Nathan
I understand what you're saying, including the fact that we should be baptized in water.
BUT, then WHY should we be baptized in water AT ALL if you're premise is correct??
I believe the key to this is in
Acts 1:5
John baptized with WATER
but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Did Jesus mean baptized with water in the Holy Spirit?
Or did He mean that the Holy Spirit would fall upon them with no water??
Then in Acts 2, Pentecost, the holy Spirit fell upon them with no water, as a tongue of fire.
I must say that from the beginning, as I've posted the Didache and so has
Jim Parker, the early Christians did continue to baptize with water and in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I must say that when I need to filter ideas I always go back to the early church.
Maybe THEY understood better than we do because they were so close to the Apostles. Ideas have changed during the centuries that have gone by.
John does say that not everything is written down because it would not fit.