Do you believe being baptized automatically makes someone a Christian? Does it automatically give faith to the one being baptized?
Do you believe that someone can have a saving faith apart/before baptism?
It seems we have a different definition of "Christian". Yours seems to be one who has been baptized while mine is one who believes/has faith.
I believe that God baptizes us...which means that faith is given in our baptisms. This should be another thread really? We've had multiple lengthy threads here on the forum, and I mean lengthy.
As for what I believe, since God baptizes and gives faith, we can say that person became a Christian at his/her baptism. We can also say that person can reject Christ and not believe, damning himself.
Yes, saving faith can be apart from baptism, but someone who has faith prior to baptism should and would seek out baptism if able.
Here on this forum, we use the Nicene Creed as our Statement of Faith so that we have a common ground in knowing who is a Christian. If only the Baptist pastor had used the Nicene Creed instead of instantly declaring someone a non-believer, then maybe he wouldn't have felt the need to go around telling people that they weren't true Christians and that he had to lead them to him?
