Infant Baptism

[MrZetterlund]

I’m not so sure if I agree with infant baptism. Shouldn’t you be baptised because you’re saved? How can a baby confess he is a follower of Christ, or even know for that matter?

 

[Mel_Stones]

I am not an expert so I reserve the right to be corrected.

When an infant is baptized it means a couple things. 1) It removes the stain of original sin - that is the sin all humans bear because of Adam and Eve. 2) It is an announcement that this child will be raised in the Faith (by the parents, godparents, and the church community. 3) It is a welcoming of the child into the Faith.

So, it isn’t so much the child saying “I reject all sin and choose to follow Christ”. It is the parents and Faith community (Church) saying “this child will be raised in the faith of the Catholic Church (which is to follow Christ)”. In a way we are making the decision for the child until they are old enough to make the decision themselves as well as giving the graces that come from the removal of original sin (of course it is God who gives the grace not us but it is through our actions). Other Sacraments, Conformation for instance, cannot be forced upon a person - they must make the choice themselves because they occur after the age of reason. Baptism is not forced because it occurs before the age of reason.

A more detailed explanation is here Why infant baptism? and the links within.

Hope this helps.
Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[beckycmarie]

Thanks Mel, for the links. Just found this great explanation on one of them:

catholic.com/library/Infant_Baptism.asp

More detail is given in Luke’s account of this event, which reads: “Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God’” (Luke 18:15–16).

Now Fundamentalists say this event does not apply to young children or infants since it implies the children to which Christ was referring were able to approach him on their own. (Older translations have, “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” which seems to suggest they could do so under their own power.) Fundamentalists conclude the passage refers only to children old enough to walk, and, presumably, capable of sinning. But the text in Luke 18:15 says, “Now they were bringing even infants to him” (Greek, Prosepheron de auto kai ta brepha). The Greek word brepha means “infants”—children who are quite unable to approach Christ on their own and who could not possibly make a conscious decision to “accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.” And that is precisely the problem. Fundamentalists refuse to permit the baptism of infants and young children, because they are not yet capable of making such a conscious act. But notice what Jesus said: “to such as these [referring to the infants and children who had been brought to him by their mothers] belongs the kingdom of heaven.” The Lord did not require them to make a conscious decision. He says that they are precisely the kind of people who can come to him and receive the kingdom. So on what basis, Fundamentalists should be asked, can infants and young children be excluded from the sacrament of baptism? If Jesus said “let them come unto me,” who are we to say “no,” and withhold baptism from them?

 

[Bookcat]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church

vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm#VII

and

The Baptism of infants

1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called.50 The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.51

1251 Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.52

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.53 (53 Cf. Acts 16:15, 33; 18:8; 1 Cor 1:16)

 

[EmeraldWings]

well, what kind of loving parent would deny their child salvation? a person can deny Christ whether they are baptized or not, the baptism does not hinder you from choosing between heaven and hell, but if you are not baptized as an infant, and then die before you can even decide on your own to, then you can’t go to heaven…i would never do that to my children(if i had any e_e)
and on top of that, baptism gives many graces and virtues that you would otherwise not have that would help you greatly in understanding and believing in God and your religion so you could make your decision based on what you do understand instead of what you don’t.

according to the Catholic Church, a baby should be baptized within two or three weeks of its birth, and It is actually a mortal sin to delay the baptism of a baby for a long time.

and besides…you’re not “saved” until you die and go to heaven, this life is a trial, we are hear to learn to love, and to know, love, and serve God, choosing on our own if we want baptism is really irrelevant to it’s purpose,
if we decide later in life that we want to follow Christ, and already received baptism as an infant, then good, continue on,
but if you decide later in life that you don’t want to follow Christ, and you also received baptism as an infant…then continue on…you have already lost the sanctifying grace your baptism gave you…

what you need to understand here is, the important deciding factor is not baptism, the only important thing is choosing God and making it to heaven, and if you understand that, then you understand the need to baptize infants, it’s for their own good,
really, what’s more important, making sure your child had the chance to choose on their own to be baptized, or making sure that they even have a chance at heaven in the first place if they were to die at a young age?
if your unbaptized child died, would you be thinking to yourself “well at least i didn’t force them to have original sin cleaned from their soul”, or would you be thinking what a fool you were for putting the importance of choice over the importance of their immortal soul…

well, that’s all for now, i hope this helps you, tc