Infant Baptism Question

[steven_kramp]

Hi, I am a Protestant seeking to understand Catholicism better. I am reading The Essential Catholic Survival Guide and have a question. Do I have this right, infant baptism merely readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life, it does not mean the baptized infant will go to heaven if he/she does not later claim faith in Christ, right? I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.
Thanks for any help.

 

[JimG]

Baptism is the initiation into the new covenant, just as circumcision was the initiation into the old covenant. It makes one a member of the body of Christ, which is the Church, and infuses the life of grace into the soul.

Faith is needed for Baptism. For an infant, the faith of the parents suffices to initiate the child into the Church, just as in the old covenant, the faith of the parents led them to bring the child for circumcision into the covenant.

We believe that Christ intended his grace for all, not excluding children and infants.

For a more detailed article about this matter, check out this link from the CA home page.

 

[Stella_Matutina]

Infant Baptism is seen in the Bible when entire “households” were baptised.

A person who is baptized though can fall away from the faith and ultimately reject God, therefore sending him to Hell.

I used to be Protestant and converted to Catholicism. Protestants speak a lot about a time in which everyone has to have a one-time set aside moment where you “accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior” and from that moment on are “saved.”

The Catholic Church recognizes the importance of a public declaration of a committment to Christ, but we also emphasis the importance of renewing that committment everyday. And the process of “becoming a Christian” in reality is never finished until we are in Heaven. To use your words, Catholics “claim salvation” continually, one day at a time.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Hi, I am a Protestant seeking to understand Catholicism better. I am reading The Essential Catholic Survival Guide and have a question. Do I have this right, infant baptism merely readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life, it does not mean the baptized infant will go to heaven if he/she does not later claim faith in Christ, right? I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.
Thanks for any help.

Infant Baptism perfected the childs soul by removing Original sin, the child is then a member of Christ’s Mystical Body and in a state of perfect Grace until the time when they are able to choose good or evil for themselves. If a child dies before this time they will go to Heaven.

 

[jmcrae]

I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.

We don’t actually “claim salvation” - rather, we receive it from Christ when we get to Heaven. This life here on earth is the journey - “The Way,” as the Early Church referred to it. We can travel either towards or away from Heaven. We can also change directions at any time.

Infant baptism puts our children on the path that is leading towards Heaven. After they reach the age of reason, we encourage them to receive other Sacraments of the Church as well, in order to remain on the path to Heaven.

 

[kleary]

Hi, I am a Protestant seeking to understand Catholicism better. I am reading The Essential Catholic Survival Guide and have a question. Do I have this right, infant baptism merely readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life, it does not mean the baptized infant will go to heaven if he/she does not later claim faith in Christ, right? I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.
Thanks for any help.

As Catholics we believe that Baptism is necessary for salvation and this applies not only to us adults who have the ability to have faith but also to those who do not have the ability to have faith such as infants.

Jesus made no distinction in John 3:5 as far as Baptism goes…then again as a Protestant you are taught a different meaning than what Christiantiy taught from the very beginning about John 3:5.

Ken

 

[Atemi]

Faith is needed for Baptism. For an infant, the faith of the parents suffices to initiate the child into the Church

This is not quite accurate according to RC teaching.

The RCC teaches and has taught that the Sacrament is valid regardless of the faith or morality of any of the participants.

Many parents have baptised their children without any faith of their own. Also, only God knows how many babies have even been baptised by faithless priests through the centuries. This must be acknowledged.

So the Catholic Church does not say anything is truly needed for a valid Baptism except water and the correct words.

Faith is a bonus, but unnecessary, according to what the RCC taught me.

…

 

[JimG]

Perhaps what I should have said is that the proper intention is needed. The intention to do what the Church does when she baptizes. I am somewhat doubtful that the sacrament would be valid and effective if one were to drag a reluctant teenager kicking and screaming into the baptismal pool and forcibly perform the rite against his will, even if all the words and actions were done correctly.

