I want to start off my saying THANK YOU once again. It is so great to know that I am surrounded by family that loves me and allows me to share my heart with them. It really does bring joy to my life.
Alert and Oriented times...? I don't know where you fall or where you stand on this but I do know that it is worth asking. I know that it is worth my time and effort to get you to look into your life and see where your relationship with God is and how you much progress you make each week. As we pushed through this a little and continued our discussion we transitioned into baptism. I know that right off the bat we jumped into some good questions about it and hope that it was helpful. I will list below the questions and brief answers and hope that it helps those of you who made a discussion to get baptized as well as persuades some of you who are on the fence to look closer at why you have not taken that step.
1. When and how does it happen? -- Over and over the in the bible you see new believers continually getting baptized immediately after believing. There are references in Acts 8 and Acts 16 of this. We see many times those who are mentally and spiritually capable of making the decision, publicly proclaiming their faith by way of baptism. This is our first act of obedience. As far as how, we believe that you should be dunked/submerged completely during your baptism. Does this mean that if you are sprinkled or poured then you are wrong or bad? Absolutely not, but we find that dunking/submerging is biblical. The greek word for baptism is baptizo (except in greek). This word literally means to dunk or submerge. Man translated the word into baptism through way of transliteration , not a true translation... start dunking.
2. What if I was baptized as a baby? -- Well the bible tells to baptize babies 0 times in the bible and it has 0 instances of babies being baptized. So does this mean that if you were baptized as a baby that you are bad or wrong. Absolutely not... it means that your parents wanted to dedicate you to God and hope that you would grow up to know him. So should you be baptized again now that you understand it and want to make that proclamation for yourself. Absolutely. And, if you are worried about offending them or making them upset, just consider who you are concerned about offending... God or them?
3. Who can baptize you? -- Any follower of Christ can. When our church was founded a long time ago, Gene Getz found that biblically any follower of Christ had the authority to baptize other in the name of Christ... so your dad, mom, friend or pastor. :)
4. Is baptism necessary for salvation? NO.
5. Can I still get into heaven without being baptized? Yes, but I would question your desire to go to heaven if the glorification of God is not the highest desire. I say this because honestly there will come a day when you stand before God and you will not only give an account for your life but say to Him, I chose not to obey you and not to glorify you by not being baptized because I wanted it my way, not yours.
I hope this helps and if you are interested and didn't fill out a card, then please Facebook me or leave a comment on here and I will get back to you ASAP!!!
Love you.
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