[Levin]

I agree with many of your bullet points (that people spiritually mature as they get older; res ipsa loquitor).

I disagree, however, with your main push to view baptism differently, namely, that baptism is more usefully and accurately described as a process. Baptism serves an important role as the "door" to the path, the gateway by which we must pass through to start on the journey. It's the act we perform in order to symbolize the change of heart. I wouldn't strip the ordinance of this powerful meaning.

There are plenty of other ideas to describe the process of spiritual growth, of drawing closer to Christ, of enduring to the end. We need an ordinance that symbolizes the start, and baptism is it. Preserving this role for baptism does nothing to denigrate the idea that we mature in Christ.