“You are now the cleanest person on the planet.” This is what the Branch President of my local Mormon Church would say at the ceremony for anyone who had just been baptized into the Church.
On a Church website for Baptism, it says, “Baptism is being born of the water.” It makes it possible for us to be made clean from our sins, which is necessary for us to return to God.”
I came across an ad for the Church on my Facebook feed the other day, featuring the quote above with a picture of Jesus being baptized. I had many thoughts come to mind as I looked at the picture and pondered what they were trying to say in their statement.
Do they believe Jesus needed to be cleansed from sin? He was sinless, which is why he could be a sacrifice for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 –
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
The notion that water could cleanse us of our sins, in the same way a bath cleans our bodies, shows a complete misunderstanding of baptism on their part. Mormons tend to be a bit squeamish when you speak of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and his blood cleansing us from our sins. This is probably why they use tap water instead of grape juice for communion and why you’ll never see a cross on their steeples.
For a Christian, baptism is symbolic of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. It’s an outward expression of the change in the heart of the believer and a desire to live for Jesus. For the Christian, the statement – “It makes it possible for us to be made clean from our sins” never crosses their minds. We know Jesus has already made it possible for us to be made clean from our sins. The believer knows it’s the blood of Christ that has cleansed them from their sins, not the water.
The Mormon baptism isn’t complete without the individual receiving the “gift of the Holy Spirit”. This ordinance is called confirmation. Two priesthood holders lay their hands on the individual’s head and tell them to receive the Holy Ghost! After this, they are officially a member of the Church.
I’ll be diving into this topic in my next post. For now, I want to end with my prayer that all Mormons will come to know Jesus as their savior and the only way for salvation.
In Christ,
Melissa Grimes
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