3 hours, 1 minute.
That's how fast my son ran the Boston Marathon. His goal was to get under 3 hours, so he's disappointed in his effort. I say he did wonderful. He came in 1336 out of nearly 25,000 runners. Not bad in my mind. When it comes to running, and all the nutrition and exercise that goes into it, I think he's amazing. His mother and I are rightly proud of him.
Now, to answer the question I posed just before we left for Boston. Who was the first person EVER to be baptized? My sister tried a guess, and it was a pretty good one. She guessed John the Baptist. However, that's not it. Where did John the Baptist get the idea for performing baptisms? And, another thing to consider, Jesus said, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Born of the water and the spirit. So, does that mean just those who lived at the time of Christ and since, and have been baptized can enter? Or does it mean what he said, NO ONE can enter without baptism?
What about all those who have never heard of Jesus?
What about all those who lived before Jesus lived?
Instead of giving the answer, I think I'll post this question again and see if all my faithful followers (all one or two of you) can think of the answer with all the clues I just provided.
Well I know for a fact that it doesn't mean NO ONE, because we have baptism for the dead... so even if somebody has never hear of Jesus, or if it were before that time, they have the choice to accept the gospel in the afterlife! However, I am clueless who performed the first baptism... Jesus?
ReplyDeleteHaha! When you said your sister gave an answer... I was thinking, "What sister?"! LOL! DUH! Blonde moment!
Hmm, you've got a point. We do baptisms for the dead for those who those who haven't accepted the gospel during their lives. Good point, but that's still not it.
ReplyDeleteHere's a couple more hints for you and for all those numerous followers of this blot (all 1 or 2 of you) to consider.
In Solomon's Temple, and in Moses's Tabernacle, there was what was a huge basin set on the backs of 12 simulated oxen representing the 12 tribes of Israel. It was used for baptisms. Hmm. Now that was quite some time before Christ was born.
Also, and here's the biggest hint, The scriptures show that many people had the "fullness of the gospel" in their day, and thus must have had the all the ordinances necessary for salvation. Think of the cities of Salem and Enoch which were taken up to Heaven. Did they have the ordinance of baptism? If the ONLY way to salvation comes in and through baptism, as Jesus said, how could they have had the "fullness" without it?
So with those clues, my question should be pretty easy to answer, now.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeletePass on my kudos to Mike. What a great showing in a classy event. The best I could have done would be to hold a water bottle for him at a staging point! Also, thanks for keeping everyone on their doctrinal toes.