Baptismal Interview Questions – Conclusion

03 January

lds_baptismAs I conclude this series on Mormon Baptism I’d like to touch on what it means to be baptized in the Mormon Church versus into the body of Christ. The quote below is from the church’s Newsroom website, and gives an accurate view of how the church sees baptism (emphasis mine).

“Baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints requires full immersion in water by a person who holds the priesthood authority to baptize. It is the means by which people join the Church. Those who are baptized into the Church are cleansed of their previous sins and placed under covenant to live the principles of the gospel.”

Being baptized into the Mormon Church cleanses you of our previous sins? 1 John 1:7 tells us (emphasis mine) “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin

So how does the church deal with this obvious contradiction? What is it about Mormonism that takes away one’s sins and reconciles them with God?

After I was baptized in the Mormon Church the Branch President said to me “at this moment you’re now the cleanest person on the planet.” For some reason those words have always stuck with me. Thinking that the baptism itself helped clease someone of their past sins was one of those doctrines I found hard to shake long after I left the church.

Back then I didn’t fully understand the meaning behind what Jesus did for me on the cross, nor did I know anything about the New Covenant He brought with Him. It wasn’t until I became a Christian that I understood that baptism symbolizes the believers dying, being buried and then raised again in a newness of life.

Romans 6:3-4 reads:

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Not once as a Christian did I learn that baptism was a requirement for salvation as I did in Mormonism. As a Mormon I had it all backwards, I didn’t understand that baptism was a natural act of obedience after one has been saved, and apart from communion is the only ordnance required of New Testament believers.

In Christ,

Melissa Grimes melissa@lifeafter.org

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