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Why do you place more importance on repentance and confession than baptism?

Where did you get that from? I have made no such statement, and in fact have clearly stated that I believe nothing is more important than faith.

I believe that the significant part of the parable I quoted is that we are not to say who receives His mercy, He does. We do not decide who "deserves it". He does. (Because none do!)

I believe that the man on the plane, as the thief on the cross, is with the Lord, and has entered into His rest.

I tire of semantics. Let us agree to disagree. Though we are many, rumor has it that we are one body.

;^)

The "thief on the cross" argument is not a valid argument against baptism. Christ had not yet died and risen from the dead, so the church was not yet established. Also, there is no guarantee the thief had not been baptized by John at some point, since many people in that region had done just that. The point is that Jesus had the ability to forgive his sins, and He did just that. We are under a new covenant, and baptism is an essential part of that covenant.

You do place more importance on repentance and confession than baptism, because you place both of them before salvation, but you place baptism after salvation. That is not what the Lord taught, and that is not what His apostles taught.

I agree we are one body, and that one body had one faith and one baptism. A faith that leads to salvation before baptism is different from a faith that leads to salvation after baptism, so it is not one faith.

I agree we don't decide who receives or deserves His mercy. He does, and He has made it known through His Word. His Word teaches that belief, repentance, confession, and baptism all come before salvation.