Baptism

In Amman Jordan I go see the ruins from Roman times, when the city was called Philadelphia. It was named Philadelphia for Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the Macedonian Pharoah of Egypt who was perhaps the half-nephew of Alexander the Great. The name "Philadelphia" is usually translated as "Brotherly Love", but with that ending it really means "Sibling Love". The name seems appropriate since Philadelphus married his sister. The ancient Macedonians seemed to practice philadelphia frequently.

The Jordanians are doing an impressive job to rebuild the ruins from the pieces that remain.

In the evening I go to a Turkish bath in Amman to help recover from the desert. Fadhel the masseuse is from Bahdad. Fadhel says that Baghdad will be ready for tourism in two years, and that Irdil in northern Iraq is safe now if you go through Jordan.

Can you imagine the tourism potential of Baghdad? Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the Garden of Eden. Go visit Saddam's palaces and monuments. Visit the underground tomb where they caught saddam, and go see the square where Blackwater went Rambo. It may sound crazy now, but at one time Tokyo, Seoul and Berlin were war zones also. Tokyo and Seoul are great places to visit now. Berlin not so much.

The next morning I go to Bethany in Jordan. Bethany is the baptism site of Jesus, where John the Baptist did his work. They've recovered the original baptism site that was first identified in the 6th century AD. In the 6th century the think they found the actual site, based on the description in the Bible, because there was only one site at that time which fit the description. They built several churches on the site, but those churches have been destroyed through the ages. The river has shifted course by several hundred meters, and the original baptism site is now an archeological dig. The archeological site has the ruins of the foundations of the old churches and a pond of water where the original baptism area was. They won't let you go into that baptism site now, which is probably good since the water is stagnant and murky.

The modern baptism site is the spot where the river Jordan flows now that is the closest point to the original baptism site. It's a few hundred meters away from the old site. I put my feet into the water at the modern baptism site. You can arrange with a priest to be baptized here, but I didn't arrange that ahead of time. I would like to be baptized here, but I may not come back here for a long time. What should I do? What would you do? I decide to do a full body self immersion baptism. The Jordanian and German tourists in my group are amused, but the military guard appears annoyed. He doesn't speak English so he can't really complain to me. I can't take a picture of myself performing the self-baptism in the water, but I take a picture of the guard afterward making sure that no one else does a self-baptism.

While walking out I talk to the tour guide, who had left us while we were at the river. I ask him about arranging for a priest to baptize you in the water. He says "It is possible to arrange it through one of the churches, but why bother? You're an adult, you don't need a priest to baptize you, just baptize yourself." I admit to him that I did just that but the military guard didn't like it, possibly because I was commando. He says "No, the guard just wanted to make sure that you didn't swim too far into the water. A few more meters and you would have crossed the border into Israel, and the guard might get in trouble."

I still recommend that you arrange with a priest when you go.