Found this all typed up and thought I would share.




"First, one must HEAR the gospel message. Romans 10:17 states: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. In this passage the message is the gospel and the word of Christ is God's word which today is given to us through he Bible.

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciple. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31, 32). In the truth lies freedom from eternal condemnation. Jesus commands his disciples to go and preach the gospel to all creation - the reason: The salvation of their souls.

Next, one must BELIEVE the message that they have heard. "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) Faith or belief is essential. However, we will see that faith only is not God's plan for eternal redemption.

"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mark 16:16) "As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, 'Look here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?' Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' The eunuch said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Acts 8:36,37). In these passages we see that baptism is essential to salvation and belief is necessary for baptism. One will also note that in the account of the Ethiopian eunuch, he first heard the gospel message.

Thirdly, one must REPENT of their sins. Repenting means to not only be remorseful for one's sins, but to do a 180 degree turn from one's willfully sinful life. Jesus himself states very clearly the necessity of repentance to one's salvation: "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke 13:3,5b) Other scriptures showing the necessity of repentance are:

Acts 2:38 "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Acts 17:30 "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent.

2 Peter 3:9b "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Another part of God's plan of salvation is to CONFESS Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Again, let us look at the words of Jesus himself: "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32,33) There is no middle ground, one either owns or disowns the Savior and there are consequences for either action.

Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10) As one examines scripture it is seen that hearing the word is essential, believing the word is essential, repenting of one's sin is essential, and the confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God are essential, for eternal salvation. Let us continue to examine the entirety of New Testament writings to determine the rest of God's plan of salvation.

BAPTISM is essential to salvation. Scriptures we have already examined that show the necessity of baptism are Acts 2:38, Acts 8:36-37, and Mark 16:16. Other passages revealing this necessity of baptism for the forgiveness of one's sins:

1 Peter 3:21 "...and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt but the response of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Acts 22:16 "And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."

Romans 6:3-5 "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

In conclusion, we see that one must examine all of scripture to determine God's plan of salvation. There are decisions to make and actions one must take. Therefore, one must be of an age to comprehend these things. Those who are not yet old enough to do so do not stand condemned before God. This is so beautifully stated in Matthew 18:3 by Jesus himself: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." When one accepts God's gift of salvation they take on the innocence of a child!"

Matthew 28:
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This post was edited by Pious on Aug 4 2011 12:58pm

Hey, I remember you! You're that guy who was saying people are only saved by physical baptism in water.

Cool name change, but remember, one must come to Jesus.

Its the baptism of the Holy Spirit that saves. Baptism in water is just a public display of faith.

Funny how we are told to do so by Jesus himself and yet we still question it.


Nice

[QUOTE=Pious,Aug 4 2011 07:58pm]Funny how we are told to do so by Jesus himself and yet we still question it.

I don't believe we have to be baptized by water in order to go to heaven. We have to be baptized by the holy spirit and nothing more.

And we question 30% of the old testament also.

[QUOTE=Wowzers,Aug 5 2011 12:45am][QUOTE=Pious,Aug 4 2011 07:58pm]Funny how we are told to do so by Jesus himself and yet we still question it.

I don't believe we have to be baptized by water in order to go to heaven. We have to be baptized by the holy spirit and nothing more.

And we question 30% of the old testament also.[/QUOTE]

It's not that people question the old testament. It's that the old LAW was nailed to the cross with Christ. So we do not follow it.

[QUOTE=Pious,Aug 5 2011 04:46am][QUOTE=Wowzers,Aug 5 2011 12:45am][QUOTE=Pious,Aug 4 2011 07:58pm]Funny how we are told to do so by Jesus himself and yet we still question it.

I don't believe we have to be baptized by water in order to go to heaven. We have to be baptized by the holy spirit and nothing more.

And we question 30% of the old testament also.[/QUOTE]

It's not that people question the old testament. It's that the old LAW was nailed to the cross with Christ. So we do not follow it.[/QUOTE]

We follow it, but not because we try to, because we want to, and Jesus Christ guides us.

The difference is, we're not trying to "earn" salvation like the legalists of Jesus' day. We follow the law because we love God.

Jesus also took the law a step further, saying: "If you even think of..." etc...

This post was edited by Torm1 on Aug 5 2011 02:21pm

where does it say we are baptized by the holy spirit? i remember in acts the 2nd chapter we are promised the gift of the holy spirit when we are baptized.also in the book of Matthew the writer uses the term "with" but this in no means could be interpreted by. for example; pb&j the term and along side the word with make sense. but if you say peanut butter by jam?? that makes basically zero sense lol. i am open to learning more its just i need to see it in the bible

This post was edited by relientkiid on Aug 11 2011 04:51am

Maybe we need someone to study the actual Greek or whatever it was written in originally, to know the true meaning.
for instance, dictionary.com says this:

bap·tize   [bap-tahyz, bap-tahyz] Show IPA verb, -tized, -tiz·ing.
verb (used with object)
1.
to immerse in water or sprinkle or pour water on in the Christian rite of baptism: They baptized the new baby.
2.
to cleanse spiritually; initiate or dedicate by purifying.

Notice definition #2. It's much different than #1 ..... #2 doesn't even talk about water.

Sorry for double post, just wanted to add a little.



I don't see where he questioned it. He agreed that we need to be baptized, he just disagreed on the medium of that baptism.
Read I Peter 3:21 again, for example.

1 Peter 3:21
New International Version (NIV)
21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[a] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Footnotes:
a. 1 Peter 3:21 Or but an appeal to God for a clear conscience


Notice there that the water symbolizes the actual baptism.
So far, I have not seen a passage that says water is required for baptism. Water is a symbol, it is not the actual baptism. Symbols are good, but not necessary for salvation. Old testament rituals and symbols might have been required, but they sure aren't required now.