Baptism 2

Before deciding what we should be doing to please God, there are a few basic principles that should be established, that each of us must decide. First that there is a God; that the Bible is His Word; that Jesus is His Son; that we should pattern ourselves and our practices after what is taught in His Word. We would probably have to agree with these basic principles before looking at the practice of baptism.

Baptism is one of those things that man would not have ever come up with. It is a part of God's plan for man. But on a practical level, it doesn't seem necessarily reasonable to man. It is like the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. Read this; it is great! He had leprosy, went to the prophet Elisha to be healed, was told to wash in the river Jordan 7 times and he would be healed. "He turned and walked away in a rage." Naaman thought this was ridiculous, but did it anyway, and he was healed on the seventh dip. Baptism is like that for us. We do it because He set the example...
The word "baptism" is "baptiso" in the Greek, meaning to submerge. When Jesus was baptized He came up out of the water. When the Ethiopian Nobleman in Acts 8 was baptized he came up out of the water. There is no instance of sprinkling in the Bible. We should do what they did and be submerged. Romans 6 describes it as a burial and a coming up as a new creature. Take time to read that; it is so interesting. And baptism is always described as a cleansing of sins. Note Acts 22:16, where Paul was told: "Why do you wait? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins." Acts 2:38 says: "repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...."
For purposes of not being too lengthy, I am taking excerpts. But take the time to read the context of these passages and you will see that there is a lot of teaching about the importance and even the method of baptism, that it had to do with Spiritual cleansing, removal of sins, and salvation.

This is very controversial subject matter in the religious world today. Feel free to let's talking more on this in detail if you disagree. My position is that the Bible is very clear on it, but you may want to disagree. Thanks for reading. You are important.