Cleansing

Pete: Well I'll be a sonofabitch. Delmar's been saved.

Delmar O'Donnell: Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed. The preacher's done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It's the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting's my reward.

Ulysses Everett McGill: Delmar, what are you talking about? We've got bigger fish to fry.

Delmar O'Donnell: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.

Ulysses Everett McGill: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?

Delmar O'Donnell: Well I was lyin'. And the preacher says that that sin's been warshed away too. Neither God nor man's got nothin' on me now. C'mon in boys, the water is fine.

This exchange is probably my favorite bit of dialogue in any movie. It cracks me up just reading it. This picture of redemption is so simple and pure, almost laughable. But I absolutely love Delmars innocence. On the one hand, Delmar seems to lack the needed intellect to process Christ's salvation, and on the other hand it is if he understands salvations completeness far better than I do. On Christmas day I will be baptized. But as this day approaches I keep asking myself "why am I doing this". I know that my ottoman in heaven does not depend on this ceremony. But this is more than a ceremony, thankfully it is my rite as a child of God. And I must take part in this sacrament that symbolizes his saving grace. Simple answer: When you are in love with someone, and they give you a gift, you accept it.