Is Sprinkling Or Pouring Equivalent To Baptism?

     If one were to consult Webster’s Dictionary for this answer, he or she might come to the conclusion that sprinkling and/or pouring are indeed to be regarded as baptism.  In today’s society, sprinkling and pouring have come to be recognized as “modes” of baptism.  Does the Bible support the idea that sprinkling and/or pouring are equivalent to scriptural baptism?  You be the judge.
     First of all, the very definitions of the words sprinkle and pour would eliminate both from consideration for Bible baptism.  One may have any number of things sprinkled or poured upon them, but he himself cannot be sprinkled or poured (unless you melt that individual, or chop him up into little pieces!).  The Bible commands all accountable individuals to believe and be baptized in order to be saved (Mk. 16:16), quite an impossible task if one considers the “mode” of baptism to be sprinkling or pouring.  Immersion is the only “mode” of baptism that would fit.  I am using the term “mode of baptism” loosely, because the original Greek definition of this word means to immerse.  The Greeks had other words for pouring (root cheo) and sprinkling (rhantidzo), neither of which are used in connection with baptism.  An individual may be immersed into any number of things, but it is physically impossible for one to be sprinkled or poured.  By inserting the word sprinkled or poured where the word baptized (or any other form of this word) is found, then it becomes impossible for man to obey God’s commands!
     Second, Bible baptism is pictured as a burial (Rom. 6:1-6; Col. 2:11-13).  One would not consider someone buried if that individual simply had a handful of sand sprinkled upon him/her, or a cupful of dirt poured upon him/her.  We consider an individual buried when he/she is completely underground—totally submerged in the earth.  Why do we not have the same standard in religion?  If funeral homes buried people according to the standard most uphold in religion, there would be a lot of angry relatives and loved ones who would be upset at this!  By immersing an individual in water, he/she is buried in a symbolic watery grave.  This is done to show that the old man of sin has died in repentance, and is now buried.  Arising out of the water represents the new life that one has begun as a child of God (II Cor. 5:17), for Christ’s blood cleanses man of all sin in the waters of baptism (Ax. 22:16).  In this manner, the penitent believer is mirroring the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Common sense would tell us that this can only be accomplished by immersion, not by sprinkling or pouring.