I just read and replied to a Roman Catholic’s chagrin over the matter that he was often judged not to be a genuine Christian by some others who claimed he must be baptized as an adult believer in order to be genuinely saved.
Here is my reply:
I feel your pain! I have personally been ostracized by individuals and even some pastors and their churches.
Perhaps I am rejected and ejected from their “fellowship” because I know some things in the Bible they firmly believe I am not supposed to know. They consider what I know to be poison and they don’t want others in their congregation to be infected by my spiritual disease.
They are unwilling to examine the Scriptures carefully with me to see if what I or they believe is actually what the Bible itself teaches.
This is a sociological “thing,” the difference, in part, between “village churches” and “camp churches.” To become an actual part of a “village” church you must be born into that congregation, not someone who comes in as an adult who happens to have recently moved into the local community.
To be accepted in a “camp” church, one needs only to share in a spiritual relationship and be excited to grow in your knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
As for those who deny the validity of your personal salvation because you were not baptized by immersion as an adult believer who has made a confession of faith, such individuals and churches need to get back into their Bibles themselves and prove whether such belief and practice is justified by what is stated in the Bible text.
I have made such a study, in depth, and though I have found the correct interpretation, I do not impose it on other churches or believers who do not share my view.
Forgive me for being amused when I drive by a church sign that reads “Berean Baptist Church.” You cannot truly be a Berean (Acts 17:10, 11) if you have not carefully “searched the Scriptures” (John 5:39) and “proved all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21).
Paul warns us to “judge nothing before the time” (1 Corinthians 4:5). No one but our Lord Jesus Christ can be the judge of who is saved and who is not.
Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did instruct us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16, 20; see also Galatians 5:22, 23).
Anyone claiming to be a Christian has no business making such a judgment of another on the basis of whether they are a Roman Catholic or a Protestant or like me, a claimant to be neither one. I am a Bible believing, Bible studying Christian. To my knowledge, I have never urged a Roman Catholic friend, student, fellow employee, or on-line contact to switch to another church or denomination. It would be better for Roman Catholics and others to do the same.
I trust the Holy Spirit working in the life of each individual to lead them to where He wants them to be as they continue to grow in their knowledge of God and His written word, the Bible.
Our business must be to obey the command to “Receive one another” (Romans 15:7).
Nice ecumenical touch, Jerry! Of course, if one denies baptismal regeneration, baptism would be irrelevant to salvation, anyway, no?
Dear Dave,
I am glad you saw this post and responded to it. It is good to hear from you again. I still keep you and your family in my prayers, praying for your good health, and continued growth in your knowledge of God’s Word.
You are correct that the rite of baptism is irrelevant to salvation. This is clear from the thief on the cross who confessed his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and was promised then and there to be immediately present that very day with Christ in paradise. In the New Testament the order is always belief in Christ followed by ritual water baptism, not the reverse.
Thank you again, Dave, for visiting and commenting here!