Baptism quotes
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Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins is an essential covenant to make with the Lord. Faith and repentance precede this ordinance. Confirmation and the gift of the Holy Ghost follow baptism. Acceptance of these first principles and ordinances may obtain for us a remission of our sins and assure our salvation. In the ordinance of the sacrament, we regularly renew this and other covenants, and by complying with our part of the covenant, we receive the Spirit of the Lord to be with us.
-- A. Theodore Tuttle -
Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical threshold, or in other words, with transformation.
-- Abraham Verghese -
After many painful trials, which none can know, but those who are taught to relinquish a system in which they had been educated, I settled down in the full persuasion, that the immersion of a professing believer in Christ is the only Christian baptism.
-- Adoniram Judson -
A person may be Baptized, and yet not born again to grace, in consequence of not having the necessary dispositions at Baptism.
-- Alphonsus Liguori -
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The Lord was Baptized, not to be cleansed Himself, but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin, might have the power of Baptism.
-- Ambrose -
Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. No one is excepted, not [even] the infant.
-- Ambrose -
I am the slave of my baptism. Parents, you have caused my misfortune, and you have caused your own.
-- Arthur Rimbaud -
Most of us like thinking we are God's only children...At least one of the purposes of church is to remind us that God has other children, easily as precious as we. Baptism and narcissism cancel each other out.
-- Barbara Brown Taylor -
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Religion needs a baptism of horse sense.
-- Billy Sunday -
Regardless of our individual circumstances, we can all enjoy the full blessings of priesthood power through keeping the covenants we have made at baptism and in the temple.
-- Bonnie L. Oscarson -
Baptism is rich in meaning. It suggests cleansing. When you are a disciple, you understand that you are cleansed by Christ. You understand that Christ died in your place on the cross, paying for your sins, fully forgiving you for all your wrongs. You are cleansed from guilt, and you are becoming a cleaner, healthier, more whole person.
-- Brian D. McLaren -
When Joseph received the revelation that we have in our possession concerning the [baptism of the] dead, the subject was opened to him, not in full but in part... Then women were baptized for men and men for women, & c.
-- Brigham Young -
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This doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the most glorious doctrines that was ever revealed to the human family; and there are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it.
-- Brigham Young -
Baptism is the gate through which all must enter to accomplish the Lord’s desire to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
-- Bruce R. McConkie -
Let us, then, who in Baptism have both died and been buried in respect to the carnal sins of the old man, who have risen again with Christ in the heavenly regeneration, both think upon and do the things that are Christ's.
-- Cyprian -
If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant] approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another
-- Cyprian -
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Knowing that there is one Baptism, we who hold the head and root of the One Church know for certain that to him who is outside the Church nothing is lawful.
-- Cyprian -
Baptism pertains to the Church alone.
-- Cyprian -
Peter, in showing that the Church is one and that only those who are in the Church can be saved, said: "In the Ark of Noah certain persons, numbering only eight, were saved by water, which Baptism effects in like manner for you" (1 Peter 3:20). He proves and demonstrates that the solitary Ark of Noah was the figure of the One Church. If, at the time of this Baptism of the world anyone could have been saved without having been in the Ark of Noah, then he who is outside the Church could now be brought to life by Baptism.
-- Cyprian -
The spirit of revelation is available to every person who receives by proper priesthood authority the saving ordinances of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost - and who is acting in faith to fulfill the priesthood injunction to 'receive the Holy Ghost.'
-- David A. Bednar -
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I've had a lot of baptism by fire.
-- Donna Murphy -
Besides the physical ordinance of baptism and the laying on of hands, one must be spiritually born again to gain exaltation and eternal life.
-- Ezra Taft Benson -
The rain on my chest is a baptism - I'm born again.
-- Frank Miller -
As a man must be born before he can begin to lead his physical life, so he must be born to lead a Divine Life. That birth occurs in the Sacrament of Baptism. To survive, he must be nourished by Divine Life; that is done in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
-- Fulton J. Sheen -
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There are natures in which, if they love us, we are conscious of having a sort of baptism and consecration.
-- George Eliot -
Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state. Suffering can be likened to a baptism - the passing over the threshold of pain and grief and anguish to claim a new state of being.
