authentic Jews need reply...

You also are pretty close.

A sacrament, such as baptism, is an outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual grace. The baptism fulfills what is already a reality, just as the ordination of a priest fulfills what God has already spoken in relation to that person's priesthood.

Therefore, it is possible to be born a Christian, in a Christian family, and to be then baptised as a sacrament of that Christianity.

Again, the pattern is Judaism. A Jewish boy does not become Jewish when he is circumcised, but is such by virtue of having a Jewish mother. The circumcision is sacramental; the outward expression of the already existing spiritual relationship between him and his God.

Precisely. Plenty of scriptural evidence says the same. It is what makes infant baptism, on many occasions, a real nonsense because the Scriptural injunction is to repent of your sins, believe in your heart and confess with your lips that Yeshua HaMashiach is G_d. How many babies can do those things (even if we substitute the name Jesus)? Oh, we can argue that baptism is an outward sign of an inward work of G_d to justify a few drops of plain water on a baby's head! The work of G_d is always there in our lives - he just gives us the right to acknowledge it or not. When we are old enough to make that decision, and if we choose to acknowledge it, we get baptised - this is clearly not a justification for babies to be done, though. There is no record of John the Baptist asking for babies to be brought for him to 'do' in the Jordan, is there?

In any case, there must be millions of what I call baptised pagans roaming the world today. How many parents have made promises to G_d in relation to the baptism of little 'Jimmy', helped by un-discerning ministers, that they have no intention of keeping? If they had kept them and brought their child up in the church, the church would not be dead on its feet today! Their promises are mainly some sort of insurance policy, or because grandma (who hasn't been to church for decades) wants little 'Jimmy' done because that is the right thing - not from a conviction of what G_d wants to do in their lives, and those of their offspring. There are, clearly, many millions more baptised people in the world today than would ever fit in all the church buildings in the world -why? Because of sloppy sentimentality, faulty theology and a lack of true Biblical doctrine on the issue (and on many other issues, too).

Then, of course, there is Nicodemus... oi vey, my son - you want that I should go back in my mother's womb and be born again!

The Holy Father has spoken ex cathedra?

That is what I said. It is a sacrament. A sacrament is an outward and visible sign of an inner and spiritual grace. It does not CAUSE that grace, it is an outward and visible sign of it.

CM - I was not attacking you, or your theology, I have no problem with those who baptise with integrity - whether for children or adults, but I am equally sure we both know ministers for whom baptism might just as well be done with a sprinkle from a hose pipe on a quiet Sunday afternoon!