What do you believe?

Question

Do you believe that a person must be Baptized to be saved?

Answer 1

Jesus Christ believed it and I am a Christian, so yes, I believe it. He said that no-one can enter the kingdom without being reborn through water and the spirit, an obvious reference to the sacrament of baptism.

Answer 2

No a person doesn't need to be Baptized to be saved. The babtitizing part comes out of being saved, it is the new believer's way of showing others that they have been saved. I don't believe just baptizing saves you.

Answer 3

No, you don't have to be baptized to be saved. Even one of the theives crucified with Jesus was saved, and he was clearly never baptized. Baptism is a good thing after you've already made a decision to become a Christian, but it's certainly not what saves you.

Answer 4

No.

Catholics will tell you 'yes'....but then again, they don't believe the death of GOD on the cross was enough to take care of our sins and they add all kinds of other things they say we have to do to get saved....which is entirely against the Bible.

"Do I have to be baptized to go to heaven – The Rich Man and Lazarus
The first story is found in Luke chapter 16 and it is the account of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus. "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried” (Luke 16:22). Notice that there was no rite of baptism that was necessary to open Abraham's bosom for this beggar. This is of course before the LORD Jesus' death and resurrection, but baptism was a rite practiced by the Jews long before Jesus came to earth. In fact, the baptism of John the Baptist was for the Jews and was not for salvation, but for repentance. Since this was a story that was told by Jesus, if it had been necessary for the beggar to be baptized to get in to the place of rest, would not Jesus have added that information to the story? The rite of baptism in the New Testament was to identify the believer and to set them apart as a part of the "way" of Christ.

Do I have to be baptized to go to heaven – The Criminal
The other story is found in the account of Jesus on the cross and it is the story of one of the malefactors who hung beside Jesus. One of the malefactors railed against Jesus but the other had a change of heart. "But the other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don't you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise’" (Luke 23:40-43). Notice that Jesus does not say you will be with me after you are baptized. Rather there was affirmation of the thought "absent in the body and present with the LORD" (2 Corinthians 5:8).

Do I have to be baptized to go to heaven – The Conclusion
Baptism is a rite of identification and not salvation and therefore is not a requirement for entrance into heaven. What then is the requirement for entrance into heaven? The story of the malefactor will give us the answer. This man recognized that he was where he was because of his own actions and he repents and asks for grace. The grace of the cross is what instantly transformed a reviling sinner into one with the attitude of confession and saving faith. That faith is what saves and gives the sinner entrance into eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ three days later."

Answer 5

No you do not have to be baptized...being baptized is simply a sign of obedience to God! It is a way of publicly announcing that you are a believer.

Answer 6

Christians have always interpreted the Bible literally when it declares, "Baptism . . . now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 3:21; cf. Acts 2:38, 22:16, Rom. 6:3–4, Col. 2:11–12).

Thus the early Church Fathers wrote in the Nicene Creed (A.D. 381), "We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins."

And the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Lord himself affirms that baptism is necessary for salvation [John 3:5]. . . . Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament [Mark 16:16]" (CCC 1257).

The Christian belief that baptism is necessary for salvation is so unshakable that even the Protestant Martin Luther affirmed the necessity of baptism. He wrote: "Baptism is no human plaything but is instituted by God himself. Moreover, it is solemnly and strictly commanded that we must be baptized or we shall not be saved. We are not to regard it as an indifferent matter, then, like putting on a new red coat. It is of the greatest importance that we regard baptism as excellent, glorious, and exalted" (Large Catechism 4:6).

Yet Christians have also always realized that the necessity of water baptism is a normative rather than an absolute necessity. There are exceptions to water baptism: It is possible to be saved through "baptism of blood," martyrdom for Christ, or through "baptism of desire", that is, an explicit or even implicit desire for baptism.

Thus the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Those who die for the faith, those who are catechumens, and all those who, without knowing of the Church but acting under the inspiration of grace, seek God sincerely and strive to fulfill his will, are saved even if they have not been baptized" (CCC 1281; the salvation of unbaptized infants is also possible under this system; cf. CCC 1260–1, 1283).

Answer 7

Its funny seeing people try and interpret the Bible according to their own standards. Paul didn't baptize because the disciples/helpers who went with him baptized. Read the rest of the letters of Paul instead of only one verse. As for Baptism being needed.........I'm going to side with 2000years of history and say yes. And the story of the rich man and Lazarus has absolutely nothing to do with Baptism, along with most of the other examples cited here.

Answer 8

No. Water baptism can't save. The only way to be saved is to believe that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose again.

If water baptism saved, then Paul the apostle to the Gentiles would have done it to all he preached to. He said he didn't do that (1 Corinthains 1)

Answer 9

I believe in the forces of nature. We are all part of nature . You , I , the animals , birds , bugs , trees , worms , shrubs etc . We all have a job to preform in order to keep nature going.
We come , we mature , we reproduce , we grow old , and die.
Simple , natural , understandable , believeable ,desireable .

Answer 10

You guys have too many rules. What happened to accepting Jesus as your savior and calling it a day? I doubt Jesus has this many rules. He actually got a little...ok a LOT mad at the people who focused on the rules instead of the word. They were Pharisees.