This is not necessary as they have not reached the age of accountability.
"Necessary" sounds like you see baptism as Law, not Gospel. What is necessary is only that God acts to justify sinners for the sake of Christ alone, with no merit or worthiness under the law on our part.
And there is no "age of accountability" because all mankind fell in Adam's fall.
Romans 5
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
An baby that is not baptized is also not accountable and is not damned....
I certainly hope this is true, but scripture just doesn't consistently speak this way. Why not simply take God at his sure and certain word and bring your babies to him to receive all the gifts God has promised to give in Holy Baptism?
Telling mothers and fathers that they must baptize their infant child or it will go to hell is the biggest lie and has driven more people from the truth of the gospel than anything.
I can't imagine ever telling parents that. How awful! But equally awful is to tell them to withhold all the gifts God promises to give them through Holy Baptism!
This is another case of your viewing baptism as Law and not as Gospel. It's nothing about what happens to someone if they're NOT baptized. It's everything about what God gives to those who ARE baptized. According to the clear word of Holy Scripture, these are just some of the gifts God gives through the washing of water with the Word - with no age restrictions! and no prerequisites!
Titus 3:5-7: God saves us by his mercy, apart from works. He regenerates us and renews us in Christ by giving us his Holy Spirit. He graciously justifies us and makes us heirs with Christ of eternal life.
1 Corinthians 6:11 God sanctifies us and justifies us in the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. In giving us his Holy Spirit, all that is Christ's becomes ours through the wondrously Great Exchange.
1 Peter 3:21: God saves us and gives us a clean conscience before God through the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And how could we ever have a clean conscience before Our Holy God except through the alien righteousness of Our Lord Jesus Christ?
Galatians 3:27: God clothes us in Christ. He covers the filthy rags of even our best fallen works with the perfect works and merit of Jesus Christ. He dresses us up in pure, pristine white wedding clothes, appropriate attire for the marriage feast of the Lamb.
This is the whole topic of this thread........ there is an age, or level of mental competency, at which a person becomes aware of the wrong that they are doing. At this point, and not before, they become responsible for their sins or wrong doings and need to seek their savior.
By this statement you seem to be saying that there are certain prerequisites to salvation, that God requires us to have certain abilities or to perform certain mental acts before he will grant us salvation. I think you would be hard pressed to find justification for this belief in scripture. Again, you seem to be coming at not just baptism but salvation in general as law, law, law, law. That's hardly good news!
The Gospel is that Jesus Christ has done absolutely everything necessary for our salvation, and that through the Holy Spirit God freely gives us his precious gifts of forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the presence of God by grace alone, solely through his gift of faith in Jesus Christ alone, for our justification and sanctification apart from any works or merit that originate from us.
Our merciful and gracious savior will not damn anyone who does not have the mental capacity to understand or be aware of the fact that they are doing wrong... Period.
Since Decisionists like to use examples from the Old Testament regarding who was allowed to enter the Promised Land, I will ask you some other Old Testament questions:
Did God spare the children of the Canaanites from being killed along with the rest of their tribes? (Deuteronomy 7:1-6) Was he neutral toward the infants and children of the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites?
Did he instruct the Israelites to spare the children and bring them along with them into the Promised Land?
Do you think the children of the Canaanites were any more guilty or sinful than any other children before or since? Or any less?
What do you think happened to the children of the Canaanites after they were killed by the Israelites? Were they given a place in Abraham's Bosom like the children of Israel who believed the promises of God, or were they condemned with all the others of their tribes? If so, why?
