I have a question! Can you be saved on your death bed? I know you must be baptized, and I’m trying to teach my aunt. She said that you don’t have to be baptized and that her grandad was saved on his death bed but was not baptized! Is that OK? If you can’t get baptized?<\/p>\n\t
Your aunt thinks she has found an exception to God’s rule that you must be baptized (Acts 2:38). Notice that this isn’t a matter that God said there was an exception, but that she wants there to be an exception because she is uncomfortable with the fact that her grandfather didn’t start thinking about righteousness until he was near death. Then because she claims there is an exception in one case, she then extends it to any situation, whether it involves her imagined exception or not.<\/p>\n
Let me illustrate it this way: Suppose you were driving down the highway and didn’t notice that the speed limit dropped. You get pulled over, but the policeman, being in a kind mood, tells you to be more careful. Do you then conclude that it doesn’t matter what speed anyone drives because the policeman made an exception for you one time? No, what we state is the rule that speed limits will be enforced. Notice also that in this situation a person in authority (the policeman) made the exception. The driver isn’t able to claim an exception for himself.<\/p>\n
It remains that God makes the rules. Men are not in the position to change those rules. As God told the Israelites, “Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 12:32). When we fall short of God’s commands, we can hope for mercy from God, but that is His decision as to whether mercy will be extended. It isn’t for the sinner to demand mercy.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have a question! Can you be saved on your death bed? I know you must be baptized, and I’m trying to teach my aunt. She said that you don’t have to be baptized and that her grandad was saved on his death bed but was not baptized! Is that OK? If you can’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,109,47],"class_list":["post-42571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-death","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12689,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-help-me-answer-some-arguments-that-baptism-isnt-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":0},"title":"Can you help me answer some arguments that baptism isn’t necessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I still haven't been baptized since repenting again and coming back to the Lord a year ago. I'm just patiently waiting, you see, for my pastor to preach the truth. I know God wants me to be in that church because every time I wanted to leave, the pastor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-need-to-be-baptized-in-order-to-go-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":1},"title":"Do you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a couple of questions, but I hope I am not bothering you in any way. Do you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven? If so, what other things must you do? Do you need to be baptized to be a Christian? Can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-while-being-in-a-denomination-that-teaches-wrongly\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":2},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly while being in a denomination that teaches wrongly?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism, I thought that one could not be taught wrong and baptized right. I recently got re-baptized, because I was young (12) years old when I obeyed the gospel. I just could not remember if I understood what the gospel was about at that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2012,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-baptism-save\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":3},"title":"How can baptism save?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u2019m confused. You said on your website that baptism is required for a person to be saved. How can this be so? Answer: Because the Bible states: \"Corresponding to that,\u00a0baptism now saves you\u00a0-- not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-while-being-in-a-denomination-that-doesnt-believe-in-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":4},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly while being in a denomination that doesn’t believe in baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about baptism, I thought that one could not be taught wrong and baptized right. I recently got re-baptized, because I was young (12) years old when I obeyed the gospel. I just could not remember if I understood what the gospel was about at that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36962,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-a-person-doesnt-get-a-chance-to-partake-of-the-lords-supper-before-dying\/","url_meta":{"origin":42571,"position":5},"title":"What if a person doesn’t get a chance to partake of the Lord’s Supper before dying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day Minister, I've been baffled to understand this: \"Can someone have salvation after confessing his faith and being baptized on the first day of the week after church service in the morning but he doesn't partake of the Lord Supper even though the day has not passed and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}