Baptism
Baptism names rebirth in the Holy Spirit. It is a traditional Christian sign of entry into the life of Christ, symbolizing death to the old life and birth into the new.
When Jesus taught that a person must be born again, He spoke not of the flesh but of the Spirit. A person is first born into the world through the body, and later may be born again through God.
Physical birth is gendered. Spiritual birth is also gendered. Yet the two need not be the same.
The body reveals one aspect of a person. The Spirit reveals another. The first birth tells us what we are born as; the second asks what God is bringing forth within us.
For this reason, the Church of Humans does not presume that spiritual calling, vocation, or identity can always be read directly from the body alone. We recognize that the work of the Spirit may differ from the expectations of society, family, or custom.
As recorded in the Witness of Thomas:
- If you bring forth what is within you, what is within you will save you. If you do not bring it forth, what you hold back will destroy you.
The task of the second birth is therefore not imitation but revelation. The person born of the Spirit is called to bring forth what God has placed within them.
The Church of Humans does not compel a particular expression of this calling. As Rule 16 states:
- Our hermits may be man or woman, according to their will.
The judgment belongs to God. The work of the believer is to seek truthfully, love faithfully, and bring forth what has been entrusted to them.