Question on the Holy Spirit

[Blade]

1st what does the word say? Not man not me but the word? In Luke Jesus said.. ask the Father for the holy Spirit and He will give it to those that ask. MAN will now step in and tell us all kind of things. Have you received the sweet sweet holy Spirit since you believed? Then ask Him then KNOW no matter what you FEEL.. HE gives the holy Spirit to them that ask. Not what I say or believe.. its HIS words. Not saying "what jesus really meant "...

Going to Church or not will not save us. BUT God gave you something to give away.. so where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name HE IS THERE! And they have something from HIM for you. We NEED each other. We grow so much slower (in the spirit) when we do not fellowship... a free choice

 

[marineimaging]

Hello. I am fairly new to Christianity and am trying to figure everything out piece by piece. I was baptized when I was an infant. I have no recollection of this event and had no say in the matter. I am about to graduate high school, and throughout my childhood and teenage years I have not exactly been religious. At times, I have even identified as athiest. My family does not practice the religion at home or attend church. However, things have changed. For the last few months I have started to really delve deep into the bible and trying to understand its messages. I fully believe in God and in Christ as the savior. My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

I have sad news. You will get so many different answers on here it will tend to drive you crazy. The answer is..., listen to the Holy Spirit. You will know what you need to do. You are on the right path. You are saved by your belief in Jesus Christ as the only son of God, died to pay for our sins and resurrected to insure our eternal salvation. Your baptism is a public profession of faith but your salvation has been handed to you already. That said, if you find a solid Bible believing church sit down the pastor one on one and talk to them about what you should do and tell them how you feel about it. Meanwhile, stay strong in the Word of God, never look back, always look forward to help others when you can.

 

[dqhall]

Hello. I am fairly new to Christianity and am trying to figure everything out piece by piece. I was baptized when I was an infant. I have no recollection of this event and had no say in the matter. I am about to graduate high school, and throughout my childhood and teenage years I have not exactly been religious. At times, I have even identified as athiest. My family does not practice the religion at home or attend church. However, things have changed. For the last few months I have started to really delve deep into the bible and trying to understand its messages. I fully believe in God and in Christ as the savior. My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

From reading Acts I remember the baptism of the Holy Spirit is more important than John's baptism - Acts 19.

I was baptized as an infant. I went to church Sunday school as a child. I became an acolyte and got to listen to sermons. One preacher confessed to the congregation that he was not sure if God existed. It was during a time when Marxist atheism threatened Christianity. I did not learn much in church, although others may have. After leaving home the errors I chose brought me sickness and poverty. I started searching for God as some had told me about God and Christ. Eventually I was reading the Bible more. I thought I should be baptized. I thought God wanted me to be baptized. I went to a Baptist Church on May 19th of 1985 to be baptized. I was not a member of the Baptist Church, but had asked the pastor if he could do the baptism for me. He baptized me along with a member of his congregation.

Although Jesus was baptized by John, Jesus later said he had another baptism to undergo (Luke 12:50). There are higher callings than water baptism. If God calls you to be baptized, do it.

 

[FireDragon76]

Nope, there's nothing particularly unusual about that and no reason you need to be rebaptized.

 

[SeventhFisherofMen]

Hello. I am fairly new to Christianity and am trying to figure everything out piece by piece. I was baptized when I was an infant. I have no recollection of this event and had no say in the matter. I am about to graduate high school, and throughout my childhood and teenage years I have not exactly been religious. At times, I have even identified as athiest. My family does not practice the religion at home or attend church. However, things have changed. For the last few months I have started to really delve deep into the bible and trying to understand its messages. I fully believe in God and in Christ as the savior. My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

I feel like personally as someone who was baptized as an infant it felt kinda forced, not my own decision. So when I was older and really decided to make that decision to follow Christ I decided to be baptized of my own free will and not of another’s forcing me.

I think it would be good to be baptized as someone who can make their own decisions. Now to answer your question of if that will determine whether you will receive The Holy Spirit I would like to quote Peter's response to those that asked him what to do when they were convicted from hearing others speak in tongues:

Acts 2:38
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

I hope that answers your question.

 

[PanDeVida]

Hello. I am fairly new to Christianity and am trying to figure everything out piece by piece. I was baptized when I was an infant. I have no recollection of this event and had no say in the matter. I am about to graduate high school, and throughout my childhood and teenage years I have not exactly been religious. At times, I have even identified as athiest. My family does not practice the religion at home or attend church. However, things have changed. For the last few months I have started to really delve deep into the bible and trying to understand its messages. I fully believe in God and in Christ as the savior. My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

Adb, in the Old Testament and many today a male baby, on the 8th day are Circumcised. Now since the baby has no recollection of the event and had no say in the matter, other than visual effects below, is this baby's circumcision valid by God? Of Course!

Therefore your Infant Baptism is also valid by God, and there is no need for re-baptism.

Pan De Vida

 

[timothyu]

Ow.

 

[adb5577]

Ow.

?

 

[timothyu]

?

#46

 

[carp614]

In my faith we say that Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change.
It is a public profession of faith that represents an act of obedience to the Lord.

I was "baptized" as an infant as well. I was a Christian for 5 years before I chose to be obedient to the Lord in this way. My baptism represented the beginning of a season of great change for me. The Lord has done miraculous things in my soul since I decided to submit and be baptized.

I suggest you find a church or small group you can be a part of. Connection with other Believers is important.

May God bless you!

