Snitzelhoff
New Member
Frank:
You're right in that I couldn't refute your argument about the word "disciple," but I didn't ignore your point; I granted it and rephrased my question accordingly (changing "disciples" and "Christians" to "those who belong to Jesus"), while also making the point that in the book of Acts, "disciple" only ONE time means anything other than "Christian."
You are arguing from silence because there is no Scripture that allows either allows an infidel to baptize or prohibits him from doing so.
You are right about where my belief would wind up in its logical conclusion: no Church of Christ member could ascertain a valid baptism for himself, and, therefore, he could not know whether he were saved or not.
You challenged me to provide Scriptural evidence of Paul's repentance. There is no place where Paul said "I repent of my sins," or where Ananias asked him, "Do you repent of your sins?," but he demonstrated it through turning away from his sins and following Christ. So, for Scriptural evidence of his repentance, here we go:
Exhibit A: Saul before repentance.
Acts 9:1--"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest."
Exhibit B: Saul after repentance.
Acts 9:6--"And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
In that transformation, recorded for us in the pages of Scripture, is the essence of repentance.
This is not the thread to argue about the effect of baptism on the candidate. I will debate that with you later, if you really want me to. I used to believe as you do (and was quite staunch about it, in fact), and at one time WAS baptized for the forgiveness of my sins.
Finally, about hermeneutics. I understand that they're not limited to examples. I didn't provide only examples. Jesus' own instruction only gave His own (by whatever name you call them) the authority to baptize. That COMBINED with the examples leaves me no reason to conclude that an infidel could legitimately baptize.
Oh, and one more thing. You said that one's salvation is based on the blood of Christ, not the faith of another person. I say, Amen! But we're not talking about salvation. We're talking about authority to baptize.
Michael
You're right in that I couldn't refute your argument about the word "disciple," but I didn't ignore your point; I granted it and rephrased my question accordingly (changing "disciples" and "Christians" to "those who belong to Jesus"), while also making the point that in the book of Acts, "disciple" only ONE time means anything other than "Christian."
You are arguing from silence because there is no Scripture that allows either allows an infidel to baptize or prohibits him from doing so.
You are right about where my belief would wind up in its logical conclusion: no Church of Christ member could ascertain a valid baptism for himself, and, therefore, he could not know whether he were saved or not.
You challenged me to provide Scriptural evidence of Paul's repentance. There is no place where Paul said "I repent of my sins," or where Ananias asked him, "Do you repent of your sins?," but he demonstrated it through turning away from his sins and following Christ. So, for Scriptural evidence of his repentance, here we go:
Exhibit A: Saul before repentance.
Acts 9:1--"And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest."
Exhibit B: Saul after repentance.
Acts 9:6--"And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
In that transformation, recorded for us in the pages of Scripture, is the essence of repentance.
This is not the thread to argue about the effect of baptism on the candidate. I will debate that with you later, if you really want me to. I used to believe as you do (and was quite staunch about it, in fact), and at one time WAS baptized for the forgiveness of my sins.
Finally, about hermeneutics. I understand that they're not limited to examples. I didn't provide only examples. Jesus' own instruction only gave His own (by whatever name you call them) the authority to baptize. That COMBINED with the examples leaves me no reason to conclude that an infidel could legitimately baptize.
Oh, and one more thing. You said that one's salvation is based on the blood of Christ, not the faith of another person. I say, Amen! But we're not talking about salvation. We're talking about authority to baptize.
Michael