The manual starts out, “the mission of John the Baptist was to prepare
the hearts of the people to receive the Savior and become more like Him. How
did John do it? He proclaimed, ‘Repent
Baptist attracted so many people because he was the First True prophet in 400
years. His criticism of both Herod and
the religious leaders was a daring act that fascinated the common people. But he also had strong words for the others
in his audience – they too were sinners and needed to repent. They confessed their sins and John baptized
them in the Jordan River.
normal practice to, baptize Jews. Baptism
was necessary for a Gentile in order to covert to Judaism. John’s baptism was new in that he was asking
the Jews themselves to be baptized as a sign of repentance. The Jews considered themselves “clean” as
descendants of Abraham – only “unclean” Gentiles needed baptism. But John explained that sin makes everyone
“unclean,” and they all needed to repent of sin in, order to receive forgiveness.
the LDS Bible Dictionary –
true repentance is a “change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and
about the world.” “a
turning of the heart and will to God.”
Then the manual asks, “How can you show that you have truly
repented?” And it quotes “Luke 3:8 ”Bring forth
therefore fruits worthy of repentance.” Does that mean you have to have good
works to earn salvation yourselves? No,
the fruits come from the knowing that you have been forgiven. They are fruits of love manifested in
kindness, tolerance, patience, forgiveness, etc.
In Matthew 3:11 John explained that baptism DEMONSTRATED repentance. Baptism was an “outward” sign of an “inward” commitment. To be effective, it had to be accompanied by
an “inward” change of attitude leading to a changed life.
The manual then brings up the point that
Jesus Christ was baptized to “fulfill all righteousness” as written in Matthew 3:15. The manual also states “Nephi recorded some important teachings about the Savior’s
baptism in 2
Nephi 31.” But when you read the 31st chapter of 2 Nephi, you find all
kinds of problems with it. First, of all
Nephi declares what he calls the “doctrine of CHRIST.” “Christ”
was a Greek term used in the Kings James Version of
the bible. It begs the question, “What
would Nephi a supposedly Jewish Hebrew, writing in Reformed Egyptian, be doing
using a Greek term – yet to be invented – to describe the coming Messiah?” Nephi is writing this between 559 BC and 545
BC according to the Book of Mormon, which would make the name “Christ” completely anachronistic. As well, the name of the future Messiah was
never mentioned in the Old Testament record.
There is much more that I could comment on in 2 Nephi’s chapter 31, but we need to
ask, “Why, was Jesus baptized if baptism is not essential for salvation?” Jesus was our example, but Jesus had no
sin. He cannot be our example in being
“baptized for the remission of sins” if He had no sin. Why, then was Jesus baptized? In Matthew 3:15,
Jesus said to John, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness.” Jesus was declaring, “You, John the
Baptist, are the last prophet of the Old Testament (Luke 16:16, Matthew 11:13) and I am come to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17).” Thus, by you baptizing Me, we shall fulfill