During a debate against Otis Gatewood (Campbellite), Kenneth E. Farnsworth (LDS) affirmed the doctrine of baptismal regeneration (a shared belief with Gatewood):
Now, Mr. Gatewood's church
teaches that all who have died without being baptized by immersion for the
remission of sins, will be damned. Mr. Gatewood's church teaches that all who
have not been baptized by immersion for the remission of sins will be damned.
Now if there are any good Catholics and Methodists in this congregation, that
means that you and all of your ancestors that were sprinkled, baptized by
sprinkling, are damned. That means that all those good ancestors of yours who
were not baptized by immersion, are damned. If they were not baptized they were
damned, because Mr. Gatewood teaches that baptism by immersion is essential to
man's salvation. And I will show you by the scriptures that Mr. Gatewood is
correct.
I quote from John 3:5.
"Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." So Mr.
Gatewood's church is right in teaching that unless a man is baptized by water
and the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Again we find in Acts 2 :38.
''Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Ghost." Now if baptism is for the remission of sins, then
surely it's essential to man's salvation, because unless you receive the
remission of your sins you cannot be saved. So again Mr. Gatewood's church is
right in maintaining that baptism is essential to salvation.
But what about those countless
millions of honest souls who did not hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and who
did not have the saving ordinance of baptism performed while they were here on
this earth? That's the question I want you to keep in mind, ladies and
gentlemen.
Now I'm going to give you an
example showing clearly that even though a man confess Jesus, even though a man
repent sincerely of his sins, he still is in his sins until he has been
baptized for the remission of his sins. The example I call to your attention is
that of Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute the saints, and while on the
way he beheld a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ and was stricken blind. We are
told that Paul neither ate nor drank for three days, but was in continual
fasting and prayer. Certainly Paul was converted by that vision. Certainly Paul
was repentant after seeing or beholding the Christ. And yet, when Ananias came
to Paul, even after that conversion, even after that repentance, he said,
"And now why tarriest thou? Arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins." So Paul, even though converted, was still in his sins and had to be
baptized and wash away his sins.
So Mr. Gatewood's church is right
in teaching that baptism by immersion is essential to salvation, because the
scriptures certainly teach that doctrine. And I want to ask you again, my
friends, what about those countless millions of people, including the prophets,
that did not have an opportunity of hearing the gospel of Christ, the only plan
of salvation? They did not have the opportunity of being baptized by immersion
for' the remission of sins.
Now, Mr. Gatewood, as I said,
teaches that the mode of baptism must be by immersion, and I believe he is correct.
I believe the Bible will bear him out in that. Col. 2:12 says,. "Being
buried with him in baptism." Baptism there is com· pared to a burial.
Certainly that indicates that it is by immersion. We find that Jesus came up
straightway out of the water, showing further that immersion is the correct
mode.
Now, my brothers and sisters, you
recall a story in the Bible, a true story, where Naaman, a leper, heard of a
prophet in Israel that could heal him of his leprosy. You have read that Naaman
went to Israel; and he went to the prophet and the prophet sent a servant out
to Naaman and said, "Go dip seven times in the River Jordan and you shall
be cleansed of your leprosy." Naaman was very angry at first. Why should
he dip in the River Jordan? But he went and dipped seven times in the River
Jordan and was healed of his leprosy.
Now my friends, Naaman did as he
was told. Suppose Naaman had sprinkled himself seven times—would Naaman have
been cleansed? No, because he would have shown a lack of faith in God and
certainly would not have been cleansed. But he was told to dip seven times and
he dipped and was clean. And so the Lord has commanded us to be baptized, which
means to be dipped, or immersed, and if you do anything else, you show a lack
of faith in God.
So Mr. Gatewood is right and his
church, in teaching that unless a man is born of the water and of the Spirit,
and that by immersion, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. (Kenneth F.
Farnsworth, “Baptism For the Dead: First Affirmative,” in Gatewood-Farnsworth
Debate on “Mormonism” [Salt Lake City: Otis Gatewood, 1942], 9-11)
I am going to comment on the
question that was asked me, "Why practice baptism for the dead and not
tithing for the dead and so on and so forth?" Now, I am sure that Mr.
Gatewood will admit that without the grace of Christ, Christ suffering on the
cross for the sins of the world-my sins, your sins-of course, on condition of
repentance and obedience to the gospel; without that grace there is no
salvation. It is the grace of Christ makes possible the remission of sins. Now
there is only one way for a man to have his sins remitted through the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's by baptism by immersion for the remission
of sins. The thing that makes baptism valid is the fact that Jesus Christ
atoned on the cross for our sins, and those that believe and are baptized for
the remission of sins will have them remitted. (Kenneth F. Farnsworth, “Baptism
For the Dead: Fourth Affirmative,” in Gatewood-Farnsworth Debate on “Mormonism”
[Salt Lake City: Otis Gatewood, 1942], 44, emphasis in bold added)
