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Peter speaks symbolically of baptism just as Paul contends in I Corinthians, verga. Were the occupants of the ark baptized by virtue of being guided safely through the water? Does Peter speak mechanically of the rite of baptism, as if the act alone has the power of salvation?

I got it so the Bible is lying when it doesn't say what you want it to say.

I have noticed over the years that many of you Protestants really don't believe what the Bible says ie .. this is My Body, This is my Blood etc.... You like to see symbols and metaphors where there are none.

I challenge you to go back and red what the Early Church fathers taught about Baptism, the Eucharist, Purgatory, etc..You find it very enlightening what has been taught from the very beginning of the Church.<>P>P.S. I noticed you didn't cite a chapter or verse for the sinners prayer, I find that odd.

I'm sorry, I mistook the discussion as dealing with the matter of the good thief on the cross, as to whether he ended up in purgatory or not. He professed with his mouth that he believed Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and was to be counted among the righteous dead for having done so. He saw Jesus Christ in paradise, "Abraham's Bosom" in that yom, on that day.

He was led out of Sheol along with all the righteous dead, by Jesus Christ. He was led to heaven. His faith got him there. He was not baptized.

The so-called sinner's prayer is really more akin to a creed, as I understand it. Creeds are something to which you can relate, I should think, it's a shorthand for a Biblical matter of faith or for church doctrine. I personally don't put that much store in creeds but will agree with the meaning of them to the extent that such creeds are supported by scripture. If they're not supported by scripture, I do not agree.

It's really fairly simple. All the Byzantine layers of smoke, mirrors, rituals and veritable Greek choruses of commentary only serve to complicate matters. Believe and be saved.