I stumbled upon this Christian site, which I believe is owned by people who are Restored Church of God. I saw an article where they tell people how to be saved. A lot was actually good material. It talked about the necessity of repentance and believing, along with Scriptures, but when it came to baptism they said it’s not necessary for salvation and it’s just good to do to be obedient to God.<\/p>\n
My question is: Why is the religious world so against baptism as being a necessity for salvation when God clearly tells us it is?<\/p>\n\t
People prefer their own way of righteousness to God’s. They believe they know better than what God has said. For example, Israel knew God’s law, but they are called stiff-necked and rebellious people who persecute the way of righteousness (Acts 7:51-53). The same could be said for people who purposely know that baptism is said to be a part of entering God’s covenant and then completely deny it. They then persecute those who do teach God’s word correctly. You are right the Bible is clear about the subject considering all the verses that connect baptism with forgiveness of sins and salvation in some way,<\/p>\n
and the list could keep going. Some people are just plain rebellious against God’s word because they are zealous for their own way of righteousness. “For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God<\/em>” (Romans 10:2-3).<\/p>\n People love to pick and choose what laws of God apply and how “important” they are. Consider the Pharisees. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have\u00a0neglected the weightier<\/strong>\u00a0provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done\u00a0without neglecting<\/strong>\u00a0the others<\/em>” (Matthew 23:23). People will think they can find a loophole in keeping God’s word. “And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition<\/em>” (Matthew 15:3-6).<\/p>\n You will even see good followers of God use this excuse on different topics and say, “it is not a matter of salvation,” but we tend to rate God’s commands as optional at times for a variety of reasons when none of them are. What people do is set the standard of righteousness where they care for it (these are salvation issues and these are not categories) and not where God has said (I John 3:4). God sets the terms on salvation, not man.<\/p>\n Ignorance is probably the major one. Most people just have not been challenged on their views and, therefore, have never questioned their beliefs. When talking with people about what God has said about becoming saved in His word, their response is usually something like: “I have never been shown these verses before!”\u00a0 It is because religious leaders are afraid of truly showing God’s word and won’t try to challenge their followers but tend to keep them in ignorance. The leaders care more about numbers in their congregations and people following their belief system than following God’s word.<\/p>\n The list of “why” is endless, but these are the ones I run into most often. If you run into someone with a different view than God’s word, share what God’s word says. Most of the time you do not have to say too much because God’s word is clear.<\/p>\n Alan Feaster<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I stumbled upon this Christian site, which I believe is owned by people who are Restored Church of God. I saw an article where they tell people how to be saved. A lot was actually good material. It talked about the necessity of repentance and believing, along with Scriptures, but when it came to…<\/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-52301","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":22956,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shouldnt-condemn-those-who-believe-baptism-is-unnecessary-for-salvation\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":0},"title":"You shouldn’t condemn those who believe baptism is unnecessary for salvation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian, a part of the Church of the Nazarene. I myself have been baptized, but it becomes a concern to me when many others find it absolutely necessary to be baptized with water to be saved. I am very open to the consideration of the doctrines\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":17795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-so-many-teach-that-baptism-is-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":1},"title":"Why do so many teach that baptism is unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello.\u00a0 I have spent some time on the Internet this evening looking at baptism.\u00a0 In the search engine, I typed in the question:\u00a0 \"Is baptism necessary for salvation?\"\u00a0 Naturally, several hits came up.\u00a0 I've only looked at a few and for the most part, all seem to say no\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":41163,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-to-people-who-die-without-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":2},"title":"What happens to people who die without being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have been reading about the church of Christ and the issue of baptism. If baptism is required for salvation, what happens to people who die without being baptized? Thank you. Answer: What happens to a person who disobeys God? \"Do not marvel at this; for an hour\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":35476,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-quote-the-early-christian-writers-on-the-necessity-of-baptism-does-that-make-my-argument-better\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":3},"title":"If I quote the early Christian writers on the necessity of baptism, does that make my argument better?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found a whole list of early church fathers, Ante Nicene fathers who said baptism is necessary for salvation and it's a regeneration. I got Irenaeus, Tertullian, Ambrose, Justin Martyr, Clement, Cyprian, and the list goes on. Can I use these men and their quotes to back up the\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":47738,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptism-started-out-in-water-but-it-has-changed\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":4},"title":"Baptism started out in water, but it has changed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This message is in regards to water baptisms. In the early stages, John the baptist and Jesus' disciples were performing water baptisms. Some preachers are teaching the brethren, \"except you be baptized in water you cannot be saved.\" The elders of Jerusalem settled the issue of salvation when they\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":38995,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":52301,"position":5},"title":"Bible Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Foy E. Wallace Bible Banner - 1948 The basic principle of all obedience is understanding. \"He that heareth the word and understandeth it\" (Matthew 13:23). \"Go preach the gospel - he that believeth (the gospel) and is baptized shall be saved\" (Mark 16:15-16). Believing that Jesus Christ is the\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\/52301","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=52301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Reason 2<\/h3>\n
Reason 3<\/h3>\n
Etc.<\/h3>\n