Post
by __id_1238 » Mon Sep 10, 2007 7:32 pm
Dear Forum Readers,
Amazing how God works....completely different from what we would think. He forgives those that do not have the ability to ask for forgiveness (paralyzed man) and babies that have no comprehension of a need for forgiveness .... completely contrary to what a man would do, huh?
Remember our Bible studies where we learned that the OT is a mere shadow of things to come in the New (NT) and BLAM what does God do? God brings EVERYONE into the fold. His invitation is for EVERYONE ... men, women, slaves, poor, rich, adult and yes, infants. God in the OT gave access to heaven to children, so why would God reverse Himself in the NT and allow baptism for only the adults? This especially in lieu of scripture where He asks to bring the children to him and scolds those who try to stop the children from coming! God would never close a door to children.
What does God do? He replaces circumcision with baptism (Col 2). God does not close or restrict the doors to heaven, He opens them further. Is that forgiveness, or what!? We see consistantly in the NT God carries over this theme of forgiveness of sin through the physical healings of many non-believers. Now why would God do that? First, He is God so He can do anything He wants. Second, He is a loving God and wants to help us whenever it fits His plan. Third, we get a taste of this in Luke 5.
Luke 5:21-24 "The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 22 Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." Blammoooo, God knocks one out of the ballpark here .... hang a star on that one!
Jesus was healing non-faith participants to show the Pharisees and the teachers of the law (ultimately the people around watching everything) that he could heal the physical body and also the spiritual body by removing sin! Blasphemy, they cried out! Jesus, God, said [paraprased w/o God's permission] "No, that is love".
In Mk 5:22-23, 35-43, Jairus asked Jesus to raise his dead daughter and does so because of Jairus' faith. Mk 9:17-27, Jesus was asked to expell (exorcized) a demon from his son and does so because of another's faith. Lk 7:2 , the slave was cured by Jesus due to Centurion's faith, not the boy's faith. We most certainly know of Mk 2:1-5 with the paralyzed man who had HIS sins forgiven because of THEIR faith, not the paralyzed man faith (ref: Matt 9:6-8). So Jesus shows us in three real life stories how he physically healed three children who showed no faith. Remember, physical healing is a mere shadow of the real healings that Jesus/God can provide, ie, a spiritual healing .... forgiveness of sins. So God can actually forgive the sins of children because He does so to show the Pharisees and the teachers of the law He has the power to do so!
So if God can heal physical problems and spiritual problems of Children and He wants them brought to HIM, then maybe God could really do what He says in Col 2 ... replace circumcision with baptism. That 8 day old OT baby who can be received into His community can now as a 8 day old NT baby be also received into God's community through baptism. Infant baptism truly is something God offers his NT children as he promised as an everlasting covenant to all generations and all descendants.
But, one might ask, does the Bible ever say that infants or young children can be baptized? The indications are clear. In the New Testament we read that Lydia was converted by Paul's preaching and that "She was baptized, with her household" (Acts 16:15). The Philippian jailer whom Paul and Silas had converted to the faith was baptized that night along with his household. We are told that "the same hour of the night . . . he was baptized, with all his family" (Acts 16:33). And in his greetings to the Corinthians, Paul recalled that, "I did baptize also the household of Stephanas" (1 Cor. 1:16).
In all these cases, whole households or families were baptized. This means more than just the spouse; the children too were included. If the text of Acts referred simply to the Philippian jailer and his wife, then we would read that "he and his wife were baptized," but we do not. Thus his children must have been baptized as well. The same applies to the other cases of household baptism in Scripture.
Granted, we do not know the exact age of the children; they may have been past the age of reason, rather than infants. Then again, they could have been babes in arms. More probably, there were both younger and older children. Certainly there were children younger than the age of reason in some of the households that were baptized, especially if one considers that society at this time had no reliable form of birth control. Furthermore, given the New Testament pattern of household baptism, if there were to be exceptions to this rule (such as infants), they would be explicit.
Boy, Catholic Steve, I have never heard all this before. Why haven't Protestant's believed it since it is right there in scripture? Well, how about next time we go a step further and see God's handy work in scripture further into the writings of the some of the earliest Christians that believed in Infant Baptism?
Peace,
Catholic Steve
Last edited by
Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
In other words, MichelleM, he can't answer your question.