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NASB | Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 2:38 And Peter said to them, "Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. |
Bible Question:
I know this is dredging up an old posting, but I have a question about using the "whole household" argument of infant baptism. In Acts 16, the jailer and his whole household were baptized. But, then in vs. 34, it states that the whole household rejoiced because they believed in the God (NLT). Doesn't that indicate that infants and small children were excluded because an infant couldn't rejoice in his believing? stephanie |
Bible Answer: Stephanie, I suspect that when you were baptized as an infant "the whole household rejoiced becaused they believed in God" and they were going to raise you in the faith and you would believe too, at least until such time as you rejected it or committed yourself day by day, week by week, year by year. You may recall that every Sunday at Mass you have the opourtunity to reaffirm your faith in the Creed and in the Communion prayers. Every Easter you renew the baptismal vows which your parents made for you as an infant. At some point in adult life one either does it in good faith or bad faith or declines to renew their vows. Next time you go to Mass focus on what is being said. They are not supposed to be empty words. Sometimes when we stop paying attention to things that become common place for us and they loose their power and impact. Prayers, like cursing, can become a habit that we give no thought to whatsoever. That is not the fault of what is being said but the person who is doing the saying. Empty prayers and are almost akin to saying God's name in vain. Did you know that almost every sentence of the Mass is rooted in scripture either by direct quote, paraphrase or allusion? And I am not even including the four readings, OT, Psalm, Epistle and Gospel in every Sunday Mass. In the three year cycle of daily and Sunday readings, 80 percent of the entire Bible is read. Now there is food for thought! Sorry for drifting a little off your stated question but one train of thought led to another. Emmaus |