Friday, November 6, 2015

Everyone that Thirsteth,
Come Ye to the Waters

Christ freely offers salvation to all. Those who desire to come unto Christ through baptism should not be denied, nor should they be required to pay money, bear testimony of a man, abstain from coffee, or hail from suitable parents

In declaring His Doctrine, our Lord was very specific in laying out the qualifications for baptism. 
I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me. And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. (3 Nephi 11:32-33)
Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise shall ye baptize them—Behold, ye shall go down and stand in the water, and in my name shall ye baptize them. (3 Nephi 11:23)
All He requires is that you believe, repent, and desire baptism. Seeing our day, He cautioned about adding other requirements:
And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock; but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell stand open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them. (3 Nephi 11:40)
He didn't leave room for anyone to declare any more or any less than He did. To do so, "cometh of evil." If His word were open to change, He would not have added the additional warning.
And he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. (2 Nephi 26:33)
To ensure there is no question, an additional page has been added to BornOfWater.org, clarifying the the Lord's requirements for baptism. All are invited to come and receive authoritative baptism according to the Doctrine of Christ. None are denied.
Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. (2 Nephi 9:50)


Request Baptism

16 comments:

  1. Amen. I have been defending this truth all day. It's been a sad and exhausting day.

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  2. Granted, the scriptures say one must repent and THEN be baptized. I kind of think that is where the Church takes liberty in determining what one should repent of. My thing is, if someone is truly serious about desiring baptism, the Lord will work with them through their repentance process, as He knows best what they should repent of.

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    Replies
    1. Agreed. One can't easily repent of having homosexual parents.

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  3. Amen! I love the Doctrine of Christ! I believe that a man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam's transgression [nor those of his parents]. No institution should deny baptism to any true seeker of Christ!

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  4. Repentance is between God and man, not man and an institution. I recommend you read the High Council minutes of Nauvoo and see how quick repentance (confess sins and it's acceptable -- forgiven) can be.

    As far as children of the age of accountability: they need no repentance. They are commanded to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. Withholding, even delaying, baptism of such is an abomination.

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  5. There's nothing like an anti-scriptural command decision by the organization claiming to be the only authorized holders of God's power and authority on earth—to remind us how dear is the doctrine of Christ. Elder Christofferson's explanation that "we're doing this for your good" has echoes of Brigham Young's astonishing suggestion that "we may have to kill you for your own good." You've been drinking again, Brigham, and whoever cobbled together this latest affront to the doctrine of Christ. In contrast to the light and truth taught and exemplified by our Lord, this policy change is a work of darkness.

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  6. Taking Christ's admonition to not "declare more or less than this," though, wouldn't even an age requirement be an addition. I understand and completely agree with the rationale (and revelations) for the age of accountability, but doesn't allowing that rational/revealed addition open the door for further adjustments? I'm not saying we should make adjustments, I just find it an interesting quandary.

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    1. Me,

      The requirement given by Christ is to repent first. Moroni tells us children are innocent and need no repentance, thus the need for there to be an age of accountability. I agree that one age for all is a bit generalized though.

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    2. Bryce,
      Exactly. If children are innocent and do not need repentance up until age 8, and if one of the requirements for baptism is repentance then why do 8 year olds need to be baptized? Is it because from the moment they turn 8 until 2 weeks later when they are scheduled to be baptized they have sinned and need repentance? Of course not. I have concluded Moroni was warning US (didn't he see our day?) NOT to baptize 8 year olds for they are still innocent.

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    3. Anonymous, you're operating under the assumption that the purpose of baptism is to remit sins, when that is not the case. There's quite a bit more to the story, which I've covered in this post: http://www.totheremnant.com/2014/09/ordinances-and-assumptions.html

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  7. If you want my opinion, I think this move by the church isn't going to be as big as when the church goes the other way. Members will remember this day, and will be sorely confused when the church about-faces on its position on same-sex marriages.

    Of course, I don't know the future, and this is just my guess. But I think the writing is on the wall, and that the only question is how long it will take. Time will no doubt tell.

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    Replies
    1. Perhaps you are correct. If so, it will be shown to be a wonderful new revelation, not unlike the priesthood when social norms forced God's hand in a policy change via a "revelation." We can have it both ways. Our current policies can show we are unwilling to offend God now and later as the cultural zeitgeist forces the churches hand we can have a new "revelation" to embrace all of God's children which will serve to buttress the standing of the prophet not diminish it.

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  8. It's a good thing we have prophets in our day to guide us in these unique situations. If you don't sustain the policy decisions of church leaders, you don't sustain them, or that they're guided by the Lord, or that the church is true. The excuse that men are imperfect doesn't allow us to pick which policies we will agree with. People who argue against them simply have issue with their personal testimony.
    The church has to deal with fitting qualifications for baptism in a world complicated by the laws of men. So, to legally make your own decisions you have to be an adult according to the laws of men, which the Church respects. The brethren have to deal with making decisions like this because of the iniquity of the world and laws of men. And they are guided by the Lord.

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    Replies
    1. 8 year olds can't legally make decisions for themselves. However the church allows them to make those decisions if they come from an accepted family background. Seeing as ALL children are born into families with parents who are sinners, one brand of "sin" isn't accepted by the Lord over another brand.

      The Lord commanded ALL men to come to him, to repent and be baptized. Those are the ONLY qualifications Jesus gave for His baptism. When the philosophies and policies of men add to or change the commandments of Christ, this is in fact anti-Christ. God is NOT beholden to the commandments of men.

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  9. Adrian, the key component to the requirement to be baptized is to repent. Homosexuality is a sin. A person that continues in a homosexual relationship has not repented. (confess AND forsake). To allude that the Lord is suggesting all should be baptized -repentance as an option - is disingenuous to the person grabbing hold of your false hope sandy foundation doctrines.

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    Replies
    1. Nowhere have I suggested repentance is unnecessary or optional. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've quoted the Savior's requirement for repentance twice in this post. Help me understand why you think I'm suggesting repentance is optional.

      Delete

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