These are fantastic ideas and observations, brother! It's quite apparent you have devoted your life to Christ and allowing Him and the Holy Spirit to write God's Word in your heart, and you have that "heart of flesh" that Ezekiel talks about in his dynamite writing that weaves in nicely with Daniel and Revelation. I'll probably come back and pick out some more of your thoughts in this excellent piece later.
"What if you die before water baptism?" That's the question that kicked off some excellent (and unusual in certain cases) discussion in this forum. Are souls lost forever or worse yet being tormented in hell fire for eternity because they didn't accept Christ in this life and become baptized? I don't think so--the folks who are in trouble (i.e. the second death in the lake of fire) are those who willfully reject Christ and all He stands for. The "lost" are those who like Satan want nothing to do with God and His Kingdom. Like Satan said in Milton's Paradise Lost, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"--yikes, messed up thinking and living for sure.
From what I've learned from scripture, most people who die before water baptism will be given another opportunity at the general resurrection to accept Christ and receive the gift of eternal life. There are some exceptions like the thief on the cross (although Cameron threw out an interesting idea that this person could have been water baptized by John the Baptist--love the creative thinking!). How about all the heroes of faith from Hebrews 11 who are a part of God's eternal family yet were never baptized in water because that is a New Testament commandment?
Water baptism is an important part of our Christian journey. We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and then become baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--that's the simple answer. Why would anyone want to skip the important step of baptism unless, for example, they accept Christ at the end of their lives without having the opportunity for baptism. These rare instances have no concerns from a salvation perspective in my opinion.
Baptism in water symbolizes our willingness to put the "old man" (our sinful human nature) to death in the watery grave and rise out of the watery grave as a new creation in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a commandment from our Lord and an important part of our Christian faith. For me personally as I reflect back on my baptism in my early 20s, that's when the Holy Spirit began working in my heart and mind to serve Jesus Christ in this life.
"What if you die before water baptism?" That's the question that kicked off some excellent (and unusual in certain cases) discussion in this forum. Are souls lost forever or worse yet being tormented in hell fire for eternity because they didn't accept Christ in this life and become baptized? I don't think so--the folks who are in trouble (i.e. the second death in the lake of fire) are those who willfully reject Christ and all He stands for. The "lost" are those who like Satan want nothing to do with God and His Kingdom. Like Satan said in Milton's Paradise Lost, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"--yikes, messed up thinking and living for sure.
From what I've learned from scripture, most people who die before water baptism will be given another opportunity at the general resurrection to accept Christ and receive the gift of eternal life. There are some exceptions like the thief on the cross (although Cameron threw out an interesting idea that this person could have been water baptized by John the Baptist--love the creative thinking!). How about all the heroes of faith from Hebrews 11 who are a part of God's eternal family yet were never baptized in water because that is a New Testament commandment?
Water baptism is an important part of our Christian journey. We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and then become baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--that's the simple answer. Why would anyone want to skip the important step of baptism unless, for example, they accept Christ at the end of their lives without having the opportunity for baptism. These rare instances have no concerns from a salvation perspective in my opinion.
Baptism in water symbolizes our willingness to put the "old man" (our sinful human nature) to death in the watery grave and rise out of the watery grave as a new creation in Jesus Christ. Baptism is a commandment from our Lord and an important part of our Christian faith. For me personally as I reflect back on my baptism in my early 20s, that's when the Holy Spirit began working in my heart and mind to serve Jesus Christ in this life.
yes we come to a place of repentance first like your saying we’re actually willing to change to repent and want to do right we aren’t okay as sinners it leaves us empty it leaves us bound it cuts our conscience so the message that we can change that we can repent and be cleansed of all of that that we can be free
becomes a beautiful thing to the sinner who doesn’t pretend he’s righteous and doesn’t need Gods ways or mercy or gift of remission of sins
one thing I’ve noticed in life is if a person can’t look at thier own actions and ways in light of Gods ways in the gospel it makes repentance impossible and also makes it sound like an evil word “ repent “ I mean . If we won’t acknolwedge we’re sinners the gospel mis never going to be something we embrace it’s about “ repentance and remission of sins “ self righteous folk hesr that and it sounds different to then because “ I’m not a sinner “
if we aren’t willing to part with our sins we’re aware of it sort of leaves us in thie boat
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
John 3:19-21 KJV
repentance is a frame of mind and heart if we can’t reach that place we need to keep digging in the word
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