Bible Question:
Believers who practise infant baptism understanding it to be a Scriptural practice, or recognise their infant baptism, are welcome as members Do you agree? Is It right? |
Bible Answer: (Correction: two parts only) Part 2 of 2 Clearly, early Christians thought that it was important to receive the sacrament of baptism, why would they forbid their children from being baptised? There are those who are opposed to infant baptism basing their claim on their "non-Biblical" stance... there are those who reject the Holy Trinity and they use the same argument! When Jesus was checked for curing a man on Sabbath (the day of rest) He did not coward down but proceeded to heal the man: and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, (Matthew 12:10-15) Jesus made them see that they did not circumvent God's commandment when they served God on the Sabbath, yet the Pharisees, stubbornly, refused to acquiesce and they began to formulate the means to kill Jesus--these people, who broke any Law they pleased whenever it was convenient or profitable to them, wanted to kill Jesus because He did an act of kindness! These same people who reject infant baptism as "non-Biblical" cannot produce Biblical support for the specific chronological age of a person which Christ, the Holy Spirit or the Apostles established! "Christians" get so involved in proving or disproving arguments about Biblical text or the absence of exact text, that we lose sight of what Jesus commanded: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35) In our zealousness to be Scriptural we limit ourselves to the letter of the text and we engage all others who do not see things in our vision of Biblical interpretation... thusly we reject Christ and His desire that we be one: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21) We must learn to live in the Spirit and Wisdom of God (being led by the Holy Spirit) and not in our own wisdom and complacency (being led by our will and ego)! God Bless! Angel |