What would you do if you were a physician and your patient did not act on your advice?

When the patient has a condition that can be corrected by a proven treatment program, it is frustrating for the doctor when the patient chooses not to follow it and does not get better.

The patient may complain to the physician, on the one hand, about the condition and wish to get better… but may resist the physician’s prescription. It may be too costly, too bothersome, or the patient may not trust the recommendation. 

How does this example relate to our need for baptism?

Why do I need to be baptized? The short answer is because it is a vital requirement of the terms that the great Physician in heaven has set out for our recovery. It is necessary for our healing from sin and sharing in the victory, gained by His son, over the power of the grave.

The starting point for our approaching God is to recognize that we have a need that is greater than ourselves, a need that we cannot meet by our own means. We must understand the condition from which a recovery is needed — and want it.

What is that need? The need, in its simplest terms, is to be freed from the law of sin and death. Without coming to God, death will be the final and permanent end of our conscious existence. We will cease to be, returning to the nothingness before we were born.

If the final end at death is not the outcome we seek, then there is a need to come to God on His terms. We need to read His book to learn what those terms are and what we need to do.

When we open God’s book and read it, we learn that baptism – meaning full immersion under water as an adult – is one of the vital requirements for approaching Him.

Last updated 2025-06-25 Next update scheduled 2025-07-24