Thought of the Day 07.23.09

I recently found myself engaged in a ferocious argument with a pastor over the relationship of baptism to salvation. Although we both agreed that all Christians should be baptized, I was saying that baptism is an essential part of salvation, and he was saying it is not. In my opinion, I lost this argument by a small margin.

Naturally, I found myself thinking heavily about these issues for the next day or so. This drove me to study my Bible with tremendous passion, and, in the end, I am even more firmly convinced that my position is correct, surely a discouraging result for my friend.

But the great value of our discussion is that it gave me new questions to take with me on my exploration of the Scriptures. I wanted to find out if his use of passages was valid. I wanted to see if there were sold replies to his assertions. In short, losing (or something close to it) invigorated my thinking on the subject, and forced me even more deeply into understanding why I believe what I believe.

And even if we do not agree, I truly hope he has been enjoying similar results. That is one of the great benefits of vigorous Biblical dialogue.