Originally Posted by
saraispiel19
thαnks dreαmguy i've αlwαys wondered thαt...
-- hmm well i αlso heαrd thαt if your α believer αnd your not bαptised you'll go to hell? is thαt true..
No it's not true. Water baptism does not save anybody. All water baptism is is an outward symbol of what happens inwardly when you trusted Christ as your Savior. It's symbolic of the old man dying, being buried, & the new man being resurrected.
The real baptism that saves which is baptism of the Holy Spirit happens the moment you believe in the gospel. Baptism means to be identified or joined with Christ in His death, burial, & resurrection.
Water baptism is symbolic of the spiritual rebirth experience. It does not save you. It's a picture of what happens when you were saved. Water has no cleansing effect on the soul.
If water baptism was necessary for salvation then how come Jesus never baptized anyone in water? How come the apostle paul said that he came NOT to baptize but to preach the gospel.
We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. (Ephesians 2:8,9) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
(1st Corinthians 15:1-4) "Now brothers I want to remind you of the gospel that I preached to you whereby which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved if you firmly BELIEVE it to it unless you believed in vain. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me- that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES. He was buried, and He was raised from the dead the 3rd day according to the scriptures."
Believeing in Jesus' finished work at the cross & resurrection is the sole condition for salvation. Those who add water baptism or tithing or church membership, tongues, sabbath keeping, etc are perverting the gospel. Paul warns about this in Galatians chapter 1:6-9. Any man who adds or takes away from the gospel is preaching a different gospel and they are accursed. That means eternally condemned.
In the church of galatia judiazers crept in and added circumcision to the gospel. They said you had to be circumsized along with believeing. Today false teachers are doing the same thing only it's not circumsion they add to the gospel but it's water baptism. What is the gospel? 1st Corinthians 15:1-4. Christ died for our sins, was buried, & rose again the 3rd day. Anyone who adds or subtracts anything to that gospel is perverting it.
Galatians 3:2-5 "Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the messag you heard about Christ. Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away? I ask you again does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law of Moses? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. In the same way, Abraham believed God so God decleared him righteous because of his faith. The real children of Abraham, then are all those who put their faith in God."
Read the books of Romans and Galatians. Those books are kissing cousins written by the apostle paul that really deal with the issues of law & grace, the conditions for salvation, etc.