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Baptism – False View

Baptism – False View

  • BIBLE (Correct): Baptism is a ceremony where a person is immersed in water. It is a public identification with Christ where the person proclaims his faith in Christ and commits to being a disciple of Jesus. Baptism does not save a person from sins. It is a covenant sign (Col. 2:12-13). (See Section on Baptism)
     
  • Christian Science: Baptism means the daily, ongoing purification of thought and deed. Eucharist is spiritual communion with God, celebrated with silent prayer and Christian living.  It is ”submergence in Spirit.”
     
  • Islam: Muslims do not practice water baptism.
    • “(Our religion is) the Baptism of God: And who can baptize better than God? And it is He Whom we worship,” (Surah 2:138).
       
  • Jehovah’s Witnesses: Baptism is necessary for salvation. It is done in water signifying commitment and identification with Jehovah God and his organization on earth, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
    • “your faith should lead you to take another important step necessary to your salvation . . . You offer yourself for baptism,” (Watchtower, 12/1/1967, p. 707 What Is Needed for Salvation?).
    • “Christian water baptism is an outward symbol, as a testimony before witnesses, of the baptized one’s complete, unreserved and unconditional dedication and agreement to do the will of Jehovah God, the Universal Sovereign, through Christ Jesus his King,” (Watchtower 7/1/1955, p. 403, Were You Baptized? How? Why?).
    • “Clearly, for all who wish to gain an approved standing with God, Christian baptism is a requirement,” (Watchtower 5/1/19979, p. 15, Baptism–A Christian Requirement).
       
  • LDS – Mormonism: Baptism is a necessary ordinance for salvation (See Salvation). Baptism is what washes away sins.
    • “And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned,” (The Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:34).
       
  • New Age Movement: Baptism is the act of spiritual cleansing and identification with a principle or belief in the divine. It can be a literal water baptism or an emersion into a philosophy.
     
  • Roman Catholicism: Baptism is a requirement for salvation in Roman Catholicism.
    • ” . . . Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ,” (CCC, par. 977).
    • “Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God’s mercy,” (CCC, par. 2020).

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