of the water, I asked if I could do it again. I don't swim and am not a fan of being in water generally; my eagerness to repeat the ceremony was due mainly to the good feeling it created within me, but there may have also been a small part of me that felt I was being shortchanged, that something so important should last longer.

I'm old enough now to know that time is not necessarily equal to importance. I assume that most who read my blog share my view of the importance of baptism, but in case there are any who doubt, consider what happened when Jesus made His long-prophesied post-resurrection appearance in the Americas (which we'll be discussing in this week's Sunday School lesson). Once the people fully understood who He was, He began to teach them. His first topic? Baptism (see 3 Ne. 11:21-29). That's a pretty strong endorsement.

And time is a relative concept, anyway. When Christ was crucified, the people in America endured terrible catastrophes and destruction (also covered in this week's reading block). The earthquakes and other disasters lasted about three hours, but many felt it was actually much longer (see 3 Ne. 8:19). When you're talking about cities catching fire and other cities falling into the sea and thousands of people dying, even one hour would seem like an eternity.

By contrast, take a look at the second bullet point from the link above. When the Savior appeared, before He began teaching, He invited the multitude of 2500 (see 3 Ne. 17:25) to come up one by one to feel the wounds in His hands and feet and side and gain a testimony that He was actually the promised Messiah (see 3 Ne. 11:13-15). If each person was allowed 10 seconds each for this amazing experience, the entire process would've lasted about seven hours! It's quite likely it took even longer. This lasted much longer than the destructive forces did, but I bet the time flew by for these blessed people.

I hope we won't judge an event's importance strictly by how long it lasts. After all, what's a minute, or 3 hours, or 7 hours, or even the 1000 years of history covered in The Book of Mormon when viewed through the lens of eternity?