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This question about problems with baptism, or perhaps scriptural support for it was closed as a duplicate of this one about the meaning of "baptism with Spirit and water". Now I must say that (even though I answered the question) it seems over-broad to me, in that (1) the title doesn't really match the body of the question, and (2) the body of the question asks four or five more-or-less related other questions.

Although the newer question was closed as a duplicate of the older, I'm not sure it is:

  1. There are two answers that I see (by apocalypse_info_click_here and Mason Wheeler) which provide Scriptural references in support of baptism from the (apparent) perspective of a denomination believing that baptism is necessary for salvation, as was requested clearly in the original question title and slightly less so in the edited title.

  2. There are three answers (out of 11) which deal with the question of how the Good Thief was saved, but none from the perspective of a denomination which believes in the necessity of baptism. (OP question 5)

  3. There is one comment (by Ryan), but no answers, discussing why Jesus was baptized (OP question 3), and none discussing whether Jesus needed to repent (question 4).

  4. There are no answers discussing how those who died before Christ got to Heaven (question 1 - 2).

  5. There is no answer dealing with the question "If baptism saves you, then doesn't that mean we need to rely on the church who baptizes us to save us?"

Admittedly, this is not a great question—it asks a large number of only loosely related questions. I think they can reasonably be answered together, or most of them; perhaps it should be closed as overly broad. But I don't think someone who has one of the concerns given in the newer question will find an answer in the old; and I feel that an answer to the older question that addresses any or all of the concerns in the new will be largely off-topic to the older question. I believe they're fundamentally different.

Am I missing something?

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The new question is terrible. It's very unfocused, and deserves being closed.

But you're right that it shouldn't have been marked a duplicate of the other question.

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