baptism by fire

• baptism of fire

From the Bible, Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said... "and He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire."

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baptism by fire (plural baptisms by fire)

1. A rite of passage through the survival or success of a crisis or ordeal.

   The new folks really get put through a baptism by fire, to start doing a stressful job with so little training.

• hazing
• initiation
• trial by fire
• trial by ordeal