The Necessity of Baptism

For some background info, a few months ago someone left a comment on my blog to check out their blog.  I have been for the past couple of months now.  One big thing I noticed was that this guy seems pretty legalistic in his views, especially on salvation and what baptism has to do with it. 

The following is from a big book called "Systematic Theology", by Wayne Grudem, which is a book I recommend to be on anyones' bookshelf if they want to seriously study Christian theology.  I agree with what this book has to say on the subject, and if you agree or disagree I would love if you would leave a comment explaining why.

"While we recognize that Jesus commanded baptism (Matt. 28:19), as did the apostles (Acts 2:38), we should not say that baptism is necessary for salvation."..."To say that baptism or any other action is necessary for salvation is to say that we are not justified by faith alone, but by faith plus a certain "work," the work of baptism.  The apostle Paul would have opposed the idea that baptism is necessary for salvation just as strongly as he opposed the similar idea that circumcision was necessary for salvation (see Gal. 5:1-12)

Those who argue that baptism is necessary for salvation often point to Mark 16:16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."  But the very evident answer to this is simply to say that the verse says nothing about those who believe and are not baptized.  The verse is simply talking about general cases without making a pedantic qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes and is not baptized.  But certainly the verse should not be pressed into service and mad to speak of something it is not talking about.

More to the point is Jesus' statement to the dying thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).  The thief could not be baptized before he died on the cross, but he was certainly saved that day.  Moreover, the force of this point cannot be evaded by arguing that the thief was saved under the old covenant (under which baptism was not necessary to salvation), because the new covenant took effect at the death of Jesus (see Heb. 9:17), and Jesus died beforeeither of the two thieves who were crucified with him (see John 19:32-33).

Another reason why baptism is not necessary for salvation is that our justification from sins takes place at the point of saving faith, not at the point of water baptism, which usually occurs later.  But if a person is already justified and has sins forgiven eternally at the point of saving faith, then baptism is not necessary for forgiveness  of sins, or for the bestowal of new spiritual life.

Baptism, then, is not necessary for salvation.  But it is necessary if we are to be obedient to Christ, for he commanded baptism for all who believe in him."

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RE: Halloween Witnessing Tip From Trish.

(This is a repost from last year)

This is a two minute witnessing tip from Trish Ramos at fishwithtrish.blogspot.com. Check out her blog for more tips, stories, and even some contest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdvbeNYuFL0

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An Interesting Quiz

Taken from The Evidence Bible.

How would you respond in these situations?


1. A preacher and his wife are very, very poor. They already have 14 kids. Now she finds out she’s pregnant with the 15th. They’re living in tremendous poverty. Considering their poverty and the excessive world population, would you consider recommending she get an abortion?

2. The father is sick with sniffles, the mother has TB. Of their four children, the first is blind, the second has died, the third is deaf, the fourth has TB. She finds she’s pregnant again. Given this extreme situation, would you consider recommending abortion?

3. A white man raped a 13-year-old black girl and she’s now pregnant. If you were her parents, would you consider recommending abortion?

4. A teenage girl is pregnant. She’s not married. Her fiancé is not the father of the baby, and he’s upset. Would you recommend abortion?

In the first case, you would have killed John Wesley, one of the great evangelists in the 19th century. In the second case, you would have killed Beethoven. In the third case, you would have killed Ethel Waters, the great black gospel singer. If you said yes to the fourth case, you would have declared the murder of Jesus Christ!

God is the author of life, and He has givenevery single individual supreme value. Each life—whether inside or outside the womb—should therefore be valued by us. God knows the plans He has for each individual and has written in His book all the days ordained for us before one of them came to be. When we presume to know better than God who should be given life, we are putting ourselves in the place of God and are guilty of idolatry.

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A Quote for This Week.

I was reading a book that has a quote in it from a former President that I'd like to share.  Especially for those people of the "post-modern" mind set.

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?  Four; calling the tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
Abraham Lincoln

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The Elusive Gospel Centered Home

The following blog is taken from the Wretched Newsletter available at Wretchedradio.com.

