“Too Much Religion”

Thursday, April 23, 2020

     Why is it that all the churches out there tend to believe that baptism is not needed for salvation?  I mean, all these mega-churches are preaching that if you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you are saved.  Where is the biblical backing for this?

Sincerely,
Mega-Annoyed

Dear Mega-Annoyed,

Baptism is the clearest teaching in the entire New Testament.  The first converts were baptized for salvation (Acts 2:38-41).  Jesus taught that you need to be baptized to be saved (Mk 16:16), and Peter specifically said, “Baptism saves you” (1 Pet 3:21).  There are dozens of other verses that teach the exact same thing.  So why is there so much confusion in the religious world?  Where did all these churches miss the boat?  There are several reasons why there are so many different religions out there:

1. Paul condemned the Jews because they worshipped God without knowledge (Rom 10:2).  Many people follow whatever seems best to them, and when our feelings design our religious beliefs, confusion ensues.
2. Rom 1:18-23 says that when people suppress the truth about God, they exchange the truth for a myriad of false beliefs.
3. God warned that there would come a day when false teachers infiltrated Christ’s church and would start teaching things contrary to Scriptures (2 Tim 4:2-4).  Paul told the first century Christians to watch out for the “falling away” (2 Thess 2:3).  Division and false teaching in the name of Christ is a very common thing.  Wherever there is an opportunity for selfish gain, false teachers crop up and attempt to lead people astray.

There are tens of thousands of different religions in America that refer to themselves as “Christian” and even more religions when you add Islam, Buddhism, etc…. yet, God says there is only one true faith (Eph 4:4-6).

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