Acts 2: 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 3: Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

John, Chapter 6 deals with the Sacramental nature of The Lord’s Supper and connects consuming the Body and Blood of Christ in order for Christ to abide in us and we in him, and in order to be raised on the last day to eternal life.

John 6:
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

So how can Baptism and the Lord’s Supper be only symbolic, relegated to Church ordinances? And—why are these passages of Scripture omitted from The Baptist Faith and Message?

May the Peace of the Lord be with you.

I share some of your concerns about the book as well. For certain, Sweet gets two thumbs up for pointing towards Jesus and encouraging leaders to be followers first. However, my main critique is that Sweet doesn’t rely much on biblical evidence when describing what a leader (non-leader?) in the church should be like or do. Yes, we rely way too much on leadership techniques rather than the Holy Spirit, but this doesn’t mean that there’s no such thing as a leader in the Bible, especially the New Testament.

The expiration date on this pack says may 2012. It’s only February but they are chalky already. They must have gotten warm and then cooled down or something. Kind of a bummer.

Not all Christians believe that people who do not accept Jesus as their savior will be condemned to eternal punishment after this life. There are good and bad people among the followers of any religion or no religion. A good person in this life deserves a better afterlife, regardless of apologetics. That judgement is not dependent on any doctrine.

Are you saying that those who believe as Chan and Sprinkle do find that belief beneficial? It is not beneficial to claim, against the weight of popular opinion, that God says something contrary, especially regarding salvation and hell. What benefits people is to believe that there is no hell, and that all will be saved in the end, because it frees them to leave others in their spiritual error, or to avoid considering them at all.

Concepts of afterlife vary between religions and among divisions of each faith. Not all Christians agree on what happens after this life, nor do all Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or other believers. Rebirth, resurrection, purgatory, universalism, and oblivion are other possibilities…none of which can be proven.

Mystics of all faiths have more in common than the followers of their orthodox religions. True mystics realize that eternal life is here and now; it does not begin after mortal death. The age of Earth is said to be 4.5 billion years, of the Universe 13.7 billion, yet few humans live to be 100. This lifetime is a fleeting moment.

Scriptures are subject to interpretation; people often choose what is most beneficial for them.

BY