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Baptism is like putting on a wedding ring - the ring doesn’t make you married, but it serves as an open symbol of the union. Asking Christ into your heart as your Savior, in acknowledgement of His sacrifice as a forgiveness of your sinful nature, is what saves you - it’s a personal relationship and requires no outside entity or substance to seal the deal - His Love and Grace do that.

No one is saying that being baptised “makes you a christian”. Have you read the article? or are you merely reacing to the title and some of the comments of others who obvioously didn’t read the aticle ? In the article itsellf I stated that I know that Jesus’ blood purchased our pardon... therefore I was exploring how is it that Peter is saying “Baptism now saves...”. “Saves” as used by Peter is in refference to “the world”, that by our public confession of the death, resurrection of Jesus we break off our relationship with Peter.

You wrote:

“Baptism is like putting on a wedding ring - the ring doesn’t make you married, but it serves as an open symbol of the union.”

No. When the crowd came to believe what St. Peter preached on Pentecost they asked him what they must do. He said repent and be baptized for the FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS (Acts 2:38). When St. Paul was converted he was baptized for the FORGIVENESS OF HIS SINS (Acts 22:16).

“Asking Christ into your heart as your Savior, in acknowledgement of His sacrifice as a forgiveness of your sinful nature, is what saves you - it’s a personal relationship and requires no outside entity or substance to seal the deal - His Love and Grace do that.”

That’s a start, but as St. Peter and St. Paul showed you must be baptized. That’s exactly what St. Peter urged people to do when they asked him what they must do.

Baptism is like putting on a wedding ring - the ring doesn’t make you married, but it serves as an open symbol of the union. Asking Christ into your heart as your Savior, in acknowledgement of His sacrifice as a forgiveness of your sinful nature, is what saves you - it’s a personal relationship and requires no outside entity or substance to seal the deal - His Love and Grace do that.

Baptism is not a symbol, if is way more then that
Colossians 2:8-12 8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

1. It is not a work of men but it is a work of God
2. It is act of Faith on our part that God can cleanse us from our sin
3. It is not spiritual baptism he is talking about, we do not come out of or raised up from spiritual baptism
4. It is not a profession of our faith, Ethiopian was Baptized on the road, on the way home, did not have to wait to show people