Jesus:
"I have come to seek and to save the lost."
Again Jesus:
"I am the way."
Discussion
Every individual still has to choose to follow, & I personally think making sense of the trail Jesus left us is not as straight forward as most would like to believe. People have a way of twisting stories to fit bad ideas.
Robinhood is a good example. There is a dramatic difference between the man himself & most of the surviving stories.
It does say "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved." And others have said you have to believe for yourself; your parent's faith can't get you in. God doesn't have any grandchildren.
And what if Baptism actually means to immerse yourself in the studying of Jesus & philosophy & all of creation? What if the rituals & symbols we have created for things now have very little to do with the things themselves...?
While I think many things in the scripture are onions of meaning (and sometimes improperly interpreted literally like Revelation), being overly symbolic also confuses some things. There are ample, explicit writings inside the New Testament and among early church writers (like the Didache) that the meaning of baptism was important as was the ritual displaying that meaning.
Biblical study is a science (hermenutics). Not one that will ever be fully understood.
If we hand waive what Jesus said and make our own meanings, we are acting over Jesus, not under him.