 

[Genesis315]

Grace is a free gift from God merited by Jesus Christ which is given to the infant through Baptism. If a child can’t receive a free gift from God, then we must somehow have to earn salvation–and that’s not true.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

Hi, I am a Protestant seeking to understand Catholicism better. I am reading The Essential Catholic Survival Guide and have a question. Do I have this right, infant baptism merely readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life, it does not mean the baptized infant will go to heaven if he/she does not later claim faith in Christ, right? I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.
Thanks for any help.

I think it is better to say that infant baptism removes the stain of original sin from the soul. Yes, this does ready the child to accept Christ as Savior later in life, and no, there is no guarentee of salvation for any baptized child. We cannot predict what that child will do in the future. But baptism, by removing the stain of original sin, gets the soul going down the path of salvation, so to speak.

As stated earlier Catholics do not claim salvation at a particular point in our lives. Although we profess our faith in Christ at every Mass, we do not then think to ourselves “everything is ok now, I’m saved”. Our theology is quite different than protestant theology so this may seem very new to you. Catholics believe we are saved by the grace of God–a free gift through Jesus Christ which is totally unmerited by us. We believe that we receive God’s Grace in order to even have faith, we get sanctifying Grace at our baptism, and as we grow in faith and participate in the Sacraments we receive more and more of God’s grace. If we die in a state of grace, we will be saved. All this is possible because of the Salvific Work of Christ.

By the way, Catholics believe we can certainly know if we are in a state of grace at any moment, but we cannot predict in the future if we will commit an unrepented sin prior to our death. If we die in a state of unrepented mortal sin, we are not saved… even if we have been baptized, even if at one time we proclaimed Christ as Lord. This is why we do not claim “once saved, always saved”.

As far as salvation is concerned the Bible sums it up nicely. It is a process, not a one time event that we can claim. I swiped this summary from Awalt’s signature and it really shows that salvation is ongoing with a past, present and future. “I’m saved (Eph 2:5–8), being saved (1Cor 1:8), and hope I’ll be saved (1Cor 3:12–15). I’m working out my salvation in fear (Phil 2:12), with hopeful confidence in Christ (Rom 5:2).”

 

[Atemi]

Perhaps what I should have said is that the proper intention is needed. The intention to do what the Church does when she baptizes.

If there is no true faith there, I cannot see how true intention is there.

One follows the other by necessity.

I am somewhat doubtful that the sacrament would be valid and effective if one were to drag a reluctant teenager kicking and screaming into the baptismal pool and forcibly perform the rite against his will, even if all the words and actions were done correctly.

This thread is not about reluctant teenagers, but infants…who have not consented either.

Christ said that we must count the cost before choosing to be a Christian.

Luk 14:27 “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

To not give young people (infants) the precious and necessary opportunity to do this before making them Christians is only a recipe for trouble, IMV…but that is another thread.

 

[Atemi]

Grace is a free gift from God merited by Jesus Christ which is given to the infant through Baptism. If a child can’t receive a free gift from God, then we must somehow have to earn salvation–and that’s not true.

It has also been said that if a child cannot receive that same free gift from God without their parents doing this or that, then we must somehow earn salvation as well.

And yes, that is not true.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Do I have this right, infant baptism merely readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life, it does not mean the baptized infant will go to heaven if he/she does not later claim faith in Christ, right? I guess I am just a little confused as to when a Catholic claims salvation.
Thanks for any help.

My :twocents:…
You are only partly right. In the case of infants, the sacrament of baptism indeed “readies the child to accept Christ as Saviour later in life” by conferring on him “the capacity to believe” but the sacrament of baptism also confers saving or sanctifying grace and gives him a birthright to heaven.

If I am using your terms correctly then, it is at his baptism, even infant baptism, that a Catholic conditionally “claims salvation.” I say conditionally because, like Esau who traded away his birthright for a bowl of soup, a baptised person can trade away his birthright to heaven, lose his sanctifying grace, and lose his salvation by committing a serious or mortal sin.

It would be, I think, a serious or mortal sin to be culpably ignorant of Christ and His Church or to knowingly reject Christ and His Church. So, a person who was baptised as an infant but who later died in either of these situations (i.e., cuplably ignorant or knowingly rejecting), I think, would lose his salvation.

