When I answered the knock on the door the other day, I never expected to get into a debate about religion. Two ladies had come to invite me to their Bible study at a nearby church, which would have been nice normally, but after a few minutes into the conversation, I felt on the defensive. We were supposed to be fellow believers, yet they were pushing an issue that I felt was strictly un-Biblical. They wanted me to agree that it was Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and baptism that saved a person and allowed them to go to Heaven.
The more I tried to explain the Biblical viewpoint, the more adamant they were to convince me I was wrong. However, the Bible is not wrong. The thief on the cross didn't have to come down and be baptized. Jesus told him, "Today you will be with me in paradise."
Baptism is an outward expression of an inward conversion. You have to accept the finished work of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross in order to be saved. Nothing else works. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Baptism is a work. It is not our savior.
The tension with the ladies was escalating. They were not listening at all. I decided to end the conversation. One lady said, "So we aren't going to agree?" I shook my head. "No." How could I agree to something that was so against God's Word? It will never be Jesus and... It's only Jesus who saves.
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