Foreword
I
praise the Lord for having given me this wonderful opportunity to bring to you
this word of greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour JesusChrist. I thank Him for the grace bestowed upon me to write this booklet about
Baptism.
The concept of Baptism is different
in the minds of people. I had a chance to hear and clear many people’s “Ideas
and concepts” regarding Baptism when I took Baptism classes in the Church. These
concepts were unsupported and in a few cases against the teachings of the
Bible.
So in order to clear the
misconceptions of people regarding Baptism, I have taken this initiative.
Read on further to find out what
Baptism is and why, how and when it should be taken.
A person has to receive salvation
before he is baptized. Hence before understanding the concept of Baptism
according to the Holy Scriptures, we shall first of all find out what salvation
is?
The world that we see today is
filled with injustice, folly and treachery. People today are unable to find the
way of truth to attain the true heavenly peace. Many false ways have popped up
that seem to lead the people to the desired heavenly peace. They are attracted
towards those ways but ultimately they end up no where and find out that they
have lost their every thing to that false way.
We desire to lead our life in a
specific way but we are unable to control the outcome of events in our life. An
un-understandable force of darkness is found gripping our life and we seems to
toil and turn in that darkness, in vain. We do not seem to understand or
predict the result of our endeavours. Many times in our lives, there comes a
situation where victory is evident but due to some unknown, unexpected,
unprecedented reason, we face failure. As a result we become mentally defeated,
disappointed and weakened. We realise that there is a strong force out there
working against us and there by weakening us.
This realisation has been there from
period unknown. The need to get away from the subsequent failures and
disappointments has given rise to the religions of today. All these religions
and the traditions and customs were born in the brain of the man, who in his
own selfish thoughts devised them.
In due course, the people who
followed these religions were further pushed into the evil force of darkness
rather than coming away from it. They are yet to receive any good thing from
these traditions and customs. On the contrary they are pulled back from the
true light. These customs and traditions may, at times, give a self
satisfaction but are not the means to receive liberation or salvation from the
evil force.
A few people teach and preach that
all religions are the same and that they all direct us to the one and the same
God. If we assume that they are right, then why is there a conflict in the ways
they teach? For the sake of debate, let us consider the doctrines of Hinduism
and Islam. The teachings found in Hinduism are not there in Islam.
For instance let us ponder the law
of marriage. According to
Hinduism, a person can be married to only one living wife. If he marries
another woman whilst the first is alive then he is considered to have committed
a sin and he is liable for punishment whereas the Islamic law, allows 7 living
wives for a man. He cannot be condemned for punishment. In this case if a Hindu
who married a second woman is judged unrighteous according to Hinduism and a
Muslim who has 7 wives is judged righteous, according to Islam then -
What
would be God’s Judgement?
How
would He Judge?
Will
He do injustice?
Is He a God who proposes a different set of laws and rules for each
country?
If so what is reason behind the emptiness, loneliness and strife of
the people following these religions?
Why
is there no deliverance for these people?
Why
are they pushed into darkness all the more?
Religion is a man made way to try
and possibly attain God. The traditions and customs involved in following a
particular religion differ from place to place, country to country. The destiny
of all religions is not God but hell. As Jesus says,
Let them
alone: they be
