“But, if I get baptized for the forgiveness of my sins as God demands in Acts 2:38, I’ll be condemning my parents (or siblings, or children, etc) who didn’t/don’t believe that!”
Probably if we as faithful preachers and teachers of the word of God in the Lord’s church had a dollar for every time we have heard similar, sad, self-deceived responses from the lips of those with man-made denominational backgrounds when they are finally brought face to face with the hard and fast Biblical fact that no one in Scripture, since the inception of the New Covenant of Christ and the establishment of His one New Testament church in Acts 2, was ever saved and added to His saved/ church by simply saying a prayer – we’d be a lot more financially stable to be sure. But it is the soul-deep sadness we experience at such satanic self-delusion that is always so overwhelming, because we recognize how totally Satan has such a one deceived and dancing on his sadistic string! Consider:
If a dearly beloved and departed family member never accepted God’s gift of grace and forgiveness on God’s terms as outlined in His holy word, then they are judged already. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about where they are, and absolutely nothing we can do or don’t do, which can or does affect where they already are (See Luke 16:19-31) – NOTHING!
On the other hand, a person who believes that they will somehow “condemn” their living loved ones who do not believe or accept the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through obedient faith – including baptism for the forgiveness of sins – is even more sadly deceived and here’s why. Their decision to personally deny the biblical essentiality of baptism for the forgiveness of sins, actually helps seal the fate of condemnation of those very ones they claim to love, as well as for themselves, because it only serves to strengthen said satanically inspired deception! It is only through their faithfully, personally, obeying the gospel and accepting God’s forgiveness as written, that one can display the power of its necessity and essentiality, and then perhaps preach and teach it to their deceived and currently unforgiven and condemned loved ones, in an effort see them truly saved!
The sad, satanic, and sadistic fact of the matter is this: It is not those who finally see that one must be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and does it that condemns their loved ones – but just the opposite! It is those who stubbornly refuse to obey the gospel by being baptized specifically for the forgiveness of their sins as God demands, who in all actuality, truly help condemn their loved ones, by perpetuating the lie and giving it life… something they will not have with God in the end – and they guarantee it by their continued disobedience to what they know from His word must be done!