It is food for thought. When we think we got it all down some christians can have another view.
“When we think we got it all down some christians can have another view.”
That is very true. We are saved by responding to God in faith and trying to obey Him, not by scoring well on a theology test. I have very strong differences with Catholic theology, but that doesn’t mean all Catholics are damned. The thief on the cross knew almost no theology, but he met Jesus and believed. Even Abraham knew very little theology, but he met God and believed Him: “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’”
That doesn’t make, however, bad theology good. I am a Baptist and believe in water baptism. I also don’t care a lot about WHEN someone is baptized, because I don’t think God follows a checklist. God is a person, not a computer.
My objection is to the idea that water baptism apart from faith removes sin and causes one to be born again. For someone who doesn’t believe - and I’ve met a number of folks who have been baptized without believing, including adults baptized by Baptists but who were dishonest about their ‘belief’ - and no rite with water can make you a new creation in Christ apart from the command of Christ to repent and believe God.
One can debate individual verses about baptism, but one would have to reject all of scripture to claim that we are saved by a rite and not by responding to God in faith.
Circumcision was a rite prescribed by God, as is water baptism, but circumcision did not make a Jew a follower of God: “28For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” - Romans 2
Paul was addressing the Jews and their confidence in their place as God’s Chosen People, but I think it could be equally applied to those who place their trust in church membership, or water baptism: For no one is a Christian who is merely one outwardly, nor is baptism outward and physical. But a Christian is one inwardly, and baptism is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. Let our praise come not from man, but from God.