Pithy is good. Pithy is punchy, memorable and seemingly attainable. So here is a pithy statement for you: create a Gospel-centered home.


Badabing-badaboom. Pithy.

While that is a wonderfully solid Biblical admonition, the application is exceedingly difficult. Why? Because we fail so often.

The Gospel-centered home is a place where mom and dad don’t carp at each other because they remember that they are two sinners who have been forgiven much. When they are tempted to shoot that secret missile at their spouse, they hold fire because they remember that this is the person God has given them to run the race of faith.

The neighbors of the Gospel-centered home never hear shouts of frustration from your house. The children of a Gospel-centered home are corrected in love, not anger, as the father explains that this is a small taste of the consequence of not believing the Gospel.

Sounds sweet, doesn’t it? The challenge is to actually create that type of household.

So, how do you build a Gospel-centered home? Let me suggest you need to start with a Gospel-centered life. Before you preach to your spouse and children, preach to yourself. What does that sermon sound like? “God has graciously pulled ME out of the sewer of my own depravity when He saved me. Jesus has purchased this sinful worm with His own blood and now He has graciously allowed me the joy and responsibility of a spouse and children. I will strive to treat them the same way I have been treated in hopes that they too will experience the Gospel.” Only when you preach that sermon to yourself every day can you rightly preach to your family.

Will your house suddenly become a perfect little Gospel-centered oasis? Nope. You and your spouse and your kids are going to blow it every single day, multiple times a day. Does that mean you should give up? Absolutely not. You never stop failing and forgiving and being forgiven. Just like the Gospel.
 
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Back in Action.

Hey everybody.  Apologies for not being on and posting blogs for a while.  I've had a lot going on in life, had to get a few things worked out, but I do plan on doing some posting on a regular basis here soon. 

To keep things short and simple, my amazing wife has been helpful, helping me take care of some personal and professional issues in my life, and for her sacrifice I am forever grateful for.  God sure did know what he was doing when He made woman to be a helper (Gen. 2:18).  I love this quote from the MacArthur Study Bible.  "Woman was made by God to meet man's deficiency."

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Comfort Celebrates Texas Victory Over Secret Service

Contact: Trisha Ramos, Living Waters Publications, 800-437-1893

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 1 /Christian Newswire/ -- In June of 2006, the Secret Service raided "The Great News Network" -- a Texas-based Christian organization, and seized 8,300 "counterfeit" Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts. In September of 2009, the president of the Great News Network, self-made millionaire, Darrel Rundas, took the United States Secret Service to court, claiming "illegal search and seizure."

The "counterfeit" millions were produced and published by Ray Comfort. Comfort, who is a best-selling author and president of Living Waters Publications, said, "The day of the raid we were thrown into a panic. Here was the United States government seizing 8,000 of our million dollar bills, charging that they were "counterfeit" money. This was serious. We quickly alerted our customers as to the seizure, and to our amazement sold more than half a million that same day. There was so much demand, we had to take it off livingwaters.com because our staff were so overwhelmed."

This week a Judge ruled in favor of The Great News Network and ordered the return of the 8,000 Gospel tracts. Comfort said, "We thank God that the Judge also ruled that our tracts are NOT violations of the counterfeiting law (the basis for the illegal search and seizure)."

Additionally, Judge Solis stated that two of the Secret Service agents "conspired together" to cover up their actions, including lying on the stand.

Comfort added, "For years we have wondered why the Secret Service didn't raid Living Waters here in California. After all, we were the publishers of the 'counterfeit' money. This verdict is good news for all Christians, but particularly for our ministry because it means that we can continue to sell millions of the millions. To celebrate, we have slashed the price for this month and we are expecting another run on the bank. We are particularly pleased that we can also keep our new very realistic Trillion Dollar bill [PICTURED]. It's such an easy one to give out. I just say, 'Here's your trillion. I'm trying to fix this economy.' People love it." To help further fix the economy, see http://www.livingwaters.com/.


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