Quote:
Originally Posted by votivesoul
It is a very inconsistent doctrine that states that one can be forgiven/receive remission of sins prior to water baptism, merely through repentance and/or receiving the Holy Spirit, even to the speaking with other tongues, and yet, have the ability to reject or put off water baptism by personal choice, thereby disobeying a direct command of the Son of God, and His Chosen Emissaries of the Gospel, thereby showing that unless and until such a person gets in the water and is immersed in the name of the Lord Jesus, they still have the sin of rejecting the command of baptism tainting their heart, corrupting their soul, thus proving that the sin of disobedience to the command of Christ and the Apostles to be baptized in water, is and only can be, forgiven/remitted, when the person is immersed/baptized.
It is therefore clear that at least one sin must and only can be forgiven/remitted by baptism: the rejection and putting off of baptism itself!
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So, therefore, imagine if you will, when Simon Peter commands Cornelius and his household to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and Cornelius or members of his household, for whatever reason, balk at the command, and tell Simon Peter that they will have to think it over, talk with some other church authority, wait for the angel to come back to tell them to go ahead with it, or etc. to whatever degree, and in so doing, they choose not to be baptized.
Do you suppose Simon Peter would just shrug his shoulders, say something to the effect of "Ah, well. They're good. I mean, they were just speaking in tongues and magnifying God, so, not getting baptized isn't that big of a deal..."
Or, do you suppose, Simon Peter would think "Hey, the Lord and Savior of the World, who just filled you all with His Holy Spirit, commands you to get baptized, and I am the Chosen Emissary of God Almighty, the very one the Angel of the Lord told you to send for, the one whom the Angel told you, would tell you words necessary for your salvation, and now, you're going to reject what I have to tell you about being baptized? You may have just been speaking with other tongues and magnifying God, but you must clearly still need to repent for daring to reject the very words and commands of the Holy One, Jesus of Nazareth..."
I espouse something very much like the second view, even if the actual words are merely speculative.