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Old 02-21-2005, 10:56 AM   #12
Alter Shredder
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Quote: (Originally Posted by facelessman) is this ordinance necessary? if not, then why did they do it in the primative church of Jesus Christ? "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?"
1 cor. 15:29
i know of only one church that does baptisms for the dead. which do you think it is?

what are your thoughts on this subject?


The first part is referring back to the resurrection of Christ...."if the dead rise not at all?". Paul is making a case for the resurrection of Christ...because he was dead and rose again. It is for the doubters basically in modern terms- Why else would you partake in this practice unless you truly believed Jesus rose and that you or your friends/family could rise (eternal life)?'

make sense? He is not telling them to do this or that it is correct, he is simply saying well you must believe in it if you are doing these actions.

IF you read the next versus...he says "And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day- I mean that brothers- just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, " Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." 1 Corinthians 30-32

See here Paul is continuing his thought and saying, If we do not raise from the dead when we die, if we do not recieve eternal life, if christ had not risen then why do we risk our lives every day. He is saying believe in christ and believe in the resurrection and you can be raised and have eternal life.

Furthermore go back to the classic John 3:16 but lets look at the whole paragraph so John 3: 16-21
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the lifght for the fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plaingly that what he has done has been done through God."

Highlighted in bold, I have the key ingredients. To have eternal life we must accept Jesus as the Savior. If we do not, we die and do not recieve eternal life. Therefore how can the dead make this choice...they cannot. Nor can any person stand in and make this choice for them. They had to make the choice while living.

Now as in special cases such as children....Jesus said to make ourselves like children for the kingdom of heaven, meaning innocent...i believe a child who does not know right and wrong yet will be shown mercy...but obviously God holds the key. As to an adult who dies suddenly in an unexpected car crash...well too bad they had years to make the decision...they didnt. That was their choice...If it was up to others to make that choice...well then why not do it while that person is still alive? Because we know it doesnt work. We have to choose Christ as our savior, and thats how we get to heaven. No other way.

Last edited by Alter Shredder : 02-21-2005 at 01:19 PM.
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