What is the cristian faith?

Answer 1

Modern Christianity teaches that Jesus died for our sins, and if you believe that, and accept this gift, you will be saved. Original Christianity taught that being baptized was everything, but you must "believe" for baptism to work. John the Baptist advocated using repentance to prepare for the baptism, but Jesus employed stronger techniques, so that repentance wasn't necessary.

However, The Bible is not clear about what those techniques were. It is called "baptism by fire and the Holy Spirit". Some scholars believe that the word "Holy" was added, and that because the word for spirit is that same as the word for air, this could have been "baptism by fire and air".

Perhaps he blew air across the head of the catechumen to increase the refrigeration effect, and then used fire to heat a towel or something to replace the laying on of hands. Another possibility is that the word fire referred to a substance applied to the scalp, similar to the anointing oil used in Exodus.

If repentance is used, it should be known that it was not just being sorry. Ash was applied to the whole body, and one would fast, pray, and wear sack cloth (which could have been a turban) throughout the season of lent. This all served to accomplish a temporal regression, which Jesus called "becoming as a little child".