Is baptism necessary?

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:hibiscus: Hello everyone :hibiscus:
I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

I worry that I'll never be baptized, nor go to a church.. I'm quite young, and since my parents are athiest, I can't go to a church, or get baptized. I believe being baptized is one of the most important things to do in your life; to truly become followers of Christ. However, I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?

Thanks for reading & God bless,
BellaTheBlueJay :bird:
 
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Job8

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I want an answer regarding a question;
is baptism necessary?

Absolutely. It is commanded by Christ. Study the New Testament, especially Acts of the Apostles. But baptism does not save you. It proves that you are saved if it is done in good faith. The New Testament pattern was for believers to be baptized immediately after they were converted.


 
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graceandpeace

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:hibiscus: Hello everyone :hibiscus:
I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

I worry that I'll never be baptized, nor go to a church.. I'm quite young, and since my parents are athiest, I can't go to a church, or get baptized. I believe being baptized is one of the most important things to do in your life; to truly become followers of Christ. However, I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?

Thanks for reading & God bless,
BellaTheBlueJay :bird:

I don't know how old you are, & I don't know your parents, but perhaps they would be willing to help you explore church options? Perhaps not attend church themselves, but at least drop you off/pick you up?

Also, if you reach out via phone or e-mail to some local churches, they may run a bus or have parishioners who would be willing to assist you in getting to/from church.

That said, I would not worry. As I just posted to you in the Advice forum, it is by God's grace that any of us are saved. Baptism is the normative way to enter the Christian faith, however, so you should receive the sacrament when possible.

Let me know if I can be of further help.
 
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ViaCrucis

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:hibiscus: Hello everyone :hibiscus:
I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

I worry that I'll never be baptized, nor go to a church.. I'm quite young, and since my parents are athiest, I can't go to a church, or get baptized. I believe being baptized is one of the most important things to do in your life; to truly become followers of Christ. However, I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?

Thanks for reading & God bless,
BellaTheBlueJay :bird:

You'll get quite a few answers depending on what sort of Christian you ask.

I'll be speaking from a Lutheran perspective, but in a lot of ways there will be some overlap with Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican views as well because of similarities in our views on the nature, meaning, and purpose of Baptism.

To the question "Is Baptism necessary" the answer is most certainly a large and emphatic yes. But--and this is important--we would not argue that it is absolutely necessary. Here's why: We can read in Scripture what Baptism is for and what Baptism accomplishes, namely that we are born again, clothed with Christ, crucified and raised together with Jesus, forgiven of all our sins, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (and so on), quite specifically we read,

"Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ," - 1 Peter 3:21

So God works through His gift and Sacrament of Baptism to bring us salvation, by united us to His Son, by applying the righteousness of Christ to us by grace through the faith He so graciously gives us. Not ex opere operato (Latin for "of the working of the work" or "the work itself") but on account of the Word--that God has united His Word to water in Baptism making it Baptism; Baptism is therefore efficacious because God has attached His promises to Baptism, e.g. "repent and be baptized all of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). There's nothing magical about the water of Baptism, it's what God has promised to do for us in Baptism that makes it important.

And here's where it's important: We have been told what Baptism does, and we can be confident that whoever is baptized is truly saved because God has said so and whatever God has said can never be false. This does not mean that anyone who has not been baptized, say for reasons beyond their control, cannot be saved or are therefore damned. It is entirely possible for one to have heard the good news, believed upon it, and never be able to be baptized--they are not damned on this account but instead again the efficacious Word of God is saving. Likewise it is not uncommon, especially in the ancient past, for there to be stories of catechumens--those desiring to become Christians undergoing catechesis in preparation for formal conversion and baptism--suffering from martyrdom before they can be baptized. Historically the Christian Church spoke of "baptism of desire" and "baptism of blood", that is if it weren't for an extraordinary circumstance (death, martyrdom, etc) such a person would have, of course, received Baptism and such an extraordinary circumstance prohibiting one from receiving Baptism does not cut one off from the grace and mercy of God, so they are said to have been baptized by their "desire" to be baptized, or by the blood they spilt in the case of martyrdom.

Again, coming from a specifically Lutheran perspective, Martin Luther himself points out that there are occasions where a child dies before he/she can be baptized, either because they died in childbirth or shortly thereafter or because the parents were slow in bringing their children to be baptized and tragedy befell them. Luther points out that we most certainly do not say that children who have not been baptized are damned because it would be absolutely wrong of us to do so. Luther makes the distinction between God's ordinary power and God's absolute power. But ordinary he means God's set and established order for things, and by absolute he means what God absolutely can do as God. So as an example of God's ordinary power he mentions fire, fire is hot and it burns, that is the set natural order for fire and we should never doubt it, and yet we read in the book of Daniel that three of Daniel's companions were thrown into the fiery furnace and were not harmed, not even their clothes were singed despite the great heat of the flames. Because God has acted absolutely, it is within God's absolute power to protect the companions of Daniel in the furnace, but we should not therefore assume that because God has acted absolutely in such an extraordinary way in this extraordinary circumstance that, therefore, fire is not hot and does not burn and that we can touch an open flame without getting burned--because of course we will. Likewise, the set order of God is that Baptism is necessary for salvation because He has established Baptism in the Church as the normative and ordinary means by which an individual is brought into the life of Christ in the Church; but we must remember that God can act in extraordinary ways through His absolute power to do whatever He wishes to do. And so--as an example--we can see in the case of the thief on the cross that Jesus says to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in Paradise" and we can confidently say the thief was saved, because of the Word, Christ's word and promise is true and certain. It is the same Word we receive in Baptism, the Word we hear in the preaching of the Gospel.

