Infant Baptism- How to defend the Church

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I am 13 years old and my Protestant friend at school who doesn’t know I’m Catholic told me she hates Catholics because we don’t let people chose to accept Jesus of their own volition. How do I respond to this?
 
There are many things as parents that we decide for our children. We decide that they should learn to take care of themselves and be good people. We decide which tv programs they can watch and which games they can play. The most important decision of their lives is the acceptance of Christ. As parents it is our responsibility to make sure we do everything we can to ensure that happens.
 
Jesus told His disciples, “It was not you who chose Me, it was I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear much fruit, fruit that will endure.” Baptism gives infants sanctifying grace. But once they reach the age of reason, they can choose to accept or to reject that grace. Baptizing children as infants also emphasizes that salvation is a free gift - it cannot be merited or earned.
 
I’m curious if your friend actually brought up the topic of baptism or if she could have meant something else by saying Catholics “don’t let people chose to accept Jesus of their own volition.”

Lots of Protestants practice infant baptism. Does she “hate” them as well?
 
I would ask your friend if she thinks baptism is a gift from God to his people.

Catholics think baptism is a gift to us. And Catholics want to give that gift to their children even if their children aren’t old enough to understand.

(Your friend may have been brought up to think baptism is mainly something people give to/do for God.)
 
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Males entered the Old Covenant through circumcision, including infants. Similarly, people enter the New Covenant through baptism. See Colossians 2:11-12. Since the New Covenant is suppose to be better than the Old Covenant (see Hebrews 8), one would expect the New Covenant to be more inclusive than the Old Covenant or at least as inclusive as the Old Covenant. Thus, one would expect Christians to practice infant baptism.

The Bible says that entire households were baptized and, although infants are not explicitly mentioned, there is no reason to think that infants were excluded. See Acts 16:15; 18:8; 1 Corinthians 1:16.
 
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MTWolf1 said:
She was talking about baptism.
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You might want to explain that (a) the Sacraments of Initiation only start with baptism, but also include Holy Communion and Confirmation.
That (b) Jesus said pretty bluntly not to prevent little children from coming to him.
That (c ) if something makes you hate someone else, it isn’t likely to be coming from the Holy Spirit
That (d) Catholics actually renew their baptismal vows every year at Easter for their entire lives.
That (e), you’re Catholic, you are very thankful to have been brought up in the faith, you don’t feel at all as if being baptized robbed you of your volition any more than the benefit of being taught your letters and sent to school robbed you of your volition, and it doesn’t reflect very well on her denomination that she talks like that.
Accepting Jesus, after all, is only accepting the truth. It isn’t like choosing a sports team or a career. It is something a Christian has to do every day of their lives for their entire lives, but little children are no less capable of it than so-called “grown-ups.”
Then ask her if she knows someone who is upset they were baptized as infants. You may have something to talk about and learn from each other about. Be charitable, remembering that the only Catholics that some Protestants have ever met (and knew they were meeting) are the ones who loudly announce that they are “recovering” Catholics. She may have only talked to people or heard about people who had an unfortunate upbringing with regards to their personal encounter with the Lord, and maybe even an abusive one. She may not realize she is committing rash judgment by letting her anger over someone she sees as hurt be extended to condemn and entire denomination.
Don’t you be guilty of that, either. Listen to what she has to say, and be gentle if she needs mistaken notions corrected.
 
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MTWolf1 said:
I am 13 years old and my Protestant friend at school who doesn’t know I’m Catholic told me she hates Catholics because we don’t let people chose to accept Jesus of their own volition. How do I respond to this?
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Does God not have the authority to choose his adopted children? Are we more important than God that individuals must choose to join God’s family, rather than God choose individuals as his adopted children? Baptism is a gift freely given, it is given unconditionally.
 
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Point out: ‘And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family.’ - Acts 16:33
Then ask your Protestant friend to ‘prove’ that there were no children in the household.
 
MTWolf1,

This must have been a difficult thing to hear your friend say. Depending on how good a friend you consider her to be, you will have to decide whether or not to tell her YOU are Catholic. That might upset your friend and friends can behave strangely if they learn something that doesn’t make sense to them. Are you sure she doesn’t know you are Catholic?

It probably would be a good idea to talk to a parent, not so much because of your friend’s ideas about baptism but because this is could be a friendship problem.
 
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First, I would point out that God is the one who chooses us and calls us to him. I would recommend she read through Ephesians 1 which demonstrates that it is God who chooses (elects) us. Second, I would also refer to Colossians 2 in which Paul speaks of circumcision and baptism. Paul directly correlates baptism to circumcision. Now in circumcision, a child 8 days old is circumcised by the community (the child does not choose this) as a sign that the child has been set aside by God as the elect of Israel from out of the world. The child doesn’t choose this for himself. The parents obey God’s command which confers a promise on the child, and the child is raised in the community of faith and taught the law of Moses and the redemptive history of Israel increasing the faith bestowed on him by virtue of that election through circumcision. In fact, if an Israelite man did not get circumcised and was an adult, that person was cut off from the community as someone who had chosen to reject God’s promises to Israel. God chose Israel long before that child was born and is claiming that child as part of his treasured nation before all the world. Paul argues in Colossians that baptism does the same thing. He says you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your heart, and it is God who makes you alive together with him through baptism. God’s decision, God’s action, not yours. Grace bestowed on us, not merited by us.

If she appeals to the various sections of Acts describing baptism, I would just demonstrate to her that these are descriptive narratives (telling us what happened), not prescriptive commands (telling us what to do). The command we are given about baptism says go and baptize all nations. It makes no stipulations on age of the catechumen.
 
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Does she still not know you’re Catholic? Guess I’m a little concerned as to why you are keeping it a secret.
 
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