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I think now would be a good time to restate this. But first, I want to make perfectly CLEAR that I do NOT believe baptism ONLY saves you. You must first believe, repent, and confess, or you're only getting wet. This is what the BIBLE says about BAPTISM:
Who is saved?
Mark 16:16...He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
What saves us?
I Peter 3:21...The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
How do we call on the name of the Lord?
Acts 22:16...And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
How do we come into contact with Jesus' death, and walk in a new life?
Romans 6:3-4...Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
How do we receive remission of sins?
Acts 2:38...Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 22:16...And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
How do we join the one body of Christ?
1 Cor 12:12-13...For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
How do we put on Christ? Gal 3:27...For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
I have friends that are Catholic.
They have always told me that a person "has" to be baptised inorder to be saved.
They would never back down from that teachings.
Then one day I got a hold of a Catholic catechism and found that while under normal situations baptism is needed, they do also teach that if no water is around, or that the person died before they could be dunked, that this is taken into account by the Lord and the work of baptism is given to their credit...
Thus, according to Catholic teachings, the water is not 'always" 100% needed...
My view is that if Catholics already admit that sometimes water is not 100% needed, then actually they are teaching that it's never 100% needed....
if Baptism were 100% needed then there could be no salvation for anyone outside baptism no matter the cause of that lack of water....
Thus, the house of cards that is the "Baptism Only" teaching falls down due to it going against the one rule that a teaching should never be totally crazy...
I just didn't pray I was saved what does the bible say all you have to do is Accept, Believe, and Confess and then you are saved. Now as a new Christian you should want to be baptized but your already saved. I was baptized in a spiritual way when I was saved as all my sins were washed away when I accepted him as my savior. I was then baptized in the water as a outward symbol. The washing of the water to have contact is the word the water is symbolic of the word in that phrase that you used.
Can you give me a scripture that says baptism is an outward symbol?
If baptism is just a symbol then I guess communion is just a snack during church
The Lord said..."This is my body.."
Now when you look at the bread that you may be given in church, does it actually look like human flesh?....no?
Then no matter what you may think the bread stands for, the real truth is that no matter how you look at it, it's still just some bread...
So on the 'outside" the bread and wine you receive in church is really is just food and drink.
So if the "outside' never changes...then the only way to look at the Holy meal is that the bread and wine change on the inside...
Not their "insides" as if you could cut the bread in half and see a change, but our insides...
Not their insides, but inside us...
the Bread changes in our heart and minds so that it becomes a symbol of a concept we hold as holy.
The same is true for the waters of baptism.
Science tells us that the water is just water...
no matter how you look at it, test it, heat it, cool it, it's all just water.
But in our eyes of faith we can say that the water of baptism becomes the grave...
And one is not raised to new life, or born again, until they have been buried in that grave.
yes, the water is a shadow of the real event...
Im my own case, what Im saying is that my baptism is a symbol for what will one day really happen.
I will rise up out of my real dirt grave in the flesh one day.
it will not be just a symbol, it will be a real grave I rise from.
Like with the bread of the Holy Meal.
"This is my body that is given for you..."
So the bread is a symbol of the real body of christ...
The break is broken...this reflects that Christ really did die for real.
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