I have a question for the church of Christ folks..
Why is it so important to you to defend the belief that baptism is a necessary step in salvation? I don't know of a Protestant Christian denomination that doesn't baptize believers so by default we are saved even if we believe we were saved before we were baptized.
Is Church of Christ the only denomination
You might as well give up. They will never go against their church doctrine and tradition.To do so they would have to give up their part in salvation.
No church doctrine. We just take the Bible as written. We will not go against the Bible and follow man's interjections. It doesn't mean we don't love our fellow man Or respect them. Some people are only following what they have been taught. What mom,dad,grandparents etc. The Bible wasn't written in a way that you have to be a holder of a PhD. It's plainly written for those who attempt to understand it.
If you take the KJV and look at it in a simplistic fashion ,then yes,you can make a good argument that it says baptism is necessary.
If however you actually understand salvation,grace,and faith from a biblical view,and you understand that the KJV is only a translation flawed at many times,you can understand that when the scriptures say baptism they aren't always talking about what you think baptism is. Baptism doesn't always mean water baptism,most of the time it does not. If you also spend decades studying original languages,you will have a better understanding and come to the conclusion that water baptism is only a symbol of the true baptism into the body of Christ.
If however your denomination holds to the simplistic view,and will not look at any other,you will never dig deep enough to learn anything else because you would be going against your denomination. When all is said and done it is my opinion that for many such as these their denomination is more important than the truth,and has become the only truth they will see.
