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"First of all, how wonderful that you can speak for Christ in saying that Catholics aren't born again! Tell me, am I going to heaven? I mean, you obviously have insight into such matters..."

Pe 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

are you going to heaven?

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

What does the Greek word Baptizo really mean?

The term Baptizo (baptizo) and its other forms are used 125 times in the New Testament. Not one time are they translated anything like "sprinkle." They are either transliterated "baptize" or "baptism" or else translated "dip" as in Luke 16:24, John 13:26 and Revelation 19:13. Occasionally they are translated "wash" as in Mark 7:4&8 and Hebrews 9:10. Since they are speaking about washing cups and pots, etc., this can only be understood in the sense of immersion. Below is a small sampling of definitions for the word "baptizo" as found in the Lexicons. More Lexicons could be cited.

1) Bagster: "to dip; to immerse"

2) Bloomfield: "to immerse; to sink"

3) Bretschneider: "to dip or wash repeatedly: to immerse into water, or submerge"

4) Bullinger: "to dip or dye; immerse"

5) Constantine: "immerse, submerge"

6) Cremer: "immerse, submerge"

7) Dawson: "to dip or immerse in water"

8) Donnegan: "to immerse repeatedly into a liquid, to submerge; to sink"

9) Dunbar: "to dip, immerse, submerge, plunge, or sink"

10) Ewing: "to cover with water or some other liquid"

11) Green: "to dip, immerse"

12) Greenfield: "immerse; immerge; submerge; sink"

13) Grimm: "dip repeatedly; immerge; submerge"

14) Groves: "to dip; immerse; cover with water"

15) Hendricks: "to plunge; immerse; cover with water"

16) Jones: "plunge; dip; bury; overhelm"

17) Leigh: "the native and proper signification of it is to dip into water, or to plunge under"

18) Liddell and Scott: "to dip in, or underneath water"

19) Maltby: "immerse; to plunge; to immerse"

20) Norell: "plunge; immerse; cover with water"

21) Parkhurst: "to dip, immerse, or plunge in water"

22) Pickering: "to dip, immerse, submerge; to plunge, sink"

23) Robinson: "to immerse, to sink"

24) Robson: "immerse; sink"

25) Scapula: "to dip, or immerse"

26) Schleusner: "properly, to immerse, to dip in, to dip into water, from Bapto, and corresponds to the Hebrew ‘tabal.’" II Kings 5:14

27) Schrevelius: "to dip, immerse; wash; cleanse"

28) Sophocles: "to dip; to immerse; to sink"

29) Stockieus: "generally, and by force of the word, it has the notion of dipping in and immersing."

30) Thayer: "to dip repeatedly; to immerge; to submerge"

The leaders of the great churches which sprinkle also testify that immersion is the Bible’s way of baptism.

1. Melanethon - Baptism is immersion in water, which is performed with the accompanying benediction of admiration: "I baptize thee etc..... Plunging signifies ablution from sin and immersion into the death of Christ." (Catechesis De Sacramentis, Opera Omnia, Vol. I., Pg. 25.)

2. John Wesley (Methodist) in his Journal, Feb. 21, 1736, said: "Mary Welck, age eleven days, was baptized according to the custom of the first church, and the rule of the Church of England, by immersion." Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament on Romans 6:4 - "‘We are buried with Him’ - alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion."

3. Dr. Wall, an Episcopalian, says: "Pouring was the substitute for baptism which Calvin first adopted and his sprinkling was only the substitute of a substitute and was the most scandalous thing ever adopted for baptism."

4) Brenner, (Catholic): "For thirteen hundred years baptism was an immersion of the person under water."

5) MacKnight, (Presbyterian): "In baptism, the baptized person is buried under the water. Christ submitted to be baptized, that is, to be buried under water."

6) Georger Whitefield, (the colleague of Wesley), preached from Romans 6:4 and said: "It is certain that in the words of our text there is an allusion to the manner of baptism, which was by immersion."

7) Calvin Institutes, (Presbyterian), Chapter 15: "It is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient church."