-- George Eliot -
We are in China in obedience to the command of our Lord; and the purpose of our Mission is to disciple and make Christians of this great nation.. . This is a great spiritual work, and to secure success in it we need the abiding presence of the Spirit, and through the Spirit such a full baptism of power as will perfectly fit each one of us for the special work which God has given him to do.
-- Griffith John -
The Church does not dispense the sacrament of baptism in order to acquire for herself an increase in membership but in order to consecrate a human being to God and to communicate to that person the divine gift of birth from God.
-- Hans Urs von Balthasar -
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A story is not something of this world. A real story requires a kind of magical baptism to link the world on this side with the world on the other side.
-- Haruki Murakami -
Of what good is our faith, our repentance, our baptism, and all the sacred ordinances of the gospel by which we have been made ready to receive the blessings of the Lord, if we fail, on our part, to keep the commandments.
-- Heber J. Grant -
I consider it a degradation and a stain on my honor to submit to baptism in order to qualify myself for state employment in Prussia.
-- Heinrich Heine -
Baptize first the children; and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.
-- Hippolytus of Rome -
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[Jesus] was born and baptized that by his suffering he might purify the water.
-- Ignatius of Antioch -
Wherever the bishop shall appear, let the multitude of also be, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic [i.e., universal] church. It is not lawful either to baptize or to celebrate a love feast without the bishop, but whatever he approves of, that is also pleasing to God.
-- Ignatius of Antioch -
Deep, unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration, the initiation into a new state.
-- Ira Gershwin -
Baptism is not the work of man but of Christ, and this sacrament is so holy that it would not be defiled, even if the minister were a murderer.
-- Isidore of Seville -
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Jesus made saving repentance possible and He made baptism meaningful.
-- John H. Groberg -
God's people should be baptized because God commanded it, not because some church requires it.
-- John R. Rice -
Baptism with water is the sign and seal of baptism with the Spirit, as much as it is of the forgiveness of sins. Water-baptism is the initiatory Christian rite, because Spirit-baptism is the initiatory Christian experience.
-- John Stott -
The Lord will grant to any honest person who earnestly seeks to know the truth one manifestation by the Holy Ghost; but he is not entitled to repeated manifestations. After such a revelation is given, he is to act, for the Holy Ghost cannot be appealed to for continued manifestations until after baptism and the gift has been bestowed.
-- Joseph Fielding Smith -
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The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.
-- Joseph Smith, Jr. -
Like a soldier back from battle you fill my vision. You're a flood, a baptism I'd forgotten, and the force of you leaves me breathless.
-- Julie Berry -
And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins and to regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined.
-- Justin Martyr -
If you are eagerly looking for salvation, and if you believe in God, you may ... become acquainted with the Christ of God, and, after being initiated [a reference to baptism], live a happy life.
-- Justin Martyr -
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[Martin] Luther did not regard the water in baptism as common water, but as a water which had become, through the Word with its inherent divine power, a gracious water of life, a washing of regeneration. Through this divine efficacy of the Word the sacrament effects regeneration.
-- Louis Berkhof -
As however the ancients say that in case of necessity any Christian lay person can administer the sacrament of baptism, so Luther says the same thing about absolution in case of necessity, where no priest is present.
-- Martin Chemnitz -
Indeed, baptism is a vow, a sacred vow of the believer to follow Christ. Just as a wedding celebrates the fusion of two hearts, baptism celebrates the union of sinner with Savior.
-- Max Lucado -
Baptism separates the tire kickers from the car buyers.
-- Max Lucado -
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Is it possible for an unbaptized believer to be saved? Yes, definitely. Should every believer be baptized? Yes, definitely.
-- Max Lucado -
The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit
-- Origen -
Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous
-- Origen -
Baptism is just as essential to salvation, as Faith and Repentance. Without being immersed in water no man can enter into the fullness of Celestial glory: for baptism is instituted for the remission of sins; and if a person does not take the necessary steps to obtain pardon of sins, of course, he cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.
-- Orson Pratt -
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Lent is a time of grace, a time to convert and live out our baptism fully.
-- Pope Francis -
We are called to live our baptism every day, as new creatures, clothed in Christ.
-- Pope Francis -
By Baptism we are made flesh of the Crucified
-- Pope Leo I -
To deny that in a child after baptism sin remains is to treat with contempt both Paul and Christ.
-- Pope Leo X -
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Every time a new record started, people exhaled with pleasure, or their bodies moved automatically. I really started getting high off of the euphoric exclamations. Every record I put on was like a baptism.
