Do you believe you have to be baptised to go to heaven?

Question

The church I attend puts so much focus on baptism. I've always believed that baptism was just a symbol of your belief in Jesus. I have been told many times that if you are not baptised, you cannot go to heaven. What really upsets me is the same people that say this to me believe in deathbed conversion (where generally, the person is too close to death to be baptised). Does this mean all those people who believe in God can't go to heaven just because they weren't baptised?

Also, my church believes that baptism as an infant does not count...

Answer 1

Baptism has nothing to do with whether you go to heaven... the PERSONAL decision of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior does. Don't forget the thief on the cross whom Jesus told would live with him in paradise nearing their deaths from crucifixion as a perfect example... did he get water baptized? That was a good example... for us all as humans... even on the verge of death with a hopeless mortal future, we can still choose to accept Christ into our lives in an instant and live in eternity... it is NEVER too late. All he (the thief) had to say was "Jesus, remeber me when You enter Your kingdom" and then Jesus gave him his eternal life promise. That is all you or anyone has to do to go to heaven. Baptisim is purely a symbolic act of outwardly declaring our faith and being made a new creation in Christ... it's meant to symbolize being cleansed, having our sins being washed away and being inwardly baptized in the Holy Spirit of God the Father.

P.S.>>> NO church, NO man, NO earthly authority can tell you whether you will go to heaven or not... they have absolutely NO right to judge, (not even Jesus did that) ONLY God the Father can... you must have faith in His eternal promise to you.

Please REREAD John 3: 16 AND 17

Answer 2

If you claim to be a Christian but won't be baptized, it means that you are only half-hearted and you have not fully given your heart to Christ. Jesus set an example for us to follow in the Bible, and everyone who was saved was baptized. Baptism is a public confession of faith, so if you refuse to publicly confess your faith, it's like you're ashamed of God or something. Baptism represents our "death, burial and resurrection" with Christ - that our "old person" has died and that a new person has taken our place.
In cases where someone is on their deathbed or for some other legitimate reason cannot be baptized, they take the baptism of Christ. Christ didn't need to be baptized by John in the Jordan for His own sake, he did it for all those who couldn't, like the thief on the cross.
Baptism of an infant does not count, because you have to be old enough to make a conscious decision for or against Christ. A baby is incapable of making this decision. Baptized infants can still grow up to be atheists. Baptism requires a conscious moral decision.

Answer 3

The thief on the cross didn't have time to be baptized and Jesus said that he would see him in paradise that very day. No. You do not have to be baptized to get in to heaven, but you should do it out of obedience after you have given your life to Christ. Your church is correct. Infant baptism does not count.

Answer 4

No, I do not. So, an infant is baptised in my church but in your church that doesn't count? So all Catholics go straight to hell because they don't do what your church states? even if they have led good and wholesome lives in the service of others? Or an innocent 5 year old is hit by a car and dies instantly--she goes to hell? That is absurd and cruel, IMO--would they tell the parent that at the child's funeral--hey, look, there's no reason for a service, your kid's in hell for all eternity because she wasn't baptised?

Answer 5

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!

Hold it! Baptism is required -- but not absolutely necessary. God is not bound to his own criteria for us.

Water baptism -- for Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists and other mainline Protestant groups -- makes one a member of the church, forgives sin and is regenerative. It is not merely a symbol of one's commitment to Jesus.

Also, the "pray the sinner's prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart" is the most unbiblical thing there is!!!!

Further -- infant baptism is insisted upon in the above-named churches.

Additionally, baptism by pouring/sprinkling is 100% valid.....otherwise a person on their deathbed, in a wheelchair or in the desert could not be baptized. It is the ACT of being baptized that matters -- not the method!!!

PS....the good thief did not go to Heaven that day. "Paradise" was below -- in Gehenna -- not Sheol -- for Jesus went there to preach after his death. Gehenna was where all of the righteous persons went while waiting for Jesus to unlock the gates of heaven -- remember they were closed thanks to Adam & Eve.

Answer 6

Paul said: For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the Gospel.

True baptism is a baptism of the heart. It is an outward manifistation to declare to others an inward change of the heart.

Answer 7

I have a Lutheran church background, so I was baptized when I was a baby. However, there is nowhere in the Bible that children should be baptized. The Bible says that the first you make the decision to follow Him, and then you get baptized.

It was quite hard decision for me but I got baptized again, by immersion.

Only God can judge who will go to hell. Give your heart to God.When you have the Holy Spirit to guide you, you will know what you should do,

Answer 8

i imagine you may coach your question to every person who received't have grasped the completed meaning behind baptism -- no longer basically the 13 three hundred and sixty 5 days olds. on account that that finished meaning has to do with accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, the in consumer-friendly words way you would possibly want to extremely comprehend is to ask questions like the Jehovah's Witnesses do, making extremely particular that the right perception is in position. i'm no longer a JW, yet in case you pick finished meaning, that may be the thanks to flow about it. some thing a lot less is up for conjecture. the alternative is to deliver all of us to heaven with or without baptism, and make baptism itself thoroughly non-obligatory. a lot of mainstream Protestant Christianity has opted for the latter.

Answer 9

Water baptism will only get you wet.Jesus said you must be born again by the holy spirit.Baptism just shows your fellowship with a local church.If water saved you then every time you sinned you would have to get re dunked.have faith child.If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is your lord and savior, you will be saved.

Answer 10

Let me remind you of the following; the Israelites were 'baptized' (1 Cor. 10:2) when they passed thru the Red Sea on dry ground.
Some people may have trouble logically explaining that).
Perhaps viewing God in man's terms, rather than viewing God on God's terms is what is messing up 'Christianity' presently in the USA.