Comments on: Does baptism provide automatic forgiveness?

By: Luke

Luke — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 05:47:00 +0000

“It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it.” -John Taylor. And sorry, you’re not doing it… Keep it simple as the Gospel dude and you’ll bring the Spirit even more than you’re already doing with your admirable efforts.

By: John P

John P — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:21:00 +0000

If repentance is proper and the baptismal interview properly passed, the baptismal candidate is pure and clean at the time of baptism, and many have testified of coming out of the water feeling such. It is then up to the individual to apply the principles of repentance daily and return to the church each Sunday to receive the sacrament to renew that cleanliness.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:54:00 +0000

Baptism is a covenant, and that covenant is one of obedience. In Mosiah 18:13, Alma baptizes the people, and he doesn’t say anything about a remission of sins, but as a sign of their entering into that covenant. Yes, baptism is “for the remission of sins”, but the important word there is “for”. We have to be baptized to be cleansed from sin, but that cleansing does not come from baptism itself. If it did, we would have to be baptized every time we wanted forgiveness. The actual cleansing from sin comes from the baptism of fire, which is from the Holy Ghost. As part of the Baptismal covenant, we strive to always have the Spirit with us. Several of the sections on the Doctrine and Covenants are revelations given to an individual, and quite often are prefaced with “thy sins are forgiven” in the first few verses. The Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean vessel. As such, every time we feel the influence of the Holy Ghost, those words are also spoken, though often unheard, “Thy sins are forgiven”.