We have all been influenced by someone else "teaching" us. I highly doubt that anyone here on this site has grown up reading the bible without another individual giving an explanation to him/her. When someone disagrees it's easy to lash out and say it's because they were taught incorrectly. How about instead just point out the error without digging into the person?
Does scripture tell us whether or not the thief on the cross was baptized? Most of us have just been taught that he wasn't but I haven't seen proof.
Yes, we have cultural bias in our reading. To overcome that bias we should attempt inductive study rather than lean on others opinions.
Arguing from silence is not a valid argument. We can observe and study the text to see what it is saying. Only after we have worked through the passage should we consult others to see if we may have missed something.
The greek word for baptism is not always referring to the use of water. It means to immerse or dip into. What that substance is can be anything. In some cases that immersion is spiritual, into the life of Christ. In other cases it is physically into water. The context does not indicate that the immersion into water results in a mystical union with God. The immersion in water results in a community being shown a tangible declaration that God has adopted and made the person alive in Christ, not by virtue of baptism, but solely by God's choice to graciously make a dead person come to life (regeneration).
Arguments for baptismal regeneration are examples of really poor hermaneutics and purposeful ignorance of other passages in the Bible while clinging to small sentence prooftexts...not kept in their original context.
Continued efforts to manipulate God and His word, just to create a false narrative taught by your church, is very disappointing to say the least.
