Help me:: discuss baptism

I'd say it shows commitment to God, but Christians have this weird monotheism-yet-also-polytheism thing going on and it tends to get confusing.

 

Baptism is a symbolic "washing away"of all previous sins, because when you accept Christ as your personal savoir all your sins up to that point are forgiven.

That "washing away of sins" was practiced by many religions and cultures that pre-date Christianity by thousands of years.
Someone brought up a good point though.
If Jesus was truely God on earth, why did he have to be baptised?
What had he done that he needed forgivin, and why didn't he just forgive himself?

 

Baptism is a ceremony, a ritual, a scripted sequence of words and actions, a myth enacted, a play put on for the meaning experienced (hopefully) by its participants. As such it bears the same relationship to its mythology as a building to its blueprint, as an art installation to its initial drawings, as the music to its manuscript.

A good myth/ritual/ceremony conveys more than just one meaning, it carries a whole interrelated array of meanings, some of which may not yet be consciously known to even the most experienced practitioners of the faith. Therefore, any and all meanings you actually experience are perfectly valid parts of the whole. Any meaningful descriptions of your experience serve only to clarify the ceremony itself and enrich the participants.

So, this is what I've got:

Baptism is a cleansing.

Baptism is a statement of trust, commitment to, and acceptance into the community of the baptized.

Baptism is 1) an immersion (at the hands of a ceremonial representitive of God), which is really a submission, a willing surrender, a ritual death and resurrection, 2) into water - which represents God, the spiritual realm, the divine, the collective psyche (the spirit) of the universe to which the community believes itself to be connected.

Baptism is a ritual act of communion with the divine.

What do you think?

Peace and Love

 

You'll get it someday.

 

That's where I got the nickname Dixie Flatline..

 

Sure, Naykid, sure I will.

 

I ain't Naykid. If there is some similarity between the things we say, it is because Naykid get's it too.

 

But here's the reason I posted this thread:

Baptism supposedly is an act wherein the water contains God's promise of salvation. But also, one is not saved until one is baptized. But I thought that Jesus came "not to judge the world, but to save it." So if I already have been justified by Jesus' saving death and resurrection, then I don't think baptism is anything more than a symbolic acting out of this salvation.

My dilemma: doctrines in my denomination state that the unbaptized are not saved. But I thought we were saved because of Jesus' death. So baptism is like "the second step?"

That's my confusion

 

Ah...your "disciple" then. Perhaps you should try to find 11 more nitwits.

 

Well, actually the whole Baptism of John was also symbolism, symbolizing what was to come...


Oh, and Baptism with water's also the physical act of washing away your sins.

 

Then, what you're really asking is whether nonchristians can be saved. Because you aren't a christian till you're baptized, right? Did Jesus come to save all mankind, or only the Christians?

 

Good so far.

But that's only water Baptism.-which I believe is what they wanted.

 

As I stated, technically, the first step is belief. Without accepting Jesus's death, anything beyond it would be futile. Varuna reiterated what I mentioned in regards to the physical act of baptism being death. The bible says that salvation requires both faith and baptism (water and Spirit).

 

Well there is the debate. The bible says all kinds of different things about the way to the lord. Some verses make it sound as though baptism is required, wheras other's make no mention of it when speaking of the way to god.

 

Yes this is my question. This has been my greatest concern since starting my faith journey and becoming a Christian (about 7 years ago.)

 

Baptism is an outward sign of an inward washing.


It's a sacrament, a public proclamation of a choice, like marriage.

Some believe you cant get to heaven without it, some believe you can. I believe it's not necessary for salvation, cause God looks at our hearts more than our actions.

My husband and i got saved, baptised and engaged in one week.

None of my boys are baptised, i want that to be thier choice, and an experience they can cherish and bring with them into thier adult lives.

 

Baptism is just another gift from God. Enjoy it for what it is.

 

Him being on the same level of realisation as me does not make him a disciple- it makes him an equal.

 

I missed something.

Libertine, why do you think that NayKidApe and Kharakov are the same person?

 

(Lol!)

• Was NaykidApe a follower of Kharakov? ​
• Or was he actually Kharakov in Ape form?​

These are the questions future generations of forumers will have to wrestle with.​