Christian Baby Dedication

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What are the verses in scripture this protestant practice is based upon?
 
kib said:
What are the verses in scripture this protestant practice is based upon?
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Yes, I am interested in this too. My non-Catholic brother says that infant baptism is not Biblical, and yet at his church the “Dedicate” infants. In the Acts of the Apostles they clearly baptized entire families. Well, families often include infants. I don’t recall them “dedicating” entire families or infants in particular. If baptism is not necessary for an infant, why is dedicating necessary? What does it accomplish and why is it okay to institute the practice of dedicating an infant but not okay to assume that an entire family would probably include infants? Just wondering.
 
Those “dedications” I have attended usually start with Matt 19:14. Most communities that practice “dedication” usually do not embrace infant/child baptism.
 
I always thought the baby dedication tradition was based upon Anna dedicating Samuel to the Lord.
 
Sometimes Truth resonates too strongly to be ignored. In such cases, the way to avoid Truth is to distort it. The baptism of infants is strongly rooted in christian history and culture. When the particular kind of protestant ideology that scorns it was invented, they had to find a way to placate the strong cultural momentum towards infant baptism (no joke, people even today often want their kids baptized even if they themselves haven’t been to mass in 20 years).

So they invented a surficially similar ritual in which the parents, pastor (and sometimes elders) pray for the baby that they be blessed with Grace and Faith as they grow in life. Protestants believe in praying for one another, after all. The surface ritual looked enough like baptism to placate the strong inherent cultural conservatism that permeates all people of faith.

(The above is all just my hypothesis, of course)
 
Publisher said:
Those “dedications” I have attended usually start with Matt 19:14. Most communities that practice “dedication” usually do not embrace infant/child baptism.
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Okay,but what purpose does it serve? Is it non-sacramental or is it merely a reminder?
 
dharmasister said:
Yes, I am interested in this too. My non-Catholic brother says that infant baptism is not Biblical, and yet at his church the “Dedicate” infants. In the Acts of the Apostles they clearly baptized entire families. Well, families often include infants. I don’t recall them “dedicating” entire families or infants in particular. If baptism is not necessary for an infant, why is dedicating necessary? What does it accomplish and why is it okay to institute the practice of dedicating an infant but not okay to assume that an entire family would probably include infants? Just wondering.
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Yeah similar to “altar calls” and strangely many do not even have an altar? 🤷
 
Nicea325 said:
Okay,but what purpose does it serve? Is it non-sacramental or is it merely a reminder?
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As I understand…it is a public demonstration of the parents willingness to bring their child up in the faith they belong to…it is an affirmation of a commitment of the parents and a "presentation’ of the child to the faith community to receive their commitment as well…it has no “sacramental” meaning…at least not as Catholics define ‘sacrament’…
 
Publisher said:
As I understand…it is a public demonstration of the parents willingness to bring their child up in the faith they belong to…it is an affirmation of a commitment of the parents and a "presentation’ of the child to the faith community to receive their commitment as well…it has no “sacramental” meaning…at least not as Catholics define ‘sacrament’…
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I see. Similar to a baptism,minus the actual baptism.
 
Nicea325 said:
Yeah similar to “altar calls” and strangely many do not even have an altar? 🤷
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I was perplexed by that at my brothers church yesterday. They had an altar call, but they have no altar. They have a stage with a band set up and a podium for the preacher to place his notes. There was also a group of flags, the American, North Carolina, and another one I don’t know where from. But no where to be seen was a cross of any sort. No candles. No imagery of any sort. It seemed very sterile and plain. And when we walked in, the “background” music was playing loud enough to have to talk over it - which everyone was doing. People were milling around, shouting across the room to each other to say hello or ask someone to come join them. Everyone was involved in conversations and the children ran around. There was no sense at all that I was in the House of the Lord. There was no way to quietly reflect that “Today is the Lord’s day!” or to pray and prepare my heart to receive the word of God and the Body of Christ.

I am happy that my brother and his wife like it there. They have tried about 6-7 churches in the area since our family moved here almost a year ago. They finally found this one that they feel happy in - it has good music. I hope they are able to find the spiritual fulfillment that they are looking for, but its not what would feed my soul.
 
Nicea325 said:
I see. Similar to a baptism,minus the actual baptism.
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Since none of those who practice baby dedication hold the same view of you as baptism…“Yes” and “No”…I know there is some overlap of dedication and baby baptisms…the Nazarene church will baptize a baby upon request of the baby’s parents…and ALSO have a dedication…so in those traditions…I would say “No”…where “adult/believers” baptism is believed as a “witness of one’s repentance” then “Yes…I understand your point”…in many ways the baby’s dedication is similar to baptism in meaning…except those that believe in “believers” baptism believe an ‘adult’ decision must be made on the baptismal canidate’s part not on his or her parents part…again…a departure since the baby can offer no conscious choice to undergo the dedication…it’s more for the parents than the child…baptism is for the canidate.

