[haole]

You mean that you can tell me that the "good thief" did not ge baptized by Jesus before he caught caught? After John "baptized " Jesus, Jesus Himself went and Baptized others, then, as written in John, declared unless "you are born again of the water and the Spirit"....both became obvious when at Jesus Baptism, the SPirit flew down to HIm,. and once again, God the Father sent His Spirit above the waters..( Gen. ).

[mdmathis6]

I know what it says in the Bible. John the Baptist baptized those repentant ones with water. He said Christ would baptize with fire....so I the thief was........ baptized..with Christ's Holy spirit Fire...with his blood poured out for the complete remission(pay back to God) of the thief's sins. Had the thief survived, he might have been baptized with water, symbolizing the burial of the old man and the rising up of the new resurrected man, per the command of Chist and the early church.

This is why many sects use immersion...not only because the early Greek texts of scripture used the greek term baptizmo(or dunking, immersion, literally burial under water), but because of this emphasis of dying to the old sinful man and the rising up of the new resurrected man. Sprinkling and pouring is also recognized by these same sects because some who are frail or infirm couldn't handle the immersion.

Baptism is both a recognition and symbol of what our past was and what our future is going to be as believers. The cleansing of our sins was done by Jesus Christ's blood sacrifice alone! His resurrection seals the deal by THE demonstration of God's POWER OVER DEATH! By undergoing Baptism, you are telling all publically that you are following Christ's exhortation of laying down one's life, taking up one's cross and following him.