Featured Does Baptism save?(for former Church of christ members)

Water baptism does not save at all.

from the 1689 confession of faith;
Chapter 29: Of Baptism
1._____ Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; of his being engrafted into him; of remission of sins; and of giving up into God, through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.
( Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2;12; Galatians 3:27; Mark 1:4; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:4 )
2._____ Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.
( Mark 16:16; Acts 8:36, 37; Acts 2:41; Acts 8:12; Acts 18:8 )

3._____The outward element to be used in this ordinance is water, wherein the party is to be baptized, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
( Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 8:38 )

4._____Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary to the due administration of this ordinance. ( Matthew 3:16; John 3:23 )

 

This limitation is going to radically cut down on the number of people who respond to you.

As you probably know, there are a large number of Church of Christ congregations that DO NOT believe baptism is a requirement for salvation, so even your qualification has issues.

There are many of us who have dealt with this issue through careful study and not on the basis of a tradition. I had to work through this in my journey from agnosticism to Christian faith when I was dealing with the issue of how does one become right with God. During that time of study more than 30 years ago, I took a bible survey class from the director of the Church of Christ student center and he got quite upset with me because I came to different biblical conclusions than he and his denominational fellowship.

Full Disclosure: I received a D for the course because I apparently didn't learn who I was supposed to learn from him about salvation and the potential loss of salvation that was so near to all of us. Kind of ticked me off since the grade was not an issue of knowledge of the scriptures or my comprehension of the material - it was about my understanding of the meaning of the biblical texts which I carefully documented.

If you will allow others to engage with you who were not members of a Church of Christ congregation, you might get the insight you need.

 

Well, I'm not anything to do with the so-called 'Church of Christ,' but am I to understand that after nearly four years as a Christian you haven't been baptized?? What are your leaders thinking? What are you thinking? Baptism is a command of Christ for His disciples and the unbaptized believer is found nowhere in Scripture (except the thief on the cross, and he had an excuse!). It's not an optional extra, so get on with it..

So obey the Scriptures before you even think of going into ministry. But no, baptism doesn't save; it is an ordinance of Christ and His Church for His followers. Read the post above.

 

I took this to mean that you had not yet been baptized. My mistake.

 

I’m not a Church of Christ member but I know something about them. My parents were members, and I have a brother and a sister who are members. Here are some of the things they believe:

1. They believe in believers baptism by immersion—no infant baptism, no sprinkling, no pouring.
   
   
2. Their baptistry is always full. When there is a profession of faith the subject is baptized immediately. If it is outside a church service, they will go to the nearest CoC they can find and baptize immediately. It there is no church nearby, they will find the nearest suitable water.
   
   
3. They don’t believe in baptismal regeneration in the same way Catholics do, but it is close. Baptism is required for salvation with few if any exceptions. They base this mainly on John 3:5; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:4; and 1 Peter 3:21. They also like to talk about Acts 19:1-7 as evidence of the importance of proper baptism.
   
   
4. They don’t accept the baptism of other denominations.
   

 

Are they a cult?

 

I was raised and attended a Christian church (similar to C of C). I do not recall ever hearing the Gospel. I recall on the last sunrise service I attended they showed a movie about the crucifixion (I was about 15) and I was standing half way up the stairs going toward the sanctuary. There was a scene of Christ on the cross. I stopped and was wondering why Christ was killed and why we were all up on Sunday morning so early - I had no idea what Easter was about. (I had been baptized in that church by the way and no one talked to me about salvation.)

I started going with a girl that went to the Bible church, she talked me into going to the evening service one night and the pastor led me to Christ.

I was re-baptized a few years later.

I talked on a forum with a C of C man that really knew his Bible. We went back and forth for quite some time. I finally received an email from him telling me that after all the discussion he felt that if a person is REALLY TRULY saved, they will be baptized in obedience - if not really saved they will not.

I would say that he came to this position as the result of the Word speaking to him. I do not feel most c of c folks would agree with this. They would opt for the idea of baptism finishing their salvation.

Look into the Word on the subject. Consider the man on the cross and the Lord's words to him. The C of C will say this was a special case but that seems to be a bit of a poorly drawn conclusion to me.

 

Thank you for sharing this personal experience. I can relate to it even though my situation was quite different. I'm sure others here can also relate and are encouraged that they are not alone.

In my situation, I attended a Baptist church and never heard the gospel within its walls until about five years after I became a believer.

