Ask the Pastor: Boova's Acts 8 baptism question
- Do people baptized in the name of Jesus still need laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17)?
Ben introduces Ask the Pastor, jokingly sponsored by 1,000 Balloons, and Boova (after an audiobook pitch where he reads the whole novel himself: "God has a plan for this book, and it's me") reads Acts 8:14-17: the Samaritans had been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus but had not received the Holy Spirit until Peter and John laid hands on them. He admits it freaked him out: he has recently baptized people and wants to do it right, and he recognizes Acts describes the church's beginnings, not necessarily a standing pattern. Ben reframes the split as the broader denominational question of when the Holy Spirit comes upon people, then hands it to Dan and Gabe.
More on Baptism
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Is skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee sacrilegious?
- Is skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee sacrilegious?
The hosts debate the hard question: one argues the category of 'sacrilegious' itself is man-made — something is sin or it isn't — and that the congressman's real problem was foolishness, not location (Jesus was in a boat there; it is moving, recycled water).
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Chat questions: what must one do to be saved?
- What must one do to be saved?
- At what point is someone saved?
Reading listener questions from the chat — one host tosses the first to Dan by name — the hosts answer that faith is always the baseline: belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God who died physically and rose physically, since 'demons believe and shudder' too.
From No. 34 · Where Do I Start?
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Dawson: everything feels like a sales pitch
Mike asks Dawson where the church presents community poorly. Dawson: everything feels like a sales pitch now — every invitation defended with ten reasons, which makes people suspicious.
From No. 590 · Theodore Franco
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Baptism Sunday spectacle: mascot, dunk Sunday, inflatables
Ben describes a church advertising a big baptism Sunday complete with a basketball-team mascot, “dunk Sunday,” rides, and inflatables, and asks whether meeting Jesus is really that life-changing or whether churches fluff it up.
From No. 588 · hypokritēs