-- Questlove -
The Lord will bless us with more baptisms if you make sure the ones you have are going to keep their commitments. The Lord will not prepare more people for baptism if we are not converting the ones we have.
-- Richard G. Scott -
He set the example for all of us to humble ourselves before our Heavenly Father.
-- Robert D. Hales -
We are all welcome to come into the waters of baptism. He was baptized to witness to His Father that He would be obedient in keeping His commandments. He was baptized to show us that we should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
-- Robert D. Hales -
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When we understand our baptismal covenant and the gift of the Holy Ghost, it will change our lives and will establish our total allegiance to the kingdom of God.
-- Robert D. Hales -
If, therefore, there is any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water but from the Spirit's presence there.
-- Saint Basil -
All of us who desire the kingdom of God are, by the Lord's decree, under an equal and rigorous necessity of seeking after the grace of Baptism.
-- Saint Basil -
There are two sides to this Baptism: The first is, you possess the Spirit; The second is that the Spirit possesses you.
-- Smith Wigglesworth -
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Baptism was to put a line of demarcation between your past sins when you are buried with Him by Baptism-you are burying your past sins-eradicating them-putting a line in the sand saying that old man is dead and he is no longer alive any more and I rise up to walk in the newness of life.
-- T. D. Jakes -
Baptism is not to be conferred on a man who is unwilling to give up his other sins, so neither should Baptism be given to one who is unwilling to renounce his unbelief. Nevertheless, each of them receives the Sacrament if it is conferred on him, although not unto salvation.
-- Thomas Aquinas -
Right faith is of necessity required for Baptism, since it is said: "the justice of God is by faith in Jesus Christ" (Romans 3:22) ... Therefore, Baptism without faith avails nothing and thus we must recall that without faith no one is acceptable to God.
-- Thomas Aquinas -
Baptism is the Sacrament of Faith. Now, dead faith does not suffice for salvation .. .Therefore, the Sacrament of Baptism cannot give salvation to a man whose will ... expels the form of faith.
-- Thomas Aquinas -
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The fact is that a "minor exorcism" takes place in every Baptism and Confirmation ceremony when we renounce Satan and all his works and empty promises. This prayer service will be along those lines. I'm not saying that anyone involved in the redefinition of marriage is possessed by the devil, which, if that were the case, would require the remedy of a "Major Exorcism," but all of us are certainly subject to the devil's evil influences and in need of protection and deliverance from evil.
-- Thomas J. Paprocki -
If you accept the belief that baptism incorporates us in the mystical body of Christ, into the divine DNA, then you might say that the Holy Spirit is present in each of us, and thus we have the capacity for the fullness of redemption, of transformation.
-- Thomas Keating -
'We were created for eternal life by our Creator, we are called to it by the word of God, and we are renewed by holy Baptism. And Christ the Son of God came into the world for this, that He should call us and take us there, and He is the one thing needful. For this reason your very first endeavor and care should be to receive it. Without it everything is as nothing, though you have the whole world under you.'
-- Tikhon of Zadonsk -
Baptism is faith in action.
-- Watchman Nee -
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Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith.
-- Watchman Nee -
Before we go to our knees to receive the Baptism of Fire, let me beg of you to see to it that your souls are in harmony with the will and purpose of the Holy Spirit whom you seek.
-- William Booth -
Water is the most purifying element. It's always involved in baptisms, healings, that kind of work.
-- Eyvind Kang -
Anyone who is outside this Church ... is walking a path not to Heaven but to Hell. He is not getting closer to the home of eternal. life; on the contrary, he is hurrying to the torment of eternal death. And this is the case not only if he remains a pagan without Baptism, but even if he continue as a heretic after having been baptized.
-- Fulgentius of Cartagena -
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After I was in an ambush, my uncles were happy - it was almost like a baptism.
-- Hyder Akbar -
The baptism of the spirit will do for you, what a phone booth did for Clark Kent, it will change you into a different being.
-- Rod Parsley -
The LDS Church teaches that Christ's atoning sacrifice enables the resurrection of all human beings and provides an opportunity for individuals to progress toward exaltation, meaning a higher level of glory within the celestial kingdom. Only those individuals who make and keep covenants with God on earth - beginning with baptism but also including additional ordinances - will be exalted into the presence of God and their savior for eternity.
-- John Turner