 

[JimG]

It is worth noting, I think, that the Church requires that there be a reasonable expectation that the child will be raised Catholic, before baptizing an infant. This is not normally a problem: Most parents bring their children to be baptized because they wish to raise them in the Faith. In doubtful cases, most priests would err on the side of doing the baptism.

Catholic parents bring their infants to be baptized for the same reason they see to their nutrition and their safety. Since we see baptism as necessary to salvation, (one must be born of water and the spirit) we do not deny it to children. We do not wait till children are old enough to decide for themselves what they will eat, or what language they will speak, or what education they will receive. Rather, we provide for their nurture from the outset, both physically and spiritually.

 

[Randy_Carson]

:tiphat:

This is not quite accurate according to RC teaching.

The RCC teaches and has taught that the Sacrament is valid regardless of the faith or morality of any of the participants.

Many parents have baptised their children without any faith of their own. Also, only God knows how many babies have even been baptised by faithless priests through the centuries. This must be acknowledged.

So the Catholic Church does not say anything is truly needed for a valid Baptism except water and the correct words.

Faith is a bonus, but unnecessary, according to what the RCC taught me.

…

This is a fair presentation.

The sacraments are not dependent upon the faith or morality of the priest. You also question the faith of the parents who appear, for all practical purposes, to be going through the motions.

Are you aware of just how small a mustard seed really is - and how powerful even that much faith is?

Baptism washes away the stain of original sin and brings the soul under the New Covenant of God just as the ritual of circumcision brought the Jewish male into the old covenant on the eighth day.

If God cared enough to have infants circumcised under the old, imagine how much more He wants them to be restored to a right relationship with Himself under the new.

As the Word says, “be bapized and wash away your sin” and “baptism now saves you.” It’s no mere outward symbol of an inward act…it is a channel of salvific grace.

Hope this helps. :tiphat:

 

[jemfinch]

Let’s also remember that the forgiveness of sins based on someone else’s faith is certainly biblical:

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”

(Luke 5:17-20)

Jeremy

 

[jmcrae]

Good point; also the family of the jailer, who were all baptized by Paul and Silas on the basis of his faith.

 

[Rebecca_New]

Our Blessed Mother presented Jesus in the temple when he was an infant. This was done because of obedience, for Jesus is Lord God. In Baptism aren’t we “presenting” our child to the Lord God?
I know I want my children to be saved by the graces of Our Lord, and this is a start that parents can give to their children. It just makes sense that children need Baptism, the First Holy Communion, and Confirmation. Growing closer to the Lord with each Sacrament, with the graces to obtain what they promise provided by the initial Baptism.

 

[rwoehmke]

If there is no true faith there, I cannot see how true intention is there.
One follows the other by necessity.
This thread is not about reluctant teenagers, but infants…who have not consented either.
Christ said that we must count the cost before choosing to be a Christian.

Luk 14:27 “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”

To not give young people (infants) the precious and necessary opportunity to do this before making them Christians is only a recipe for trouble, IMV…but that is another thread.

The intent is not on the part of the infant, but on the intent of the minister of Baptism to do what the Church intends. To baptize an adult against their will is not to be attempted. They must want it.

Catholics believe that in being Baptized we become members of the Body of Christ, Original Sin is washed away (This by the way is not sin in the usual sense which has guilt and culpability attached.), one becomes and adopted Child of God and brother or sister of Christ, receives Sanctifying Grace which is an ability to share in the life of the Holy Trinity, and also the Gifts listed in Isaiah 11 which help one to lead a Christian life as time goes by. It is much more than initiation into the Church community which is also an effect.

 

[Atemi]

Let’s also remember that the forgiveness of sins based on someone else’s faith is certainly biblical:

(Luke 5:17-20)

Jeremy

Are we to dare suppose that the paralyzed man had no faith of his own?

No. Not at all.

Should we then suppose that this man was forgiven without any repentance or faith?

No.

There is no forgiveness of sins where there is no repentance, and thus faith.

Not anywhere is Scripture.