It is difficult at best to “impose” your undertanding on the reality of the community that practices baby dedication.
 
dharmasister said:
I was perplexed by that at my brothers church yesterday. They had an altar call, but they have no altar. They have a stage with a band set up and a podium for the preacher to place his notes. There was also a group of flags, the American, North Carolina, and another one I don’t know where from. But no where to be seen was a cross of any sort. No candles. No imagery of any sort. It seemed very sterile and plain. And when we walked in, the “background” music was playing loud enough to have to talk over it - which everyone was doing. People were milling around, shouting across the room to each other to say hello or ask someone to come join them. Everyone was involved in conversations and the children ran around. There was no sense at all that I was in the House of the Lord. There was no way to quietly reflect that “Today is the Lord’s day!” or to pray and prepare my heart to receive the word of God and the Body of Christ.

I am happy that my brother and his wife like it there. They have tried about 6-7 churches in the area since our family moved here almost a year ago. They finally found this one that they feel happy in - it has good music. I hope they are able to find the spiritual fulfillment that they are looking for, but its not what would feed my soul.
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No offense to you or your brother’s family,but unfortunately many non-denominational churches/fundamentalist churches really have no sense of liturgy. Many join a church due to the music,fellowship,etc. They seem to focus on the externals more than Jesus as the center of worship.
 
Nicea325 said:
No offense to you or your brother’s family,but unfortunately many non-denominational churches/fundamentalist churches really have no sense of liturgy. Many join a church due to the music,fellowship,etc. They seem to focus on the externals more than Jesus as the center of worship.
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No offense taken by me - I agree with you. I am absolutely perplexed by the lack of anything that even closely resembles something holy, sacred or (dare I use the word) religious. I have chosen the Catholic Church for many reasons - not one of them being that it has good music. IMO having the right music is a pretty stupid reason to choose a particular church, but it is a deal breaker for my brother. Don’t go singing no Old Rugged Cross at my brother’s church cuz he can’t worship God to that kind of music!! 🤷
 
Nicea325 said:
No offense to you or your brother’s family,but unfortunately many non-denominational churches/fundamentalist churches really have no sense of liturgy. Many join a church due to the music,fellowship,etc. They seem to focus on the externals more than Jesus as the center of worship.
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I don’t think I agree with that. They see those externals as things that bring them closer to Christ, I truly believe He is the center of their worship. I, on the other hand, see the Eucharist as the “source and summit” of my faith and worship during the holy mass.
 
Publisher said:
Those “dedications” I have attended usually start with Matt 19:14. Most communities that practice “dedication” usually do not embrace infant/child baptism.
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I guess I see where they are coming from with this but it doesn’t seem like a solid biblical foundation for this practice.
 
kib said:
I guess I see where they are coming from with this but it doesn’t seem like a solid biblical foundation for this practice.
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I wouldn’t expect you to…those that practice it believe that there is precedence in scripture for bringing children before the congregation of faith and presenting them within the faith community…perhaps I am “reading” too much into your statement…but it appears to me…from reading other Catholic statements…that the baby dedication is somehow a violation of “sola scriptura” in some way…those that practice baby dedication would not agree with this sentiment IF that indeed is the direction you were going.🙂
 
Publisher said:
I wouldn’t expect you to…those that practice it believe that there is precedence in scripture for bringing children before the congregation of faith and presenting them within the faith community…perhaps I am “reading” too much into your statement…but it appears to me…from reading other Catholic statements…that the baby dedication is somehow a violation of “sola scriptura” in some way…those that practice baby dedication would not agree with this sentiment IF that indeed is the direction you were going.🙂
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It probably doesn’t seem like it but I’m not trying necessarily prove a violation of sola scriptura. My coworker told me that his son’s dedication was last weekend, I had never heard of this before and was curious about it. I know of nothing in scripture that would be a basis for the practice so I came here to ask. It does seem like a very odd practice for a “bible only” Christian as I haven’t seen any solid biblical backing for it. Do you know of any more verses someone may cite? I’m really not looking for a “gotcha” here.

Having said all of that I think it is a very nice practice although I firmly believe in infant baptism.
 
kib said:
It probably doesn’t seem like it but I’m not trying necessarily prove a violation of sola scriptura. My coworker told me that his son’s dedication was last weekend, I had never heard of this before and was curious about it. I know of nothing in scripture that would be a basis for the practice so I came here to ask. It does seem like a very odd practice for a “bible only” Christian as I haven’t seen any solid biblical backing for it. Do you know of any more verses someone may cite? I’m really not looking for a “gotcha” here.

Having said all of that I think it is a very nice practice although I firmly believe in infant baptism.
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I don’t think those that practice baby dedication ARE necessarily looking to “prove” if it’s biblically sound by proof texting…it certainly is not forbidden.🙂
 
Nicea325 said:
I see. Similar to a baptism,minus the actual baptism.
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Basically. It is a public profession by the parents that they will bring the child up in the faith and be good, loving Christian parents. And then the child is anointed with oil and prayed over.

It’s kind of like a mixture of Confirmation and Baptism, but without any sacramental value.
 
FabiusMaximus said:
Basically. It is a public profession by the parents that they will bring the child up in the faith and be good, loving Christian parents. And then the child is anointed with oil and prayed over.

It’s kind of like a mixture of Confirmation and Baptism, but without any sacramental value.
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What is the significance of the oil?
 
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