Replies

You are putting your preconceived doctrinal beliefs into the Scripture. There is one Gospel. And you are seriously trying to tell me that Ananias, who was sent to Paul by God, gave the wrong speech to Paul? That would mean that God messed up, which is blasphemy. Step away from your preconceived ideas and read the Scriptures for what they are, the true Word of the living God.

Well lets put the words of Jesus into this ok?

Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

No emphasis on the need of Baptism .... he did not say that he that believeth not and is not baptized will be damned.. the only certain prerequisite is believing

Jhn 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Jhn 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

1Jo 5:10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

"....for the remission of sins; not that forgiveness of sin could be procured either by repentance, or by baptism; for this is only obtained by the blood of Christ;"( Gill)

Note that Peter never preached that again. All through the rest of Acts what is preached is repent and believe

Your argument using Mark 16:16 is a very old and weak argument in my opinion. In the Greek, the words for "believeth" and "is baptized" are "aorist tense participles." The tense of these participles are actions that happen prior to the leading verb of the sentence, which is "shall be saved". In other words, both are necessary. Also notice that belief is placed before baptism in this verse. The order is also important. Belief always occurs before baptism in the New Testament.

The use of "believeth not" in the last part of the verse is enough to get the point across. Without belief, which is shown to be required before baptism, salvation can not take place. There is no need to list baptism in the last part of the verse as it would have been redundant.