Is water baptism a "work" ?

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suprdave@lightspeed.net wrote:
> Dave:
> Though I am not Church Of Christ, they do read the Bible. But why would a person
> want to even talk to an individual who used to believe in the Bible and then
> become a "skeptic."? Aren't we supposed to avoid such individuals who fall into
> "apostasy"? I realize that there is a vast difference between Church Of Christ
> and Apostolic, but I'd avoid engaging in a dialogue with anyone who has abandoned
> the Bible and then later want to debate its authenticity. No way. I'd rather
> talk to a lost soul who is hungry for salvation. I won't waste my valuable time
> on such a person who has abandoned Christianity and the Word of God as their
> source of truth.

 Dave,
 The problem here is in equating "apostasy" with skepticism, born of
false teaching. We have an ex-CofC fellow in our church. 
 They told him, "miracles don't happen any more", "tongues were only for
the early church", and "If someone speaks in tongues now, they are of
the devil".
 If you truly read your Bible, and listen to them tell you *NOT* to
believe it, it would tend to breed some scepticism.
 If I were to have taken the stance you suggest, I would have missed out
on having one of the finest men we have in our church. He now knows, and
has seen first hand; miracles *DO* happen; people today (including him)
*DO* speak in other tongues, and God truly *IS* the same, yesterday,
today, and forever.