After A Dire warning: The Gosples Have Been Added To And Taken Away From.

So you are saying baptism has nothing at all to do with cleansing of sins?

It is ultimately through faith in Jesus Christ and his blood, not the water itself, that sins are cleansed. 

So who gave John the authority to preform baptisms?

According to the Gospel of John (1:33), 

John the Baptist received his authority to baptize directly from God. He was sent with a divine mission to prepare the way for the Messiah, acting as a prophet with authority from heaven rather than from men. 

And who baptised John?

There is no record in the New Testament of anyone baptizing John the Baptist

. He is considered the initiator of his own baptism ministry, directly commissioned by God. 

Stephen wrote: So you are saying baptism has nothing at all to do with cleansing of sins?

Debby Wrote: It is ultimately through faith in Jesus Christ and his blood, not the water itself, that sins are cleansed. 

Ok so you are saying that baptism has nothing to do with washing away one's sin's. Yes or No?

And who baptised John?

Debby wrote:. There is no record in the New Testament of anyone baptizing John the Baptist. He is considered the initiator of his own baptism ministry, directly commissioned by God.

So you don't know.

So here again we have yet another one of those ambiguous half stories concerning one of these New Testament characters

You and your AI don't know a lot do you ?.

Making people drop dead - sorry, I know that has happened, but I don't recall a specific instance of it, 

Do you mean personally or biblically?

I mean personally

there were no Christians in Jesus' time

That's like saying that there were no long-distance swimmers outside Noah's ark. The biblical record does not record such, but that in no way means that there were no such swimmers. The record does not indicate that Mary, Jesus' mother, ever held him, never even saw him after his resurrection when there were many who did. Does that mean his own mother never saw him after watching his death on the cross? No.

It's the old logic story: one cannot prove a negative.

fauxlaw wrote: Making people drop dead - sorry, I know that has happened, but I don't recall a specific instance of it, 

Do you mean personally or biblically?

fauxlaw wrote:I mean personally

Ok. Do you not recall a specific instance biblically i.e. an instance in the bible where people have simply dropped down dead?.

That's like saying that there were no long-distance swimmers outside Noah's ark. The biblical record does not record such, but that in no way means that there were no such swimmers. The record does not indicate that Mary, Jesus' mother, ever held him, never even saw him after his resurrection when there were many who did. Does that mean his own mother never saw him after watching his death on the cross? No.

Silly analogy but ok, But one would have expected the grand reunion of mother and holy son to have been recorded.

There again maybe he hated his mother "blessed of all women" so much, that he couldn't be bothered to pay her a visit because she wasn't worthy of his majestic presence? Luke 14:26

Oh, sure. But death is not the end of things; it's just a door we walk through into another place. So what?

Luke 14:26

Thus, my insistence that the Bible is not infallible, due to troubles in translation for a variety of reasons, including purposeful corruption, and about which I am currently writing both and non-fiction and an historic fiction novel on the subject. But, as I've also said, such interrupts can be inquired of God to gain grater understanding, and such inquiry does work as He promises.

fauxlaw wrote: Making people drop dead - sorry, I know that has happened, but I don't recall a specific instance of it, 

Do you mean personally or biblically?

fauxlaw wrote:I mean personally

Ok. Do you not recall a specific instance biblically i.e. an instance in the bible where people have simply dropped down dead?. YES Or NO?

Yes, people have died suddenly in the Bible.

A few examples:

Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10): Dropped dead instantly at the feet of the apostle Peter after lying to the Holy Spirit about money.

Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6-7): Struck dead on the spot for reaching out to steady the Ark of the Covenant when an ox stumbled.

King Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:20-23): Struck down by an angel of the Lord and eaten by worms because he accepted praise as a god.

Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:1-2): Consumed by fire from the Lord immediately after offering "unauthorized fire" on the altar.