Subject: Saved by belief or belief and baptism? |
Bible Note: Dear BradK, You think I am making a big deal out of baptism. I am simply defending what the Bible teaches on the subject. If others would simply believe the Bible on this subject and quit making a big deal about it, then I wouldn't have much to say about it. It seems to me that you are trying everything you can to get around the truth. You probably think of me as mean spirited and legalistic, when all I'm doing is defending this simply taught Bible doctrine. I hope that you will set aside all your preconcieved ideas about religion and believe the truth and nothing but the truth. Do you beleive that a person can be a Christian and only a Christian? Do you have to be a Baptist or Methodist, or Catholic, or etc, before you can be a Christian? Can we be Christains just as they were after the day of Pentecost in Acts 2? Look in Matthew 7:21-23. Many religious people will be lost in the end. They think they are bound for heaven, but truly they are not. I am not writng these word in a mean tone. I am heartbroken by the division in this world. God gave us one Bible, yet there are thousands of denominations. Thousands of denominations that believe differently and have conflicting views. How can this be. Did Jesus want all this division? Read John 17:20-21 very carefully and let these words sink in very deep into your mind. Romans 6:3 shows us that we were baptised into Christ, I repeat into Christ.Study the scriptures. You will find out that when we are baptized into Christ we are baptized into the church. You cannot have Christ without the church. When you are baptized into Christ you are baptized into the church, the kingdom, the House of God, the family of God, the church of God, the church of Christ, and so on. All these words are used interchangably. The reason why there is so much confusion among religion is because so many people don't want to understand. They don't want the truth. They want to be entertained, but not follow God. They don't want to believe the truth because it condemns them or somebody they are close to. We must remember God's thoughts are greater than our's. We may not understand why God gives a certain commandment , but we still should follow it. The question ,Brad, is do you want to understand and follow the truth? Do you know why Jesus spoke in parables. Not only did it make it easier for his disciples to understand the concept he was teaching, it made no since to those who had no interest in the truth. They were not interested in understanding, so these parables made no since to them. That is what he was telling his disciples in Matthew 13:13-17. Thank You. In the Love of God, Coty |