The ordinary means is Baptism, so the baptized do indeed belong to Christ, this we can say with confidence on the sure and stable promises found in Scripture. We cannot say that those who have not been baptized are damned simply because they have not been baptized. Such things are not in our purview as sinful mortals to declare on our own, but instead must trust in the wisdom, mercy, and justice of God for all things--God will do what God will do.

The ordinary means has been revealed to us and we must confess it.
But God is free to act absolutely in any way He so pleases without having revealed it to us, and it is not ours to speak here nor there on it, but to simply say God's will be done.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Hospes

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... I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older...
Bella,
Fight with everything within your power to feed and strengthen your faith in Jesus, but at the same time, know it is Jesus who gives you the desire and ability to fight for your faith and it is Jesus who will hold on to you and not let you lose your faith. Here is a snippet of scripture that commands us the work we are to do while knowing it is God who is at work in us to make our efforts succeed.

...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)​
 
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aiki

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I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

Necessary to/for what? Is it necessary for salvation? Absolutely not. Is it necessary as a step of obedience? Yes.

Baptism has no salvific value. That is, your being saved does not depend upon being baptized. Baptism is symbolic of a believer's spiritual union with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. (See Ro. 6:1-11) You are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. (Eph. 2:8, 9) Baptism, then, is merely a means by which you may identify with Christ in his death and resurrection. The thief on the cross next to Jesus was not baptized and yet he was promised a place with Jesus in paradise when he died. All that was required of the thief was what Paul the apostle explains is necessary to salvation:

Romans 10:9-13
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."


So relax, take a deep breath, and trust in the love and grace of your Saviour, Jesus Christ. He sees the positive response of your heart to the Gospel and that is what really matters. And never forget that it is God who saves you, not you who, through obedience to the ritual of baptism, saves yourself.

Titus 3:3-7
3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.


Selah.
 
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paul1149

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I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?
Jesus is necessary. Seek and follow Him with all your heart, and He will lead you into what you need - baptism, the right church, the right relationship, the right mission field. The alternative is baptism as a work of law rather than from the heart, and that's not what it should be about.

The best insurance against losing your faith to some future test is to be faithful now to the Light you already have. Keep it real on a daily basis ("Sufficient to the day is its own troubles" - Mt 7) and you'll be ready for whatever comes in the future.

In my reading of the scriptures, baptism was consistently something done without delay. There indeed seems to be a compulsion to get it done. There was no massive catechesis, no required church "membership", no minimum length of discipleship. There was just sincere belief in the saving power of Jesus, then there was baptism in response.

Let the Lord lead you. You will get all kinds of perspectives from man.
 
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TheyCallMeDave

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:hibiscus: Hello everyone :hibiscus:
I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

I worry that I'll never be baptized, nor go to a church.. I'm quite young, and since my parents are athiest, I can't go to a church, or get baptized. I believe being baptized is one of the most important things to do in your life; to truly become followers of Christ. However, I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?

Thanks for reading & God bless,
BellaTheBlueJay :bird:
 
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BeStill&Know

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:hibiscus: Hello everyone :hibiscus:
I want an answer regarding a question; is baptism necessary?

I worry that I'll never be baptized, nor go to a church.. I'm quite young, and since my parents are athiest, I can't go to a church, or get baptized. I believe being baptized is one of the most important things to do in your life; to truly become followers of Christ. However, I'm scared that I'll lose my faith as I get older and I won't get baptized. I want to express to Jesus Christ that I love him, and I'll do anything for him. :holy:

Ok, so back to the question; is baptism necessary?

Thanks for reading & God bless,
BellaTheBlueJay :bird:
Greetings Bella, The thief at the cross next to Jesus is saved but was not baptized. Many had not the opportunity to be baptized after accepting Christ before their death, but they are saved. Christians follow the example of Jesus to be baptized as obedience to repent of their sins, and be cleansed from their sins. It is commanded by our beliefs to be an act that shows the world we have made a decision not only to leave our sins behind, but to be a disciple of Yeshua. It was many years later after Christ that I got baptized since I had been baptized as a child, I wondered if it was necessary. One day, I strongly felt lead to be baptized. I have no doubt all those years in between, I was saved, and I did not loose my faith. So be open to the Holy Spirit, leading in your life and for now be obedient, and the doors will open for you to do His will.
 
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