Infant Baptism, why do you reject it?

[Paleoconservatarian]

Yes, the promise is available. but baptism doesn't a sinner to saint make..pax..kim

Nor does profession of faith, but you'd be a fool not to require it.

 

[HisKid1973]

Nor does profession of faith, but you'd be a fool not to require it.

A profession of faith is just head knowledge without fruit borne from an inward change..pax..kim

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

The demons have faith too....

Forgive me.....

 

[Paleoconservatarian]

A profession of faith is just head knowledge without fruit borne from an inward change..pax..kim

Yet without it, we have evidence that there is no inward change.

 

[Melethiel]

And I wonder how many turned atheist or pagan who had "believer's baptism"...strawman argument, IMHO.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

And I wonder how many turned atheist or pagan who had "believer's baptism"...strawman argument, IMHO.

Many, even some of the seventy......

 

[BigChrisfilm]

The demons have faith too....

Forgive me.....

I don't know what Orthodoxs believe but do you think that has anything to do with infant baptism, I don't, you have to have believe, faith, and baptised, that is something demons don't want to do, the don't have faith, they already know god, because they have seen him, we haven't.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

I don't know what Orthodoxs believe but do you think that has anything to do with infant baptism, I don't, you have to have believe, faith, and baptised, that is something demons don't want to do, the don't have faith, they already know god, because they have seen him, we haven't.

I'm saying that faith alone is not enough.

I was refering to a post a few above mine....


Forgive me...

 

[BigChrisfilm]

oh ok, I getcha, I agree faith is not all that is required, but it is required, along with believing, and being baptised.

 

[Oblio]

... and the babe leapt in her womb ....

 

[BigChrisfilm]

... and the babe leapt in her womb ....

what... where in the bible is that, and what does that mean anyway?

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

what... where in the bible is that, and what does that mean anyway?

It's St. John the Baptist!

He and Christ were in the womb at the same time.....


Forgive me.....

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

oh ok, I getcha, I agree faith is not all that is required, but it is required, along with believing, and being baptised.

YEP! A lifetime of Faith!

Forgive me....

 

[WAB]

Why do some groups hold to the historical Christian teaching of infant Baptism while others do not?

The Catholic Church has always held to this important teaching as have groups like Anglicans, Lutherans and Calvinists but for some reason other groups reject it.

If you reject it, on what grounds do you reject it (especially considering other groups accept it)?

Contrary to what some might talk themselves into, infants are not capable of believing in the finished work of Calvary's Cross for their salvation.

Mark 16:16... "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

Note that it is those that do not believe that are damned, not those who are not baptized.

In Acts 8:26-39 we have the ministry of Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch set forth, and after hearing the gospel, the eunuch asked Philip... "...'what doth hinder me to be baptized?' And Philip said, 'if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.'"

Upon that declaration of faith, Philip and the eunuch "...went down both into the water,... and he baptized him."

Two things are clear here. One, is that baptism is predicated upon, and subsequent to belief, and the second is that baptism that really figures the death, buriel and resurrection of our Lord is by immersion.

When bodies are buried, they are not laid out on top of the ground and have a little dirt sprinkled on them.

Acts 18:8 gives us another statement re the order... "...Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized."

Scripturally, the order is always belief, and then baptism. You will never find Scriptural evidence for the reverse.

Shalom... WAB

 

[HisKid1973]

How can a baby know their makeing a profession of faith?

 

[Oblio]

Contrary to what some might talk themselves into, infants are not capable of believing in the finished work of Calvary's Cross for their salvation.

How about those who are afflicted with mental retardation, Down syndrome, Alzheimers, autism .... Why is it you get to define faith and to limit the power of God to give us that gift ?

How do you know that your 'faith' is sufficient to allow for Baptism ? If a rational belief is all that is required and in fact a prerequisite, how do you know that a later increase in belief is not true 'faith' necessitating another Baptism, and another, and another ... ?

 

[Oblio]

How can a baby know their makeing a profession of faith?

FAllacy of assuming the consequent, that being the recent evangelical tradition of 'believer's baptism'

 

[Bubba1301]

The infant baptism issue can be a touchy subject (including those with mental handicaps). Persornally I believe that a child will not be called to account for their sins until they can rason for themselves the difference between right and wrong. If they can realize that they have done wrong and need forgiveness, teach them about the forgiveness of Christ. However, the one main catch is that for a baptism to be a baptism the person has to choose to be baptized. If they don't want to do it, then are they really baptized after the ceremony? Would people be baptized if I went through... say a fraternity house where ungodly things run rampant,.. with a tank of water and immersed each and every fraternity member regardless if they wanted it or not (or understood it or not)? How is it different with infants or those who are not capable of understanding the need for forgiveness? Infants just can't fight back and I'm pretty sure I'd come out of the frat house with a lot of cuts and bruises.

Ultimately it comes down to the individual being able to understand right and wrong (responsibility of the parents / mentors to teach properly) and to realize that they are in need of the forgiveness of Jesus.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Would it be true to say that everyone who rejects infant Baptsim does so because they beleive that it was not practiced that way to start with?

Forgive me....

 

[Oblio]

If one does not properly understand the fall of man, the role of the Church and the Sacraments of God, even Salvation itself, one will not understand Baptism, especially concerning those who Christ said, suffer not them who come to me ...