I rejoice Ross at what appears to be great sincerity on your part. I believe you have experienced the rebirth (if you had not already experienced such) that only the Spirit of God can accomplish within the human heart, and only through the blood of Christ.
I try to convey to every one that prays such a saving prayer in faith that they are indeed "
saved by faith" and not emotions, or feelings of one sort or the other. You may "feel" good when you invite Christ to dwell in your life, but some folks feel little in the way of emotions, and people need to know that while emotional feelings of well being may be pleasant, we cannot base our lives on such. We certainly can't base our salvation on emotional sensations. We believe we are saved, because we have followed the path of the Apostles before us, the path of all those who have called on Christ in faith. We have obeyed what we have seen and read in the sacred scriptures, and we believe that we have obtained the resulting salvation, because "
God is not a man that He should lie....hath He said, and shall He not do it?" . Yes He does bring the results that He has promised in His word.
If you feel saved Ross, this is great, but if you feel nothing, it isn't important. What is important is that you believe that His word is true, and you have did what is written, therefore God will back up His word.
As for baptism? I believe that everyone that confesses the name of Christ should indeed be baptized, seeing that Christ said in the Gospel of Mark chapter 16 "
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved....," but the circumstances of baptism vary widely with individuals in this present age. I am not going to tell anyone that was baptized as an infant that they must be baptized again as an adult, but I will tell individuals that have never been baptized, that they should obey the injunction of Christ to do so.
Baptism is one more subject among thousands which various Christian groups debate bitterly to no avail, but it remains something that Jesus told us to do. Why? What is it? What does it do? These are all good questions, and I take a divergent view from many of my peers who suggest that baptism is just a symbolic ritual that demonstrates your public confession of Christ. I don't believe that any of the rituals, or sacraments of the New Testament are symbolic. The Apostle Paul teaches us that a great deal of the Old Testament involved symbolic types, shadows, and figures of things to come, but he explains that Christ is the fulfilling of these Old Testament shadows, so I cannot see suggestions of symbolic rituals as having any real basis for us. I believe that baptism in water is a separation between your former life, and the life of God, of which you are now a partaker.
It is too late for me to be writing,I have to go to bed everyone!
