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From: emery@fluke.UUCP (John Emery)
Newsgroups: net.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Re: Hearing God's Voice
Message-ID: <1599@vax3.fluke.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Mar-86 01:17:08 EST
Article-I.D.: vax3.1599
Posted: Mon Mar  3 01:17:08 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Mar-86 20:41:11 EST
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In article <809@cylixd.UUCP> charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips) writes:
>
>But it is in baptism that our sinful nature is put to death, that we
>are united with Christ and joined to His resurrection.  (See the
>various writings regarding baptism in the epistles.)   
>

Charli, 

A small contradiction from experience.  I received Jesus into my life and
then received from him received the promised Holy Spirit before I was bap-
tized.  My life changed and I received from the Lord stregthening of faith.
My sinful nature was being crucified and I was united with Christ.

It was later through my baptism, that I publicly declared that I was making a
commitment to the Lord Jesus and rejecting my worldy life.  I do believe that
God wants us to be baptized in water as the normal way of declaring our joining
his family.  However, I personally feel that baptism in water is an outward
*sign* or reflection of the real baptism into Jesus in which we are baptized
into his death and raised through his life.  I believe that the baptism that 
you refer to in the epistles is the spiritual baptism in which our bodies 
become the temple of the Holy Spirit.  In many cases our water baptism and our
spiritual baptism come and the same time, but I don't think God uses this as
a hard fast rule.  

>But if you want to *continue* to believe, I think you must be baptized.

Perhaps this is indeed true, I don't know.  Charli, perhaps any Scriptural
references or further reflections would stregthen this statement.

John Emery
-- 

UUCP: {uw-beaver, sun, allegra, sb6, lbl-csam}!fluke!emery


"...and if have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, 
 I am nothing."  1 Corinthians 13:2

"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest
 of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13