DiscussMormonism.com

Although the term "baptism" is not used to describe the Jewish rituals, the purification rites (or mikvah - ritual immersion) in Jewish laws and tradition have some similarity to baptism, and the two have been linked[10] although their relationship is disputed. In the Jewish Bible and other Jewish texts, immersion in water for ritual purification was established for restoration to a condition of "ritual purity" in specific circumstances. For example, Jews who (according to the Law of Moses) became ritually defiled by contact with a corpse had to use the mikvah before being allowed to participate in the Holy Temple. Immersion is required for converts to Judaism as part of their conversion. Immersion in the mikvah represents a change in status in regards to purification, restoration, and qualification for full religious participation in the life of the community, ensuring that the cleansed person will not impose uncleanness on property or its owners (see Numbers Chapter 19, and Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Chagigah, page 12). This change of status by the mikvah could be obtained repeatedly, while Christian baptism is, like circumcision, unique and not repeatable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism#History

squawkeye wrote:Baptism is the entry into the Church. Since we are taught that every dispensation has had the gospel with it always being the same I have questions on Baptism through the ages.

Did John the Baptist say " ......(Jesus Christ), having been commissioned by you, I baptize you in the name of The Father, YOU and the Holy Ghost" before dunking him?

Did this language get used by the guy who baptized Abraham and David and Noah and the rest?

How come jews don't still baptize if it is an ordnance that was from Adam on down?