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Water baptizm necessary to be saved?

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Posted by: Frederik

I just came across an article about the sinner on the cross and how he could be saved without being baptized. Later in the text it said this:

The law of Christ consists strictly of information that is intended to be in effect after the death of Christ. It includes some of the things that Jesus and His disciples taught while He was still on Earth. But as regards the specifics of salvation, one must go to Acts 2 and the rest of the New Testament (especially the book of Acts) in order to determine what one must do today to be saved. Beginning in Acts 2, the new covenant of Christ took effect, and every single individual who responded correctly to the preaching of the gospel was baptized in water in order to be forgiven of sin by the blood of Christ. Every detail of an individual’s conversion is not always mentioned, but a perusal of the book of Acts demonstrates decisively that water immersion was aprerequisite to forgiveness, along with faith, repentance, and confession of the deity of Christ (Acts 2:38,41; 8:12,13,16,36-38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 16:15,33; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16).

I don't agree with this, do you?
Then repenting and all this would be senseless unless you also become baptized.


Posted by: JeriRose12

This one's easier than the David question. The thief on the cross was not baptised and Jesus said, "Today you shall be with me in Paradise." I do believe, though, that we have a responsibility to be water baptised once we understand that it is a command of the Lord. I do not believe it saves you, but once you are saved, you should want to obey the Lord by being water baptised. It is the public expression of the death to self and the burying of the old man and the resurrection to new life in Christ.

Beyond that, are you seeking God daily? That is the REAL question. The answer to these will not help you KNOW Christ. They will only give you head knowledge. Are you gaining HEART knowledge? Are you setting time aside EVERY DAY to spend with the Lord, just reading His Word, talking to Him, praising Him and so on? I will keep asking this over and over. This is the important thing: Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Not seek the answer to questions upon endless questions.

~JeriRose~
Finding HIM in 2005


Posted by: Frederik

Quote:
Originally Posted by JeriRose12
Are you setting time aside EVERY DAY to spend with the Lord, just reading His Word, talking to Him, praising Him and so on? I will keep asking this over and over. This is the important thing: Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Not seek the answer to questions upon endless questions.

~JeriRose~
Finding HIM in 2005



The problem is that seeking God can also easily turn into a frustration, especially in my case. I become frustrated very easily. In the last semester holidays I really wanted to seek God. I was very motivated and hungry. Every night when finally everybody would be sleeping I would talk to God. The problem is that during the day I am almost never at home alone. There is always noise and I cannot seek God in such an environment it doesnt work.I need concentration to talk to God. But I dont have this during the day. This sucks. I have so little time for God. If I lived alone I could spend time with God during the day, but I dont live alone. This bothers me a lot. Anyway, I spent time with God every night but I didnt know what to do. All I could do was talk to him about my problems and pray more or less the same stuff every day and it was frustrating. It never lasted much more than 1 hour and even though I was hungry I didnt know what to do anymore. I always went to bed being frustrated. And then during this time I chatted with a christian and this christian said some things, I cannot exactly remember what it was, which totally demotivated me and I couldnt motivate myself anymore. I asked God to motivate me again to seek him again but it didnt work. And since that time 5 months or more have passed and during this time I didnt get anything done. But I miss God, I really do. Every day I go to bed and think that I just wasted another day without spending time with God. I pray before I go to bed but it's not very long. I'm not happy this way. But I know if I start seeking him again I will be doing exactly the same thing. Talking to him and after I have said everything I dont know what to do anymore. This is not fulfilling. I also dont feel like I get closer to God this way. What I want is to hear him or to get into his presence but how? I dont know how. But I'm once again tripping on the spot. I want to break this cycle. I want to get back into the routine of spending time with God but then again I will have the problem of not knowing what to do and maybe becoming frustrated again like I did in the past. This is always the danger. Since I am all alone I also dont have another christian to stick to or to learn from. I have no prayer warrior who I could simply watch and learn from. It's not easy when you're alone. But I want more of God. When those in the bible could experience God then why not me? Why should we always limit everything to the natural realm? Simply talking to God is not fulfilling. I also want him to talk to me. I want to know how God is. it would be so cool if he said something to me or if he had a conversation with me. Other christians also say that God talks to them, why not to me?


Posted by: diamondcreates

Frederik -

Do not feel you are alone, because you are not. there are others that are in the same boat as you and have felt the same way as you do. Have you ever read in the Bible or heard about after Jesus was baptized by John the Bapitsed, Jesus walked in the desert for 40 and 40 nights where the devil constantly tempted Jesus to do different things - but Jesus didn't fall pry to the devil. the devil even 'offered' him all that was in front of him to be his of his. But Jesus did not take upon any offering the devil tried to offer him.

Jesus was 'alone' in that desert fighting heat, hunger, thirst, and temptations from the devil. You too have to find the source within you to fight these temptations that prevent you from being closer to God our Father. Have no fears of the bones in your closet - He knows all that bothers us and what our deepest heart desires are. He provides all of our needs even when we don't give HIM the proper praises that HE deserves. Find it within yourself to break that cycle and know if Jesus can over come all the advances that devil brought to him in the desert you too can over come what ever advances you have currently in your life.

Be Blessed always --


Posted by: Frederik

Thanks Michelle,
but for me it has never been any different and I also don't know how to get close to God. When you don't know what to do then you also don't have any motivation. And when you don't know what to do then it also isn't fun. How long can you do something where you do not see results?