Posted on 05/28/2017 2:44:16 PM PDT by metmom
Not by baptism or “Say the sinner’s prayer and accept Jesus into your heart”.
“Say the sinner’s prayer and accept Jesus into your heart”. That is the mantra of the totalitarian evangelicals. No other opinion is allowed.
Which is odd for a sentence that never once appears in the bible.
To be clear...there is no "magic" prayer or series of words one says in their profession of faith or asking Jesus to be their Savior.
Peter illustrated how we come to know Christ in Acts 2:37-38
37Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:37-38 NASB
Hear the word preached v37
Believe the word v37
Repent (properly, "think differently after," "after a change of mind"; to repent (literally, "think differently afterwards") v38.
Be baptized and receive the Holy Spirit v38
This is a promise for as many as shall call the Lord v39.
The fact that people argue AGAINST baptism is an indicator of their spiritual condition...and it’s not good. Christ specifically told his followers to do it. His followers did it and taught it. It’s an integral PART of salvation...it’s shows whether your heart is obedient to God or whether you’re going to be one saying “Lord Lord!” and Christ never knows you.
As in martyrdom??
Please provide biblical evidence of this. I don't want one of your links.
I'm not aware of any Evangelical that minimizes the importance of baptism.
Of course you have. The Good Thief dying on the Cross beside Jesus is a good example of both Baptism by Desire and Baptism of Blood.
Baptism of Blood usually refers to martyrs, however, all martyrs in the early years of the church were pronounced saints.
John 3:5
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
And you do believe the Bible, don’t you? (Plus these are the words of Jesus!)
Prove from Scripture that your interpretation that being born of water is another term for water baptism, is correct.
Show us where the term *born of water* is ever used interchangeably with baptism.
And FWIW, Jesus did not use the word *baptize* in John 3 so you cannot ASSUME that He meant baptize. Show us specifically that *baptism* means *born of water*.
This is another false teaching of the Roman Catholic church.
A person who dies on the battlefield without faith in Christ is not a Christian...they are not saved.
That one was "pronounced" a saint means nothing.
This was the false teaching advanced by Pope Urban II.
All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Urban_II
Urban didn't have the "authority" to make such a promise as it was totally counter to Scripture.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
That’s exactly why Jesus would NEVER have given mere men the actually ability to retain or remit another person’s sins.
The power would have been abused by those popes, as history so clearly shows so many of them clearly demonstrating this with the flagrant abuse of the power of the position of pope.
So I reproduce the exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus on this matter.
Notice the emphasis on belief in Him as necessary for salvation in this passage.
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?
11“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.
14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up;
15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:1-21 NASB
Whatever his faults he tried to base his teaching on the Bible.
That's way more than can be said for Urban II.
there is one place in Scripture where "Faith Alone" is mentioned
You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone JAMES 2:24
After span of time enough for various reasonings among men (purely derivative, secondary "sources", not entirely unlike the processes which took place within rabbinical Judaism) to take center stage, the rest came naturally.
Deformation --- Sola ecclesia --whatever we say --do as we say --we have the true knowledge --we have the authority, and Power to command(!) --We Alone have "the secrets"
And again context is your friend in understanding this passage.
18But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
20But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;
23and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.
24You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. James 2:18-26 NASB
And when a person is born of the flesh, a normal birth, the mother’s water breaks.
Jesus is talking normal human birth in that passage. He doesn’t jump from one meaning to another without explaining Himself even though the Catholic church tends to interpret Scripture that way.
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
Again...context is your friend in understanding this passage.
I produce for all to read.
18For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
21Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.
He didn't understand what Christ was talking about anymore than the unbelieving Jews in John 6 who thought He was talking about literally eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ.
The Roman Catholic seems to be in the same spot as Nicodemus and the unbelieving Jews.
James(Apostle to the Jews) was writing to Jewish believers who still offered sacrifices in the Temple, who still had to show evidence of their faith. That is why his “Faith + Works = salvation”.
Paul was writing to Gentiles. Eph2:8.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—NOT OF WORKS lest any man should boast.
Romans 4:1-7
What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Was Cornelius saved when the Holy Spirit fell on him or when he got wet?
The Campbellites would say YOU are not saved because YOU did not dot the “I”and cross the “T” their way on baptism. Or on anything for that matter.
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