Quote Originally Posted by Chuchip View Post
Didn't the apostle Paul and the other missionaries of his time baptize new converts? Also in John 3:5 Jesus says that a person needs to be born of the water and of the spirit in order to enter the kingdom of God, and in Mark 16:16 it says that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.

And BTW the Mormon church practices both baptism by immersion and the Holy Spirit, the two go hand in hand in the Mormon religion.
Paul said "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel". (1 Cor 1:17). Yes he baptised a couple of people, however note how he also says he is glad he didn't baptise any others. Most importantly, those that he did baptise were Jews, so their baptism was in keeping with the way in which early converts from Judaism kept their Jewish traditions. Paul did it for the same reason he had Timothy circumcised... so that he might be a Jew to the Jews, and a Gentile to the Gentiles. We don't give that as proof that Christians ought to be circumcised, so why do it with baptism?

Also I think John 3:5 is symbolism, again looking to the example of Hebrews... the idea of the living water and never thirsting again.