71% of the earth's surface is water. 60% of the human body is water. 70% of the brain is water. When you're really thirsty, nothing quenches your thirst like water. On a hot summer's day, what's more refreshing than a dip in a cool pool of water? After a long day of work, nothing feels better on your tired muscles than a long hot shower. Water is essential! We can't live without it. You can go for over a month without food, but less than a week without water and you'll be dead.
Biblically, water was created on day one. Land didn't show up until day three. When God decided to destroy the world, He did so by water. How many miracles - Old Testament and New - involve water? In Old Testament purification rituals, cleansing in water was a standard. Spiritually speaking, the term "living water" is used to describe that which flows from the Lord and provides real life (Jeremiah 17:13; John 4:10-11; 7:38).
So why is it that so many churches, denominations, pastors, so-called teachers, or whatever want to argue with baptism by immersion? It is the most simple, understandable thing in the world. If you want to get something clean, water should be the first thing you think of. It is THE most common thing in the world. I don't sprinkle a few drops of water on my car and call it clean. I don't pour a cup of water over my kid's head and say I've given him a bath. Duh!
So why the arguments? Jesus was baptized. Jesus commanded that we be baptized. His apostles all taught that we should be baptized. STOP THE INSANITY! Just obey the command! Stop making excuses ("I don't have to be baptized to be saved.") ... stop trying to redefine what it takes to make someone clean ("Sprinkling or pouring is just as good.") ... just stop, because you are simply making a fool of yourself before the Lord.
Consider the likeness to which the Lord attached salvation ... new birth (John 3:3). A baby exists for the length of the pregnancy in a sack filled with water. "Oh, no! It's amniotic fluid!" someone will say. Really? What woman has ever said, "My amniotic fluid broke"? But you WILL hear a woman say, "My water broke." Birth occurs through water. There's no such thing as a "dry" birth. Even after a woman's "water" breaks, one third of it is replaced every hour until birth. Is it any wonder then that the Lord chose immersion by water to represent new birth? What else would you use? It's the only thing that makes sense.
Again, I would plead for rational thought to prevail. It is not the Spirit, but Satan who would urge a person to find a reason to argue against something as basic and foundational as baptism by immersion in water.
Biblically, water was created on day one. Land didn't show up until day three. When God decided to destroy the world, He did so by water. How many miracles - Old Testament and New - involve water? In Old Testament purification rituals, cleansing in water was a standard. Spiritually speaking, the term "living water" is used to describe that which flows from the Lord and provides real life (Jeremiah 17:13; John 4:10-11; 7:38).
So why is it that so many churches, denominations, pastors, so-called teachers, or whatever want to argue with baptism by immersion? It is the most simple, understandable thing in the world. If you want to get something clean, water should be the first thing you think of. It is THE most common thing in the world. I don't sprinkle a few drops of water on my car and call it clean. I don't pour a cup of water over my kid's head and say I've given him a bath. Duh!
So why the arguments? Jesus was baptized. Jesus commanded that we be baptized. His apostles all taught that we should be baptized. STOP THE INSANITY! Just obey the command! Stop making excuses ("I don't have to be baptized to be saved.") ... stop trying to redefine what it takes to make someone clean ("Sprinkling or pouring is just as good.") ... just stop, because you are simply making a fool of yourself before the Lord.
Consider the likeness to which the Lord attached salvation ... new birth (John 3:3). A baby exists for the length of the pregnancy in a sack filled with water. "Oh, no! It's amniotic fluid!" someone will say. Really? What woman has ever said, "My amniotic fluid broke"? But you WILL hear a woman say, "My water broke." Birth occurs through water. There's no such thing as a "dry" birth. Even after a woman's "water" breaks, one third of it is replaced every hour until birth. Is it any wonder then that the Lord chose immersion by water to represent new birth? What else would you use? It's the only thing that makes sense.
Again, I would plead for rational thought to prevail. It is not the Spirit, but Satan who would urge a person to find a reason to argue against something as basic and foundational as baptism by immersion in water.
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