(elmo;18631)
why are some sicknesses: cancer, aids...etc. uncurable by human medicinesand other illnesses are cureable?
Our knowledge is limited.(elmo;18631)
I heard it said that you must be baptised in water receive Gods spirit to reach heavenand yet God said to the man next to him on the cross who was not baptised in water and Im not really sure whether he recieved the holy spirit right there on the cross and yet Jesus said, "Today you will be with me in heaven"I might have left out a phrase or two of that scripture but that was the general message I wanted I wanted to get across.
Many people are taught to doubt the need for water & Spirit baptisms because of Luke's account of the conversation between Jesus and a crucified thief in Luke 23:40-44.Taken in isolation, one could agree, but of course we mustn't do that, otherwise you can make the bible say anything so it becomes useless !People assume that "paradise" means heaven, and therefore the thief was sincere in his comments. Matthew and Mark's account of this dialogue both say that
both of the thieves were speaking mockingly to Jesus immediately before it became dark:-“He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.” (Matthew 27:43-44)“Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.” (Mark 15:32-33) . . . did they both *miss* the point that one thief repented and had a great revelation of Jesus coming with a kingdom ? (meanwhile his own disciples were in sorrow and fear, they didn't understand)If the thief was sincere, it would have been a comfort to Jesus at this time, thereby falsifying the prophecy

salm:69:20: Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none.:21: They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.So, what of Jesus' reply in Luke?The word "paradise" is used figuratively for heaven elsewhere, but literally it means garden, where Jesus was buried; Mary later thought he was the gardener (John 19v41, 20v15). This would mean Jesus was saying that the thief would be buried also in the garden tombs.
But the most important point is,
even if the thief was sincere and will enter heaven, he died before the New Covenant began ! God is no longer telling people to try to keep the Mosaic Law, or build an Ark, or fight Philistines.He's telling them to be reconciled to him by faith in Jesus meaning you repent, get baptised unto his death in water and receive His Life by the infilling of the Spirit (Acts 2:4, 33, 37-39)