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.
The same could be said of your view as well. Can't believe the Bible as written? It was translated by people into English that were far above any of today's language pros.its obvious you won't change and neither will I. It's not "denomination" following as you suggest but Bible following. I grew up Baptist and know all what's taught. Some is biblical,some is not. Nobody's perfect! But on the issue of what's required to be saved the Bible is the only authority. To me the other bickering is not important if in one is saved the scriptural way.Gods way! I follow no man made Creed's,doctrines etc. I follow God's word. I have to live with my decisions just like every one else does. I'm not trying to push my beliefs on anyone but explain why I believe what's written
Then there's no reason to say anything else about it is there? If you wanted to change your mind there's enough information available that will correctly explain the scriptures for you to do so. I've looked into it for years and concluded differently than you. If you have looked for yourself and concluded differently than me,that's fine,but I would at least want anyone to do that,rather than just following church doctrine.
