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A first responce Bramhodoulos Send a noteboard - 10/06/2011 02:09:32 PM
This is something that started bugging me after a random association yesterday. John the Baptist. On whose authority was he baptising people? No one had died for people's sins yet. From what I understand baptism functions in connection with that. Have I misunderstood something?

And why did Jesus need to be baptised?
I am genuinely curious about the doctrinal reasoning here. It has been a while since I studied these things and for the life of me I cannot remember anything about it. I know that there were several Jewish groups that practised baptism at the time, but I do not know the intra-Christian reasoning for this event.


As a theologian I must say I havn't been doing a lot of research after this, but the first thing I would say would be that whatever view on baptism christians have today (there are some differences on the precise theological importance between Roman Catholics, Reformed (Calvinistic), Lutheran and Baptist churches), it is clear for most people that John the Baptist baptized in a different way.

He basically told people to start living more holy, according to the law of Moses, with a huge emphasis on simply being "honest" (he didn't appear to have a well thought-out ethical system).
As an outward sign of this new way of living, this change of lifestyle, a baptism was mainly focused leaving the past behind and living better lives now. There was probably only a limited theory of salvation involved.

Why Jesus? Noone can probably give a full answer, only that it was "fitting" so that "all righteousness be fulfulled" (Mat.3:15). What all of that involves may take a few years to study, but that was Jesus' answer anyway.
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A question on baptism Camilla - 10/06/2011 09:21:44 AM 985 Views
To my knowledge, baptism does not stem from the Resurrection. Ghavrel - 10/06/2011 11:01:17 AM 746 Views
What I meant Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:03:08 AM 577 Views
I don't follow. Ghavrel - 10/06/2011 11:08:07 AM 560 Views
Re: I don't follow. Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:10:40 AM 641 Views
I don't keep up with RC theology much. Ghavrel - 10/06/2011 11:15:52 AM 579 Views
Re: I don't keep up with RC theology much. Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:17:53 AM 539 Views
They should, IMHO, but the difficulty of definitively saying is why Limbo was created. Joel - 11/06/2011 10:39:26 AM 643 Views
Re: They should, IMHO, but the difficulty of definitively saying is why Limbo was created. Camilla - 11/06/2011 11:53:53 AM 564 Views
It's complicated? Joel - 11/06/2011 08:14:06 PM 611 Views
You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 11:50:53 AM 577 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:52:27 AM 515 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 11:55:01 AM 577 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:58:36 AM 547 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 12:16:46 PM 705 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 12:19:16 PM 544 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 12:25:08 PM 767 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 12:26:30 PM 751 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 12:28:45 PM 554 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 12:29:43 PM 579 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Rebekah - 10/06/2011 12:33:01 PM 443 Views
Re: You haven't necessarily developed a wrong impression. Camilla - 10/06/2011 12:34:36 PM 511 Views
Circumcision remains common among Christians mostly for symbolic reasons as well. Joel - 11/06/2011 10:48:48 AM 631 Views
Hm, I don't know. I don't think I know any non-Jews who are circumsized that see it as a symbol beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 04:44:02 PM 712 Views
I took a holy dip into the Ganges aerocontrols - 10/06/2011 11:48:26 AM 652 Views
Re: I took a holy dip into the Ganges Camilla - 10/06/2011 11:54:17 AM 701 Views
He dances and dips in The Ganges- Very Nice. *NM* StarrBecca - 11/06/2011 02:15:41 AM 243 Views
Three dips - that's the ceremony. aerocontrols - 11/06/2011 02:35:43 AM 505 Views
Early Christians and Jews were obsessed with purity Roland00 - 10/06/2011 12:56:58 PM 675 Views
Oh, I know about the historical/academic/anthropological reason Camilla - 10/06/2011 01:04:43 PM 620 Views
I misunderstood, lets try again Roland00 - 10/06/2011 01:44:43 PM 708 Views
Huh. *NM* Camilla - 10/06/2011 02:06:58 PM 286 Views
A first responce Bramhodoulos - 10/06/2011 02:09:32 PM 750 Views
Re: A first responce Camilla - 10/06/2011 02:15:07 PM 736 Views
Re: A first responce Bramhodoulos - 10/06/2011 02:19:25 PM 644 Views
Do you want a theological answer or a historical one? Tom - 10/06/2011 03:16:44 PM 728 Views
The theological. I already had a fairly good idea of the historical Camilla - 10/06/2011 03:18:51 PM 582 Views
My favorite fact about baptism is that is REQUIRES water... but it can be ANY water beetnemesis - 10/06/2011 04:31:12 PM 671 Views
That is absurd. Tom - 10/06/2011 08:37:13 PM 764 Views
It is absurd beetnemesis - 10/06/2011 08:56:19 PM 588 Views
When your post is eviscerated, resorting to "HURR RELIGION IS DUMB" isn't a winning move. Ghavrel - 10/06/2011 10:00:39 PM 695 Views
Psh.You can dress it up with spiritualism and semantics, but the concept boils down to "magic water" beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 03:56:03 AM 550 Views
The point is that it's a symbol. Darth_Katie - 11/06/2011 04:45:19 AM 555 Views
I have no problem with water as a symbol beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 04:59:52 AM 632 Views
You are totally missing the point. Darth_Katie - 11/06/2011 02:46:08 PM 710 Views
Which again, is something that sounds nice and spiritual, but doesn't actually make any sense beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 03:46:51 PM 689 Views
your problem is you're trying to apply objective logic to religion LadyLorraine - 11/06/2011 04:13:01 PM 940 Views
I'm not, exactly. Religion has internal logic. For example, certain things are "unclean" beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 04:40:33 PM 576 Views
Beliefs about holy water are internally logical. Darth_Katie - 11/06/2011 07:36:08 PM 625 Views
Shrug. It was on topic. beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 08:06:16 PM 892 Views
The more I read of your posts, the more I think you fundamentally misunderstand religious symbolism. *NM* Ghavrel - 11/06/2011 10:51:17 PM 245 Views
Let me clarify: your statements are absurd. Tom - 10/06/2011 10:14:06 PM 591 Views
Check my response to Ghav for elaboration, but basically, your argument doesn't hold beetnemesis - 11/06/2011 04:00:18 AM 577 Views
You went from saying spit was good to saying "clean water". Tom - 12/06/2011 02:04:26 AM 513 Views
I'm completely consistent. I was just staying away from extremes for conversation's sake. beetnemesis - 12/06/2011 09:02:02 AM 555 Views
No one from a respectable faith thinks of holy water as "magic water". Period. *NM* Tom - 13/06/2011 04:56:53 AM 244 Views
Yes, I KNOW. But it's still TREATED as such. beetnemesis - 13/06/2011 06:28:10 AM 500 Views
Baptism is almost, if not entirely, symbolic. Joel - 11/06/2011 10:23:02 AM 757 Views
Re: Baptism is almost, if not entirely, symbolic. Camilla - 11/06/2011 11:51:22 AM 747 Views
All I know, Is a Lutheran Pastor told me, b/c i was not baptised I was going to hell, and had *NM* StarrBecca - 11/06/2011 03:44:38 PM 223 Views
I never thought of it in that way, that is why I like this site *NM* Nolan - 12/06/2011 04:26:40 PM 264 Views
Because we are all nuts in our own special ways? *NM* Camilla - 12/06/2011 04:36:03 PM 231 Views
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