I received an e-mail last week. Someone wrote to say he needed to get baptized immediately. He had started a program in his church for those interested in baptism but that was going to take several weeks. He wanted to get baptized that day. He cited as precedent the baptism of the African court official by Philip the deacon in Acts 8. A careful reading of that passage shows that official was well prepared for initiation into the Christian life because he was familiar with the Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament.) When the first believers wanted to understand who Jesus was they went back to the only Scriptures they had. A good practice for us today — careful reading of the Old Testament deepens faith.