The True Meaning of Baptism

"How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God"    Hebrews 9:14

The ordinance of baptism in the LDS faith is believed to be an act that cleanses your soul of your sins. Without such ritual, one cannot receive the LDS idea of fundamental salvation; hence, why they see it important to perform such rituals in proxy for those who are dead. The LDS sacrament is then used for repentance after one is baptized as a further renewal of baptism and a continuation of cleansing of the soul. Essentially, the LDS faith believes actual forgiveness of sins from God requires the very act of rituals alongside a repentant heart. One without the other bars you from receiving redemption, membership in the LDS church, and connection with God through the Spirit. The purpose of this dissertation is to illustrate how problematic it is to confine the enabling power of God into a ritual or sign, and how debased from biblical concepts of ablution (washing) and repentance the LDS church really is. 

When looking at the LDS church ordinances and rituals performed, especially in the temple, one can see a considerable amount of Old Covenant retrieval mixed in with New Covenant concepts and practices. While the LDS church does not perform sacrifices, the institution carries the Law of Moses idea rituals must be performed by designated priests in order for our spiritual progression and sanctification. However, the LDS church believes without these rituals, the spiritual progression and sanctification cannot truly occur. For a contemporary church focused so much on Old Covenant retrieval, they fail to understand how much their practices fail to coincide with both the Old and New Covenant.

The Law of Moses was instituted by God to establish a relationship with His people, the symbolism of reconciliation, used as a teaching tool, establish order, foreshadow the Messiah, and focus on internal disposition. However, the law was ultimately created to expose our sinful nature to the core and how much we needed God Romans 3:20 :

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Additionally, Hebrews 10:1 :

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The law was a shadow of the good things to come and was used as a stumbling block to make people realize they will always fail trying to gain their own righteousness. The law exposed our sin so we turn ourselves to God saying we cannot do this ourselves and need a savior. Never did any portion of the rituals and sacrifices performed in the Law hold the enabling power of God that forgave people of their sins. The Old Testament repeatedly states this. 

Psalm 51:16-17 King David, after his sin with Bathsheba, writes this psalm of repentance :

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The Sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Isaiah 1:11-17 Prophet Isaiah relays God's message to the people of Judah, criticizing their reliance on rituals instead of true repentance :

"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or lambs, or of goats."

Hosea 6:6 God expresses through the prophet Hosea He prefers our change of heart to God and not sacrifices :

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."

The ritual of offering sacrifices never cleansed the soul of a person. The ritual to God was merely a sign, a declaration, and a visual representation of nothing we can physically offer can release us from sin. Underneath all the pomp and circumstance of rituals and signs, God ultimately desired just a change of heart to him. This includes cleansings, temple rituals, offerings, regulations, and sacrifices Hebrews 9: 9-10 :

According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

The reference to time of reformation is that of the advent of the New Covenant through Jesus Christ. These practices mentioned are seen as temporary measures until Christ came and transformed these old practices into a new spiritual reality, meaning a transformation into a more spiritual form of worship and relationship with God with the indwelling of the Spirit. Only select few had influence of the Spirit before Christ and none had the permanent indwelling requiring mediators, such as high priests and prophets, for the people. God's objective in this New Covenant is having the inner workings of the Holy Spirit transform us in a spiritual and inward-focused faith. 

Why would God confine His enabling power of cleansing our souls in a baptismal ritual if that was never His true design of rituals in the Old Covenant? Additionally, why would God require baptism for the cleansing of sin in the New Covenant after Christ had already cleansed us of our sins? Was Christ's sacrifice not complete? Does it require more enabling power and rituals? To say so would infer Christ's sacrifice was not eternal and limited to further ritual power and diminish its worth. Did not John the Baptist confront the crowd telling them true repentance is more than just the ritual? Luke 3:7-8 :

He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance."

People were coming to be baptized believing the ritual would avoid the wrath of God to come. However, John is confronting them saying that is not true repentance and the act of baptism does not save them. Only true repentance cleanses a soul and the baptism is just the sign. Why else would he go on to instruct a change of heart to all those present waiting to be baptized?

Take Psalm 51:17 once more. Animal sacrifice was a form of ritual in the law. The true ritual of God for repentance are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. The Hebrew word used for contrite is נִדְכֶּ֖ה (nidkeh), which means to be in a state of deep humility and remorse. God does not need our works or rituals. All he desires is our hearts in humility. The rituals are designed for us to understand our submission, not unlock dedicated powers from God. 

