[stephanos]

Originally Posted by Traditional Anglican

The Infant Baptism is rather interesting, it began early in Europe, it started because of the VERY high infant mortality rate at that time. It was so bad that in parts of Germany, parents would carve a name for the child on a piece of wood and often it would be kept in the Church it was "given" to the child after their first year, some were found not long ago near Stuttgart, in any event, the Church had to make a difficult judgement call, in light of these dire outlooks, what was decided was this (in a nutshell):Infants have no personal sins, they are however born with "original" sin. Thus to Baptize in the Trinitarian formula. Life was hard brutal and short in many areas where the faith was spreading, if the Plague did not get you one year a famine might the next. Frankly , I try not to be too hard on the Church when they decided to Baptize babies of Christian families, put yourself in their shoes, it was not an easy call, in order to maintain proper orthodox teaching of the faith, Confirmation was created, this was where the Pastor taught those old enough to grasp the basics, the Christian Faith, they would then, in Church, in the eyes of God and men confess Christ as Lord and Saviour. I am in a Branch of our Lord's Holy Church where this pattern was kept. Hence my sympathy for Infant Baptism followed by instruction and Confirmation. I feel both sides hold merit! For me, the issue is Christ, is he your Lord and Saviour? Do you put your faith in Him? Well, if so, by Faith you are saved. In summation I DEEPLY love my Brethren in the Lord on both sides of this issue, I never make it a point of division. I have seen people on both sides get UGLY on this one. To be honest I shout "It is all about faith in Christ Jesus the Lord!" Then I run away. Blessings.

I'm not sure when baptising infants started (that is i'm not certain atm), however I do know that it was and is completely unbiblical. I know that in 15-17th century Europe you were baptised into a state church and it meant that it was a part of being a citizen of that country. Some countries were Catholic and you joined that country through baptism which occured when you were an infant and could not make a conscious decision to recieve Jesus Christ. Others, because of the momentum following Martin Luther baptised infants into the Lutheran state church (diet-Catholics). Then, on January 21, 1525 Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock rebaptised themselves after being unsuccessful at persuading Ulrich Zwingli (who at one point was their mentor/teacher) that the practice of infant baptism was unscriptural, along with the very notion of a state church (these folks basically pioneered the concept of seperation of church and state). To make a long story short, thousands upon thousands of Anabaptists were martyred because they did not recognize infant baptism, nor the concept of a state church which they refused to participate in.

To me, the issue of infant baptism truly is an important doctrine to get right (which is why I've been troubled by the fact that I was sprinkled years ago). I cannot forget what I've read in the Martyr's Mirror (http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/contents.htm), nor do I want to. As Tertullian said "The blood of the martyr's is seed."

I have very close relations with the Conservative Mennonite. I can tell you this, which I find very sad. They don't practice Scriptural baptism. They baptise by pooring. I also know that they've baptised teenagers that I know don't show any real sign of being born again, and exibit all the signs of being pressured by their families. Perhaps this isn't a big deal to some people, but to me it is. I cannot forget, the night I got on my knees and surrendered to God. I had fought the very notion of God for so many years, but what I experienced that night I became a Christian and was saved by the grace of God will stick with me for the rest of my life (truly I was never the same after that day. Jesus was with me every day, even when I wasn't obedient). Perhaps it isn't this way with everyone, but if someone doesn't truly desire salvation then they should not be baptised. Clearly children cannot make this choice, and should not be baptised.

I guess I should leave it at that. I could talk about this all night.

Peace and Love,
Stephen