Very interesting question though.

In one of your comments, you pointed out how even Jesus, who was without sin, needed to be baptized. So I was wondering, was your brother baptized by proxy at the point he would have reached the age of accountability, or is that unnecessary?

Jesus came to create a new covenant, to reconcile creation to Himself, to convert us to a new teaching (that the Son of God is sacrificed for us and we are no longer under the rule of the Law). And as the last prophet under the Old Covenant, John the Baptist was acting as was commanded by God, prior to the coming to Christ. Conversion from a pagan life to that of Judaism was done through baptism.

Still it remains sign of our conversion. It is an outward sign of an inward change. Genuine repentance and faith will be evidenced by our baptism and good works.

Thank you for helping me come to a better understanding of what I believe about original sin!

That is because I’m not currently baptized. Yet, I believe that I am a follower of Christ and that I will spend eternity in Heaven.

I view Baptism as an outward expression of inward faith. Baptism is something you do, and I don’t believe that anything we do or do not do will get us to heaven. I believe it is only through belief in Jesus Christ that we will go to heaven.

That said, I do believe that we should make that outward show of our acceptance of Christ.

But as MrsW pointed out — even those that are not able to be baptized before death are still able to inherit the kingdom of God through simple belief.

Also, I’m set to be baptized in June. I’m waiting to be able do it in a large group in a body of lving water (a lake). I’m very, very excited for it.

I talked to my husband about it — he reminded me of the thief on the cross, to whom Jesus said, “Surely this day you will be with Me in paradise.” That thief was definitely going to die that night — remember the soldiers came die to break the legs, so he died just a short time after Jesus, and he did not have time to be baptized in his belief. Also, none of the Old Testament believers were baptized (to the best of our Scriptural knowledge) and yet it would be foolhardy to believe that they can’t be saved.

So, to sum up — baptism is NOT meaningless, and it is REQUIRED of believers. If I were to see someone who said that they were a follower of Christ but that they didn’t think they needed to be baptized, I would tell them that they needed to think that one through again ’cause it’s not an option. On the other hand, God is not crippled by our lack of action to save those that He intends — if a person should be wandering through the desert, suddenly come to faith in Christ, and then die without ever coming across water to be baptized, then I believe he’s still going to heaven.

Let me know if this made sense — end of a long day and maybe my analogies are a bit screwy.

I see Christ’s effort to be baptized, the Father showing his approval, and John the Baptist’s dedication to the act as signs that the act is extremely significant. And that is why there is a verse found in the bible clearly stating that all those who would like to enter the Kingdom of God need to do as Jesus did, and be baptized to live with God once again. Jesus Christ didn’t even need to be baptized, for he had no sins to repent of, yet he engaged in the ordinance anyways to prove the necessity of all men undergoing the same thing.

God does ALL the work; we can’t bring anything to the table. But when we accept such an amazing gift, our good works naturally follow (one of them being baptism). When we receive the Holy Spirit, we are transformed by love and it overflows into our life. This is what I find so beautiful about Christianity. I reject any kind of salvation that depends on works. I give ALL the glory to God.

The thing is, I don’t think these people are as common as you think. In fact, I am really curious as to what sort of Christian it is that you are talking about. Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians etc. baptize babies. But they wouldn’t say that unbaptized babies automatically go to hell. Many Baptists will say that faith in Christ and a “sinner’s prayer” is necessary to go to Heaven, but fundamental Baptist doctrine is that baptism must *follow* a reasonably mature faith. Thus they will never baptize babies.

If you want to explain what sort of denomination you were thinking of, that might help us understand who it is you *do* mean, since you apparently aren’t just referring to those of us who believe in origional sin. And if you really don’t mean *all* who believe in origional sin, please consider editing because the exact words in your post declare that those who believe in origional sin believe that your brother is in a place of endless torment. It may not be what you mean, but it is what is there in the post.

Also, Baptists do not baptize babies. I cannot think of any version of Christian who baptizes babies who would flatly state that they baptize babies in order to prevent them from going to hell in a direct sense.

And I decided not to come back to comment explaining what I understand to be various Christian understandings of origional sin because you are already flooded with comments! I guess people finally found a Sunday post worth talking about! Congrats.;-)

Honestly, it made way more sense to me than the traditional, mainstream Christian view. I’m not LDS, but on the concept of original sin, Adam and Eve, etc., I think their explanation makes the most logical sense to me personally.