Strangely enough, as a child, the Sunday School teachers hammered into us that baptism did not save, yet at the same time, pushing us into "walking the aisle" and asking to be baptized. The pressure was intense. I was even called out by name in Sunday School on Sunday morning on more than one occasion as the only child who had not been baptized and was headed for Hell if something happened to me. My friends advised me to just get baptized since it didn't mean anything and everything would be fine.

For my part, I couldn't figure out how "walking the aisle" as the organ played made any difference to God, since I also knew baptism didn't save. I held out - because of a stubborn personality and an intense hatred of being pressured and manipulated - and graduated into the youth group where there was suddenly no pressure. (My mother had been told that the Sunday School teachers tried to get everyone baptized before they entered into the youth program because it was almost certainly too late then.)

Of my friends who were baptized in those early years, the only ones I know who are still involved in church has significant spiritual experiences or simply recognized that they had never heard the gospel and came to faith at a later date and had their lives energized and transformed.

One of my first youth trips was an overnight trip to Houston to attend a "coffeehouse ministry" and then visit an amusement park the next day. I had no idea what a coffeehouse ministry was, but there were girls and an amusement park involved, so I was in!

That night I heard the message of Jesus explained very simply and clearly - Jesus was calling me into a life with Him - and no nonsense about walking aisles or baptism. I responded immediately to that clear word and THEN "walked that aisle" and was baptized. Those acts suddenly had meaning.

It wasn't until about five years after that when I realized that my church was not helping me in my spiritual journey and I took control of my own faith. What they had taught me collapsed instantly in the face of an atheist that was close to me. I because an agnostic - although one who believed he had someone met Jesus, unless that was simply a trick of the mind - and started over with building my own body of knowledge about religious experience and faith. By the time I finalized the foundation of my faith, I realized I was also being called into service to others who face the same issues. I responded to that call 30 years ago this month and have been greatly blessed by God.

 

Just remembered the actions of camp leaders when I was in that church. We had an evangelist when I was older at camp, a friend went forward, and the next morning they took him out of classes and took him to a river and baptized him even though the camp was on a lake shore.

My mother physically shoved into the aisle one Sunday morning, she was not pleased when I stepped back into the pew

 

Does baptism save? No. I'm a former c of c member.

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Was the Thief on the cross baptized? no..

Read Romans 4 and the comments it makes on Abraham and circumcision, you can easily apply that passage to baptism as well..

My sister is a member of the CoC, so I have spent extensive time studying this out, if you send me a private message I can answer some questions you may be having, as I said before, I studied this out thoroughly due to having to deal with my sister.

 

I grew up and was baptized in c of c. They believe that in order to have Christ's blood applied to you and to receive the Holy Spirit, you MUST be baptized. Ergo, to be saved, one must be baptized no ifs ands or buts.

And they are Arminian to the core! Your decision is what saves you. Yes, there is preaching and bible teaching, but it is all YOUR decision. Not only does your decision save save you, your decision can unsave you. Never heard a sermon on blessed assurance. Never heard about how the Holy Spirit calls us to salvation except ONE time my youth minister said that the knowledge that Jesus was the Christ was Divinely-given knowledge. C of c so soteriology is decisionism and self-determination to the nth degree. I was left with the idea that people are going to hell because they never heard of Jesus.

Later, I started attending a Baptist church. I learned that decisionism is not what saved me. I learned that unless God calls you, you cannot truly be saved. God calls us thru the preaching of His word. Those who DO make a decision to repent and be saved only do so because of God's calling. I also learned that people are going to hell because they are born sinners and doomed to hell....people aren't going to hell because of NOT hearing the gospel. A lack of knowledge doesn't send us to hell, our sinful nature does.

While c of c and baptists are big on evangelism, the underpinning and underlying theology are DIFFERENT.

I did learn a lot there as a kid...the most important thing I learned from the elders was "show me in the Bible". This approach actually gave my youth minister heart burn a lot! To this day we are friends but he avoids me because I won't believe all that he says like everyone else...I'm a very critical consumer! So I did learn a few good things. However, the biggest error in c of c is their insistence on baptismal regeneration.

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How do you define "cult"? There are many ideas about cults but only one that is universally held. No one ever admits to being a member of a cult. If you belong to a group that I call a cult, you will deny that your group is a cult. Every time.