The requirement of their specific baptismal ritual in order to be a member of the LDS church and receive redemption is establishing mediators of men between the positional state of your soul and God. In fact, it comes off more as an allegiance to the institution rather than to God. How often do you hear members of the LDS church use the phrase "baptized into the LDS church"? Quite frequently. Christ is our only mediator between us and God, and no institution or men can do so (1 Timothy 2:5). To say otherwise is deceptive and malevolent. 

Not one person is to be baptized into an institution or any other league of men. You are to be baptized into Jesus Christ and belong to nothing else. Your souls were bought with a price; therefore, you belong to God alone (Corinthians 6:19-20). To say otherwise goes against Romans 6:3-4 :

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Baptism is symbolic of the death and resurrection. Just as Christ was crucified, you too crucify your old self and start a newness of life like his resurrection. This is fundamentally what baptism is—a sign. A type of proclamation for all to see that you have turned your heart in humility to God and accept faith in Christ's death and resurrection is the only way for us to receive redemption. A symbol of your submission to God that becomes a meridian of time in your life to always remember. A submission for you to understand. Christ giving the command to his disciples to go and baptize new followers in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) is a command for people to make a public proclamation of submission and renewal in life. This is not at all a requirement where behind this sign is God's grace enabled (outlined in the dissertation "The True Meaning of Grace").

Baptism is done after one has come to a fundamental understanding that salvation comes through faith alone. One must, in humility to God, believe that our sinful nature is only forgiven through Christ before they enter the waters of baptism to truly understand this sign of proclamation. Our act of the ritual itself is a dead work in regard to purification of the conscience, while the true cleansing comes from the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14). The LDS church baptizing young children at an arbitrary age of eligibility is done purely out of orthodoxy and the foolish belief the power of grace is confined in the sign itself. These children do not understand, which is supposed to be the whole purpose. They do not truly actualize the inner sense of doom being cut off from the Fountain of Life resulting in sin and death with no hope of obtaining our own recovery (Romans 5:12-14). Baptism must be done when one is ready to crucify the old self and take on a new life after a true faith in Christ has been established. As illustrated with the rituals of the Old Covenant, God truly desires a humble heart to Him before the sign of proclamation is made. This is why it is said we are justified by faith alone apart from the works of the law (Romans 3:28). Our view on baptism should be very much be the same in order to match the character of God. 

LDS defense of this belief that one must be baptized to receive salvation often uses the scripture John 3:5 :

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

This is an alarmingly bad interpretation of this passage that exposes the biblical illiteracy of the LDS church. Firstly, the kingdom of God is not a destination or a place referring to heaven. The kingdom of God/heaven is a state of mind enveloped in God's will all around us. This is explicitly explained by Christ in Luke 17:20-21 :

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God in not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."

Secondly, being "born of water" is a metaphor for spiritual cleansing, not the physical sign itself. This spiritual cleansing can also be referred to as being "born again", which Jesus clarifies in John 3:3 :

Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Water is often used metaphorically in the Bible to represent spiritual cleansing. None of which refer to baptism; rather, God cleansing those in His creation with his Spirit and word (Ezekiel 36:25-27, Isaiah 44:3, John 7:37-39, Ephesians 5:26).

The LDS church not only has this bizarre Old Covenant retrieval mixed in with New Covenant ideas, it interprets the purpose and function of Old Covenant practices incorrectly. Baptism is a prominent example of this. One must ask if the real purpose of baptism in the LDS church is to proclaim their allegiance to the institution rather than God with their mentality and mindset about this sign. Any institution claiming exclusive ownership and control over God's enabling power and truth should be met with alarm. This is confining God to a small box to be used and gatekept by the will of men. Instead, one should consider that God's truth and enabling power has always existed separate from any control on Earth, and the best we can do is tap into it by our faith. 

Baptism should be looked at as a more universal sign of proclamation entering into a universal body of Christ decentralized from anyone's control except for Christ himself (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). We are sanctified by the word of God and not by any restrictions and guidance from a highly corporatized church (John 17:17). No longer are we enslaved to the opinions and bureaucracy of men in order to receive our redemption. With Christ as our only mediator, this matter of recovery is to be settled with you and God.