8) Beza: "Christ commanded us to be baptized, by which word it is certain that immersion is signified."

9) Philip Schaff: "The baptism of Christ in the river Jordan, and the illustrations of baptism used in the New Testament, are all in favor of immersion, rather than sprinkling, as is freely admitted by the best exegetes, Catholic and Protestant, English and German. Nothing can be gained by unnatural exegesis. The aggressiveness of the Baptists had driven Pedobaptists to the opposite extreme."

10) Dr. Doddridge, a Greek scholar who gave us one of the best, if not the best translations of Acts extant, says regarding Romans 6:4: "Buried in Baptism," "It seems but the part of candor to confess that here is an allusion to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion."

11) Cardinal Gibbons (Roman Catholic): "For several centuries after the establishment of Christianity, baptism was ususally conferred by immersion; but since the 12th century, the practice of baptizing by affusion has prevailed in the Catholic Church, as this manner is attended with less inconvenience than baptism by immersion."

12) MacKnicht (a Presbyterian commentator) says: "In baptism the baptized person is buried under the water. Christ submitted to be baptized; that is, to be buried under the water."

13) Stoudza, a native Greek, says, "The verb ‘baptize’ has only one meaning; Baptism and immersion are identical."

14) Weiss, (Luthern) says: "After confessing their sins they went down, man by man, into the water of the Jordan, in order to immerge newborn, a people prepared for the Lord."

15) Neander (Luthern Historian), in "History of the Christian Church and Religion," Vol. 1, Page 311: "Baptism was administered at first only to adults, as men were accustomed to conceive baptism and faith as strictly connected."

16) Bishop Burnett, (Episcopalian), in "Exposition of the 39 Articles." Article 27: "There is no express precept, or rule, given in the N.T. for the baptism of infants."

17) Dr. Wall, (Episcopalian), in "History of Infant Baptism," introduction, Page 1: "Among all the persons that are recorded as baptized by the Apostles, there is no express mention of any infant."

Why do you refuse to tell me what you feel is missing:
http://realserver.goarch.org/ram/en/sacraments_baptism.ram

Watch it, and explain why you feel this person is not born again, of both water and the holy spirit.

Thank you--it is rather complete, I would say, but doesn't mean its right.
Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Mat 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
2 Pet 2:1 [NIV] But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 Pet 2:2 [NIV] Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
2 Pet 2:3 [NIV] In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

So much for the idea that everyone who speaks will be doing so "as the Oracles." And think a little harder about it--perhaps we are being exhorted to be good in our words and actions, not speak with authority on matter that are up to Christ alone.

As far as baptizo goes, I know it means immersion--there is no question about that. It is the usage that is up for debate. The New Testament doens't give a manual about baptism, specifically saying you must be fully immersed. When Jesus went to the Pharisees house, "[t]he Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash [baptizo] before dinner." (Luke 11:38) Jesus says in Luke "I have a baptism [baptisma] to be baptized [baptizo] with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!" (Luke 12:50) In Acts, "not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’" So they will be "immersed" with the Holy Spirit?

The meaning of baptizo is not disputed--it is the oversimplification or the misuse of the term.

Besides, if all we have to do is have faith in Christ, why get baptized anyway? I mean, that is an "action" or a "work," and we aren't supposed to do that...nor do we have to "confess with our lips," because that is an other act of "doing" something...

The problem was that Baptism was a rite that became abused by adults. Saint Augustine refused his mother's (St. Monica's) pleadings to be baptised because it was common practice to wait to be baptized upon the death bed (if you were lucky) and guarantee dying in a state of grace. Eventually, he ceded to her wishes.

That said, where does it say in the Bible that infants cannot be baptized again? Because if Baptism, as you seem to be implying, requires a mature decision by an adult/young adult, it thus reduces the blessing of the Holy Spirit to something impotent and wholly dependent upon the subject He blesses.

It would be like saying a child born in your household today cannot be granted citizenship of the United States until he/she is old enough to consciously choose to be a citizen.