Both Credos and Paedos agree that infants are created in the image of God. Small children have a soul and are spiritual creatures. God gives each of us a spirit by which we can commune with God as God is spirit. The spiritual nature is what distinguishes humans from animals.
When credos say they don’t baptize infants because they can not or do not have faith, what are they actually saying?
They are saying infants are incomplete creatures of God, and don’t become complete creatures of God until the Age of Accountability….at that at point the can have saving faith. This is clear….all of humanity does not have the ability to have saving faith until the Age of Accountability.
This belief is intensified by the credos treatment of the severely mentally ill. They will forever be incomplete creatures of God. Sort of a second class person, never fully belonging to the human race. This assumption is highly offensive to families with SMI children or adults.
The assumption here is God is NOT available to an infant or the severely mentally ill…. but only to adults with a fully functioning mental capability. But does God really have a self imposed restriction on Himself,...that even He can’t communicate and bring to faith anyone before the Age of Accountability?
Examples of John the Baptist and Jeremiah, who were regenerated in the womb and filled with the Holy Spirit demonstrate that God bypassed the human intellect and brought them to saving faith.
Also, it seems to me credos believe infants are not so dissimilar to the animals because animals are living creatures but they cannot and do not have saving faith either.
Paedos believe infants are fully human with nothing more needed for them to be human.
Paedos believe there is no moment in life, when a person is more human than another.
Credos believe you are more human after the Age of Accountability, because you then can have the ability to have saving faith and fully joined to humanity.
When credos say they don’t baptize infants because they can not or do not have faith, what are they actually saying?
They are saying infants are incomplete creatures of God, and don’t become complete creatures of God until the Age of Accountability….at that at point the can have saving faith. This is clear….all of humanity does not have the ability to have saving faith until the Age of Accountability.
This belief is intensified by the credos treatment of the severely mentally ill. They will forever be incomplete creatures of God. Sort of a second class person, never fully belonging to the human race. This assumption is highly offensive to families with SMI children or adults.
The assumption here is God is NOT available to an infant or the severely mentally ill…. but only to adults with a fully functioning mental capability. But does God really have a self imposed restriction on Himself,...that even He can’t communicate and bring to faith anyone before the Age of Accountability?
Examples of John the Baptist and Jeremiah, who were regenerated in the womb and filled with the Holy Spirit demonstrate that God bypassed the human intellect and brought them to saving faith.
Also, it seems to me credos believe infants are not so dissimilar to the animals because animals are living creatures but they cannot and do not have saving faith either.
Paedos believe infants are fully human with nothing more needed for them to be human.
Paedos believe there is no moment in life, when a person is more human than another.
Credos believe you are more human after the Age of Accountability, because you then can have the ability to have saving faith and fully joined to humanity.