Baptism In Water

It is a public confession of faith: essentially like putting the confirmation stamp on an existing faith, although it can also sanctify a new believer. To give them new-birth, which can be obtained either by Spirit or water immersion.

Water baptism into a church means that one is confessing their allegiance to that church, and that Church's doctrine.

A form of water baptism called 'christening' is performed on babies to cleanse them of their original sin. This is most commonly practiced in the Roman Catholic church.

Here's a link to a random article which covers the topic of water baptism:
The Importance of Baptism.

quietbloke said:

Do you agree that 'water baptism is by immersion after repenting of one's sins and receiving Christ's gift of salvation?'

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Yes, but I don't think water-baptism requirement for salvation, if that was implied.

God says:
"Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God"

Baptism is much less of what we have done for ourselves, but what God has done for us. It is a sacrament through which we receive His forgiveness and grace.

Baptism sets us apart to live for Christ. It is both a sign and a seal.

I would say that baptism is essential for all Christians.

I know many here will hold a different view, but I believe that both adults and children should be baptised.

Early Christian records, especially the Didache, taught that baptism could be performed by immersion or sprinkling, although immersion has always been the preferred method. I was baptised by full immersion in my early twenties.

In order for it to be valid, baptism should be carried out with water and in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Baptism is a time of great joy. We celebrate the new life we have in Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, and being part of his family, the Church.

I can only speak for myself, the Holy Spirit made my heart heavy to be baptized. So I did it............................. Nothing more to be said really but yet so much more.. I came to Jesus Christ broken, really broken, gave my life over to Him. In due time I confessed Jesus Christ many times, told my story in church. Preached introductions, lead offerings, lead communion, made testimonies in pulpits. Then one day the burden started coming on me for this full water baptism. And so that is done.

Ya know the day I was baptized with a small group of believers at a pond, there was a small family there fishing and cooking out etc. A young couple there just being together and this one guy on shore by himself who all were not part of our group. The pastor spoke the ordinances of baptism and I accepted Jesus verbally and took my dunk, 35 years after accepting Christ originally. People clapped, the strangers cheered but that one guy on shore looked like he didn't know where to put himself. We don't know who we are witnessing to sometimes. Bet he remembers that day too. And it's funny, we went to our cars to towel off and get ready to go to the pastors house. I think when we drove off none of those people were still there.

One of the young folk in our group, I think 21yo at the time was asked if he wanted to be baptized too, he said no but was a week later in a lake at a church picnic he and the pastor attended at another church.... It's so important to follow the commands of the Spirit, it's often not even about us. I believe the Spirit arranges circumstances. Maybe those people needed to see my baptism exactly how it went down. Maybe I really needed to be baptized to wash the stains left behind of sins past, present, future. All I know is the Spirit seemed to be calling for this and so we did it. A beautiful sunny day in June at one of my favorite places to go pray or read my bible. Wonderful !! We had cake, ice cream, hotdogs, salad. Oh and changed into dry cloths lol.

quietbloke said:

Why is it important to be baptised in water?

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It isn't important, it isn't necessary for conversion or salvation. But it is useful to the new believer in a symbolic way, in that they are emphasing their belief in Jesus as The Christ and the remission of their past sins, and the washing away of the consequences of those. The confirmation of their conversion is through their bearing/producing fruit of The Spirit.

quietbloke said:

Why is it important to be baptised in water?

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Baptism is like a seed, what is in it is far more than the act tself.

Did the Son of God need to be baptized by full submersion ?
But He set an example. He who had no sin, wow !

Dave G. said:

Did the Son of God need to be baptized by full submersion ?
But He set an example. He who had no sin, wow !

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In fact, we have no way of knowing--from either scripture or first century history--that he was baptized by submersion/immersion.

This does not mean that baptism by immersion is wrong or should be discontinued or anything like that, but when it comes to what happened to Jesus in the river that way, we do not have enough information to be able to say it was immersion.

quietbloke said:

We are told in (Matthew 3:13-17) 'As soon as Jesus was baptised He came up out of the water'. He was obviously fully immersed. The word,'baptizo' means full immersion'

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1. He was not "obviously" fully immersed. The river "obviously" had banks, so that "came up out of the water" or "went up immediately from the water" most clearly refers to Christ leaving the river after the baptism and walking up to higher ground, exactly as any of us would do if we finished swimming in any river near our homes.

And then we have what the earliest Christians thought about it. You may have seen a picture of one of the oldest surviving wall paintings from the early days when the church was under persecution. Christ is pictured standing in water while other water is poured over his head. Not immersed.

2. The word "baptizo" means immersed. It also means dipped, washed, rinsed, and several other things, all of which are compatible with the most common way that baptisms are performed in Christian churches.

quietbloke said:

Why is it important to be baptised in water?

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To show the world God's burial to be remembered. Otherwise, they come up empty-handed and are turned aside.