mailmandan
Well-Known Member
Your problem is you isolate half of one verse then build doctrine on it while ignoring the second half of the verse. Mark 16:16 - He who believes and is baptized will be saved (general cases without making a qualification for the unusual case of someone who believes but is not baptized) but he who does not believe will be condemned. The omission of baptized with "does not believe" shows that Jesus does not make water baptism absolutely necessary for salvation. Condemnation rests on unbelief and not on a lack of baptism. So salvation rests on belief. *NOWHERE does the Bible say "baptized or condemned."Your problem is you think that Jesus taught "he that believeth and is not baptized shall be saved"....
Which is exactly opposite of what he actually said.
You also think that Jesus was pretty dumb, saying that unbelievers would also be baptized thus be condemned.
So you choose to ignore these verses in John that were directly from Jesus? (John 3:15,16,18; 5:24; 6:29,40,47; 11:25,26) Also, there are plenty of people who don't truly believe in Jesus unto salvation, yet get water baptized anyway. Such people may believe "mental assent" in the existence and historical facts about Jesus, including that His death, burial and resurrection "happened," yet such people are not trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of their salvation, but instead, are trusting in their baptism (along with other works) to save them.