Many denominations teach people that belief is all that is required for salvation. Some, such as the Baptists, do practice a form of baptism, but they claim that its sole purpose is to make you a member of their denomination. According to their teaching, baptism has nothing to do with salvation, but it is just “an outward sign of an inward grace.” Many of the charismatic denominations redefine baptism from immersion in water to immersion in the Spirit. They also believe that baptism is not required for salvation, but they see two levels of salvation: those who believe are saved, but those who are baptized in the Spirit are sanctified. All of these practices are based on using selective verses from the New Testament.<\/p>\n
You did hit upon the core of the problem. They don’t really believe what God said. Instead of accepting verses, such as:<\/p>\n
“He who believes and is baptized\u00a0will be saved<\/strong>; but he who does not believe will be condemned<\/em>” (Mark 16:16).<\/p>\n“Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ\u00a0for the remission of sins<\/strong>; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit<\/em>” (Acts 2:38).<\/p>\n“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and\u00a0wash away your sins<\/strong>, calling on the name of the Lord<\/em>” (Acts 22:16).<\/p>\n“Corresponding to that, baptism\u00a0now saves you<\/strong>–not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience–through the resurrection of Jesus Christ<\/em>” (I Peter 3:21).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThey search for ways to explain how these verses don’t really say what they are obviously saying. Therefore, they don’t believe what God said or don’t believe that God was able to express Himself clearly on this matter. They claim the name of a follower of Christ, but as Christ, Himself said, “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?<\/em>” (Luke 6:46). And in another place, He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’<\/em>” (Matthew 7:21-23).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Thank you for\u00a0your response. I did have another question that touches on your response. The same goes for denomination such as the AME. They teach false doctrine when it comes to baptism and yet proclaim to be saved. I have a female friend that swears to be saved and gave an account of her…<\/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],"class_list":["post-4823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2450,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-baptist-be-rebaptized-even-though-he-says-he-was-baptized-for-the-right-reason\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":0},"title":"Must a Baptist be rebaptized even though he says he was baptized for the right reason?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was raised in the church of Christ. I am married to someone who was raised in the Baptist church. She has no problem with going to church with me. But she doesn't think that she should be baptized again. She says that she was baptized for the same\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":43041,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-scripturally-baptized-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":1},"title":"Can a person be scripturally baptized in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the church of Christ and lately, an issue has arisen. A few of our members were baptized in denominations but have been allowed to join our congregation on the basis that their baptisms were valid or scriptural based on an investigation. According to these\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":52771,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-jesus-baptism-save-before-his-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":2},"title":"How could Jesus’ baptism save before his death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a member of the Church of Christ. My son-in-law has decided to follow the Baptist teachings. I have done much study on baptism since his decision. I have studied many questions on your site. I am perplexed by your responses on one set of verses: John 4:1-2.\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":31789,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-saved-and-in-a-denomination\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":3},"title":"Can you be saved and in a denomination?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand that the word \"church,\" as used in scripture, has two meanings: (1) the universal church - consisting of all redeemed souls that have obeyed the authorized steps of hearing the Word of God, believing (that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Savior), repenting (change\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":37608,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-convince-someone-to-be-baptized-again-when-they-think-their-past-baptism-is-good-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":4},"title":"How do I convince someone to be baptized again when they think their past baptism is good enough?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi again, brother Jeffrey, I had asked for your help before regarding beverages. Thank you so much for the help because it gives me clarity on what to do. I moved out from the church where I used to worship because I heard from the leader of that church\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":59920,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/taught-wrong-and-baptized-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":4823,"position":5},"title":"Taught Wrong and Baptized Right?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Adapted from an article by Wayne Jones via\u00a0The Jackson Drive News & Notes, No. 14, April 10, 2005. Under the banners of acceptance and \"unity,\" many in the Lord's church have developed an open-door policy with members of the denominational world. Many, by their own admission, have chosen not to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823","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=4823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}