Baptism (Fire, Spirit, Water) Whatever

Some churches practice baptism by sprinking water on you when you are born or when you are of age. Others practice full emersion. The Pentocostal movement believes in Spiritual baptism. What exactly is baptism by fire?

I am not an expert, I do have my opinions, but will admit that I am lacking in this area.

There is no right or wrong answer here. Just share what you think, as so will I.

okcitykid, we seem to agree about a lot of our perceptions and the object of the analogy is to point out how careful we should be about accepting 'truths' that apparently state the same thing. Even the translation from one language during one period of time to the same language in another period of time has to deal with perceptions that don't relate due to change.
The old perception of 'One God' may not be simply the mono vs. poly-istic perception of GOD (of the Jews). That the GOD of the Jew is the same GOD as the Christian, as the Moslem, etc. That an Omi-Potent GOD can separate those who truly seek (worship) HIM from those who seek their own Godhead.
My niece recently went through the struggle of deciding which Church she would join. She had attended church with several faiths, and choose to become Catholic. I had talked with her, discussing differences between these faiths; my only admonishment to her was to seek GOD in Truth.
By the same token, I have heard "Christians" using the Old Testament to justify (their) war. Which I pointed out to them that if they wish to live under the Law, go and become a Jew.

cturtle: This is what I believe. I don't know what to believe, and that's the truth. I have studied so much and asked so many questions, and had a pretty strange dream. I don't know what to believe.

So this is what I conclude. God is greater than we could possibly know. Therefore - whatever you believe about god is just your best guess - you really don't know. Therefore - anything you believe is valid.

What I believe about God is. I pray and God listens. God loves me, God loves others. God created nature. Here's the scary part - I could be wrong - someone else could be right. That is why I believe but I do not know. My belief is valid and so is everyone elses.

I don't know what mono vs. polyi-istic means. I would have to ask my wife what it means. I've heard those terms thrown around before, and I've not paid much attention to them.

Concerning salvation. I haven't decided if Jesus has anything to do with our salvation or not. I don't believe that he died on the cross in place of my sins as a sacrifice. Many would say I am not a Christian because I won't believe this. That's ok with me. But to those who do believe this, I say GOOD FOR YOU, and I mean it. If it makes them happy and they live a better life because of it, go for it, don't let me get in your way. Because beliefs are powerful. It doesn't make any difference what you believe. Belief gives you power. Nobody knows for sure. We could all be wrong or maybe a few of us are right (if so, it is just a small corner of the whole picture). Because we don't know for sure; it's a belief - and our beliefs give us power.

I believe Jesus died on the cross because of our sins. Close, not the same, but close. Some might say I'm a Christian because I believe just that. That is fine too. But I do not say that I am a Christian or that I am not. I am not a right wing or left wing, conservative or liberal. I am just me.

baptism by fire is simply stated, being filled with the holy ghost the 3rd entity in the pentecostal trinity father son holy ghost

I might have missunderstood it - I thought baptism by fire happened after you died. Baptism by the spirit is receiving the gifts.

Don't know - gonna have to study this more.

The Hell Fire which is of this world is the purifing action as molten lead is heated the impurities form a crust which float on top or as iron (steel) is tempered by heating to red hot then immersed in water (oil) to temper it. This is a different concept than the Final Judgement?

I thought it was after death. I must have missunderstood it. We are made more perfect by it.

Excuse me if I am a little foggy yet this morning. Working on my morning Java! (word play, java script problem)
A bit of irony, Note that the biblical nation of Israel when oppressed turned to GOD but afterward would fall into disbelief?
Personal experience: In the aftermath of the hurricane I was passing through so I spent time working with the relief effort. At first many were without the basic substance of life which created a desire & willingness to share but later as the need decline so did the spirit of that they shared.
For most they went back their old waywardness.
For some the experience was a life shattering experience; like a tempered blade they became hard and would not bend.
For others the experience was the opening of a door which directs them toward this shared experience; like the molten metal they had flowed into a new mold (form) giving them resilence in form to bend not break.

One thing that is really nice about the bible, and maybe that is why it has stood the time. It tells the truth about people. It really tells how we are. If we read the bible and pretend it is not talking about them or they, but us. You can pick up a lot of wisdom out of it.

I saw the same thing here in Oklahoma. For a while there, everybody became afraid of everyone. If you cried out for help, everyone would pretend like they didn't hear you. It was not like Oklahoma at all. And it certainly wasn't that way right after the bomb.

So I guess baptism by fire is the hardships we encounter - I can buy that.

Let's start with "baptism". A baptism mean an immersion, a real soaking.

When a non-Jew became a Jew, they were baptised, that is put under water as a sign of being clean and of starting a new life.

When John the Baptist was dunking people he was asking them to throw away their old lives and repent.

When Christian's started to baptise it was to say that you had died (been "buried" in the water) and been born again (been "raised" from the water). My understanding is that being baptised is a full-immersion thing for people able to make decisions as adults or mid teens. The idea of infant baptism came about to "make sure" that a child was definitely Christian so it would go to heaven if it died. (that's a debate in its own right!)

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is where the Holy Spirit comes to live within a Christian. This can be a revolutionary time as the Spirit can change someone and empower their Christian life quite markedly. Take a look at what happened to the disciples in the beginning of the book of Acts.

The Baptism(s) of fire (I understand) aren't directly spiritual but are challenges that Christian's go through in the course of seeking to be faithful to God. (For example, I had work colleagues singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" when I came into work at one stage).

I hope this is helpful

Yes it is helpful. I had the baptism by fire totaly wrong - thanks.

In my younger days I had a bad experience with the speaking in tongues, but I do believe in it. I would just like to know what others have to say.