How To Convert An Evangelical To The Truth

How To Convert An Evangelical To The Truth

by Daniel Keeran, MSW
collegemhc@gmail.com
What did Peter tell the Jews to do to be forgiven for having killed the Messiah?
Read Acts 2:36-39
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom
you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and
the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “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.
Is forgiveness on the same terms promised to all or to only Jews?
39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all
whom the Lord our God will call.”
Read Acts 22:16
An evangelical friend insisted one is saved only by thinking. So I said to him:
1. Suppose someone came to you and said, “What are you waiting for? Be
baptized and wash away your sins.” Would you do it?
2. He replied, “No.”
3. I said, “Now turn to Acts 22:16 and read it aloud.”
He did so and had no reply. The next time I saw him, he said, “I was baptized for
the forgiveness of sins.”
I said, “Congratulations!” and we shook hands.
Where does sacred scripture include a prayer or prescription to believe
something about Yeshua in a conversion account?
Did the apostle Paul think the Spirit and believing were integral to baptism in
water?

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 Read Acts 19:1-5
While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived
at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the
Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to
believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
How is one “saved by grace through faith, not of works” in Ephesians 2:8-9?
Ephesians 2:4-6
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive
with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have
been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ…
Ephesians 2:8,9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Did the apostle Paul regard baptism in water as a work of human merit? Obviously
not.
Colossians 2:12,13
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with
him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God
made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
Was the thief who repented, promised paradise, and who was crucified with Christ,
ever baptized in water?
It is more likely than not that the thief, being a Jew, had been baptized in water by
John the Baptist or by disciples of Jesus, as per Luke 7:29.

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“All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words,
acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by
John.”
“Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and
baptizing more disciples than John” – John 4:1
Does sacred scripture say anywhere that baptism in water saves?
1 Peter 3:21
“this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt
from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

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