Water baptism is an outward action whereby we identify with Christ and make a public confession of faith, but we are NOT saved because we get water baptized else that would be a "work of righteousness" on our part. We are saved by receiving what Jesus Christ did on our behalf - he washed all our sins away by His precious shed blood - by the shedding of blood is the remission of sins:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 7:11)
That is what GRACE is - undeserved mercy. We get what we don't deserve and we don't get what we DO deserve. It SHOULD be noticeable by now that we are not trying to convert anyone away from one religion into "ours". We are speaking the truth of the Gospel and praying that the eyes of others hearts are opened and their ears hear the truth of what God has done for all mankind. He gives us a gift - one that no amount of money on earth can buy - and it is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. To make a gift your own, you receive it, you don't work for it nor earn it, you don't do anything in order to keep it either. A gift IS a gift, freely given, freely received. But once that gift is received, the Spirit of God dwells within to change us from the inside out and as the guarantee of our redemption. He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us, but will be with us until we come to our eternal home in Heaven.
This thread was started by a "Protestant" and spoke about the number of people who left the Roman Catholic religion and talked about why they did so. After almost 1000 posts, we have a few Roman Catholics who are hanging on desperately trying to convince others that such people who left are either not being truthful about why they left or who are "bitter" and "hateful" lashing out at the innocent Catholic Church. We end up rehashing the same arguments over the same doctrines that nearly always come up when a thread turns into a Catholic vs. Protestant battle. I participate because I am one of those who DID leave and I am not ashamed to say why. Like I said, this is not about "stealing" members away from one church to another. It is about speaking the truth of the Gospel, defending the Word of God and allowing ourselves to be used by the Holy Spirit to speak to those that come here - people we may NEVER know were effected by our words.
I hope and pray that the seeds that are planted and the water that is sprinkled, will cause the gospel to grow in the hearts of those God has prepared. That's all we CAN do.
Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of REGENERATION and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Water baptism is an outward action whereby we identify with Christ and make a public confession of faith, but we are NOT saved because we get water baptized else that would be a “work of righteousness” on our part. ~~We are saved by receiving what Jesus Christ did on our behalf - he washed all our sins away by His precious shed blood - by the shedding of blood is the remission of sins:~~
!!!! ~ ~ ~ !!!!
Bx, pardon my French.
Water Baptism is required to go to Heaven but it is not the
only thing required. “Born Again” is water baptism.
“REGENERATION is a Biblico-dogmatic term closely connected with the ideas of justification, Divine sonship, and the deification of the soul through grace. Confining ourselves first to the Biblical use of this term, we find regeneration from God used in indissoluble connection with baptism, which St. Paul expressly calls “the laver of regeneration” (Titus 3:5). In His discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:5), the Saviour declares: “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”
The final words above, are an absolute lie. Our sins are not washed away by Christ’s death on the Cross.