I explained earlier that some who claim the “sinner’s prayer” and fall away are like those in the parable of the soils whose hearts aren’t pure and whose faith withered away. It is a free gift - some just don’t receive the gift with a true heart.
“He commanded us to baptize in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to make men sons and daughters of God.” You have mixed up the sequence of commands....We are to first make diciples (new believers in Jesus); then they are to be baptized. we weren’t commanded to baptize unbelievers then teach them about Christ.
You seem hung up on the command to make disciples and baptize. What about Jesus’ statement that unless one is born again (or born from above) they cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. You can teach people and baptize them all you want, but unless that person has been born again, they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.
No more so than Jesus. Do a search in Bible Gateway for the words "baptism", "baptize" and "baptizing" and you will find that this is a major theme of the Gospels. No one is suggesting baptizing those unaffiliated with Christ as the Mormons do. Of course, you baptize those who come to Christ or (in their unknowing) you take the responsibility to raise others in the knowledge of Christ who can't come to know first of their own accord... infants, mentally impaired, et al.
What about Jesus’ statement that unless one is born again (or born from above) they cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Nicodemus had a hard time with this too. John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Catholics see this as occurring in baptism and confirmation just as His Disciples were baptized during His Life and received the Spirit at Pentecost.
You seem hung up on the command to make disciples and baptize. What about Jesus’ statement that unless one is born again (or born from above) they cannot enter the kingdom of Heaven. You can teach people and baptize them all you want, but unless that person has been born again, they will not enter the kingdom of Heaven.The Roman church believes in baptismal regeneration, where the actual act of sprinkling places one in the body of Christ. Babies are sprinkled and placed in the Body of Christ based on the parents "faith". Adults need to be catechized before baptizm, (not sure why, considering Ex Opere Operato and such).
The Baptism of desire, Baptism of blood and all the other exemptions were postulated for those believers who were saved but not baptized.
Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit and with Fire, not water. Water is often used as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.
John 4:13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 7:37-39 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time, the spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Eph 5:25 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, Offcourse, Christian baptism is the first thing commanded by Jesus for the new believer. We understand it as a symbol of what has already taken place in regeneration and it is also a public identification with Christ. The Roman church does have significant problems with metaphors.