- Aug 27, 2014
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So? Why baptize the innocent when there are those who really need baptism? The innocent do not need to belong to any church to be saved, they will be saved because they are innocent of any sin.
Because again, baptism is not only for the remission of sins; it is also the means of formal entrance into the Church.
And this false dichotomy between these and "those who really need baptism" is pretty silly; you of all people should know -- since your cult performs its 'baptisms for the dead' by the dozens, one after another in a mechanical fashion -- that baptism is not some kind of limited resource such that a baby getting baptized somehow takes away the right of someone else to be baptized. I was baptized c. age 30 on the same day as the then-youngest member of our parish (a girl of 80 days, as that is our tradition), and while obviously having two people baptized rather than one obviously adds to the priest's workload for the day, it's not any sort of problem. Everyone who needs to get baptized (which, again, is everyone who will be a communing member of the congregation) still gets baptized, regardless of who is in what age group.
Even until the age of accountability they are covered by the atonement of Jesus Christ
Everyone is covered by the atonement of Christ, from the right-hand thief to the tiniest baby to the oldest or youngest man.
and will be saved.
This we cannot say, although we do hope so. In Orthodoxy, there is no such idea as 'once saved, always saved', and universalism is condemned.
You do teach the baptism of infants and that is erroneous doctrine.
If we are in error, then so are the disciples for baptizing entire households and families, as recorded in the Holy Bible. And the disciples of Christ know better than you what is true doctrine and what isn't.
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