 

[Reborn1977]

will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

If you believe fully in Christ and trust Him as your LORD and Savior you will be guided by the Holy Spirit, as you allow, whether you have been baptized or not. Baptism, nor church attendance are REQUIRED in order for the Holy Spirit to reside with you and guide you - - however, both are great! To be re-baptized as an adult by your own choice is a wonderful thing, as is being in a congregation of spiritually healthy Believers in Christ.

 

[timothyu]

Funny how baptism went from a cleansing ritual to a cleansing of the spirit to initiation into a church complete with certificate of ownership.

 

[JIMINZ]

Funny how baptism went from a cleansing ritual to a cleansing of the spirit to initiation into a church complete with certificate of ownership.

I agree with you but it really isn't a laughing matter, Christians don't have a clue what they believe.

 

[Reborn1977]

I agree with you but it really isn't a laughing matter, Christians don't have a clue what they believe.

Sadly you are correct about that.

 

[Jermayn]

Hello. I am fairly new to Christianity and am trying to figure everything out piece by piece. I was baptized when I was an infant. I have no recollection of this event and had no say in the matter. I am about to graduate high school, and throughout my childhood and teenage years I have not exactly been religious. At times, I have even identified as athiest. My family does not practice the religion at home or attend church. However, things have changed. For the last few months I have started to really delve deep into the bible and trying to understand its messages. I fully believe in God and in Christ as the savior. My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ? Do I need to belong to a church or be re-baptized in order to have the holy spirit, or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

I think it's apparent from these 2 verses (among others) that if you've accepted Jesus as your savior, you have the Holy Spirit in you.

John 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day".

Romans 3:10-12 “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one".

Without the Holy Spirits drawing, we cannot be saved. We wouldn't even be concerned with it and would have no desire to. When you accepted Jesus, the Holy Spirit entered into you. This is not because of your baptism as a child as you had no choice in that matter, but because of your conscious decision now. If you die right now, you will be in Heaven. With that being said, I personally would not view my childhood baptism as baptism and I would have it done again, but that's totally up to you. You have the Holy Spirit. Do some research in God's word and do whatever it is you feel he's leading you to do.

Phillipians 2:12-13 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

 

[tturt]

adb5577, really glad that you are pursuing to find out more especially at such a young age. For your consideration, there's a doctrine of baptisms ,..." (Heb 6:2)

There are 3 baptisms; specifically:

1 - By The Holy Spirit into Jesus is the baptism for salvation (blood baptism)
(Rev 1:5; Matt 26:28; Mark 1:4, 16:16; Luk 3:3; 1 Cor 12:13: Acts 2:38: Gal 3:27, +++)

Water and Spirit baptism follows - not in a set order:
2 - By another believer (water baptism) (Matt 28:19++++!)
3 - By Jesus with or into The Holy Spirit (The Spirit baptism)
(Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16; Acts 11:16++++)'

"And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one." I John 5:7-8

 

[Newtheran]

My question is, if I was baptized without choice as an infant, have strayed from God for most of my life, and do not regularly attend church, will I still have and be guided by the holy spirit as long as I fully believe in Christ?

You'll probably get a few differing views on this depending on whether the church you plan on attending believes in the validity of infant baptism or is a descendent of the anabaptist tradition. Most Christian churches will accept the validity of your baptism as a baby. However, anabapist, baptist, and probably the various pentecostal churches that grew off the Zwinglian branch of the reformation will not.

Do I need to belong to a church or ... or is full belief enough? Thanks.

P.S, I plan on attending church regularly once I leave for college in a few short months.

The teaching of tradition and scripture is that Christians should not abandon church worship. It is the setting in which you can fellowship with other believers, receive the body and blood of Christ in communion, and be discipled. There are a lot of different analogies that scripture uses to describe the Christian - a runner, a soldier. What happens to a single soldier who is behind enemy lines separated from the main body of his force?

So while belief may be enough to get you into heaven "as one saved, but through fire" it's certainly not the way to end up being described as the good and faithful servant.

 

[Aleph Ayin-Ar]

I was baptized as an infant. I am now born-again and I do not feel like my christening holds water, sort of speak. Also I was baptized at a lutheran church. They marry men to men and woman to woman, I do not see this to be a church of God, and being that the reformed protestant infant baptism comes from unscriptual roman catholic doctrines, that is another contention I have with my infant baptism.
WHen I picked up my bible one day to read, I used the cross i wear around my neck to flip through the pages and dangled it over the bible and let it land on a random place as I had my eyes closed. It landed exactly on Acts 8-37, or more precisely, where it should have been! It was an unholy dual-language NIV/Norwegian with a highly edited text. Acts 8:37 reads,
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
So, when you were baptized, was it when you said wahwahwah or was it when you said aaaaaaaaaah you tried to utter these words?
I'm getting re-baptised, that's for sure. And if I know history correctly, that's one of the quickest route to go be with The Lord! Praise Him! HALLELUJAH!

 

[Aleph Ayin-Ar]

Most Christian churches will accept the validity of your baptism as a baby.

But will GOD accept its validity?

Someone once told me..
"My third suggestion is to understand that others only can influence you if you allow them to influence you. Don't allow them to influence you. Do not care what other people will think of you. Only care what God will think of you."

Meaning in this context, pray to Jesus and trust in Him and He will show you the way. There will be many trying to sway you this direction or that, but Truth is that only by The Faith of The Holy Ghost, which today would be called conviction, and by The Scripture can you know what is right and what is wrong, and The Lord will even show you where in Bible your answers lie if you Believe! =D
God bless you and everyone else here! I love you all! =D

 

[timothyu]

But will GOD accept its validity?

Shh.. it's all about the religion you know.