If you feel like challenging yourself you can read through this blog post about COC "false doctrine". It may not change your mind but it might open it a little bit.
Church Of Christ What Damns A Person? Mar 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. When a man wants to teach salvation by water baptism he ignores half of the verse. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved! Most definitely. But...
hensleybiblebeliever.com
I was raised pentecostal which is def worse than COC, but I allowed my beliefs to be challenged & moved away from it.
I have been on that site. Thanks.
Addressing Mark 16:16 and the content that is in the article you posted:
If one does not believe he is not a candidate for baptism. A waste of time to say is baptized not. If one doesn't believe the gospel being preached, he is not going to respond by being baptized. It goes without saying, and that says why it wasn't said.
When the Holy Spirit revealed the mind of God through inspired men, he used words, but He didn't waste words. Every time I read a text, any text, it seems no matter how many times before, I get something I never seen before out of it.
In that verse, "and" is a conjunction that joins belief and baptism to equal salvation. This is the gospel that was preached by the apostles. That Jesus commanded them to preach. It was the same for everyone. All kinds of examples.
Someone broke that verse down for me once . Helped me to see it.
That verse
Belief (1)
and (plus)
Baptism (2)
equals = Salvation (3)
That verse is saying this...1+ 2=3
The post is trying to make it say this:
1+0 = 3
This isn't what it says.