Quote:
The Church has baptized infants from the very beginning. It is part Apostolic Tradition.
Randy this is simply not true. You are merely repeating what others have said to you.
As are you since you weren’t there 2,000 years ago, either.
Please read these catholic sources:
Okay. Let’s go…
“Baptism used to be given by placing the person to be baptized completely in the water: it was done in this way in the Catholic Church for 1200 years.” (Adult Catechism, pp. 56-57).
Nothing about infant baptism there. Next.
“Ecclesiastical custom with regard to the administration of Baptism has undergone a change in the course of history. Whereas the early Church baptized adults only, the baptism of children soon became the usual practice.” (Pastoral Medicine, pp. 32-33).
Are you personally familiar with this book? Have you read it? This is more Internet cut-and-paste rubbish. Here is the full citation:
“Ecclesiastical custom with regard to the administration of Baptism has undergone a change in the course of history. Whereas the early Church baptized adults only, the baptism of children soon became the usual practice.” (Sanford, Alexander E., MD, Pastoral Medicine: Handbook for the Catholic Clergy, 1904, p 32-33)
This is a “Catholic source”? Does Dr. Sanford speak for the Catholic Church or have any Church authority whasoever? Nope. Next.
“The church at one time practiced immersion. This was up to the thirteenth century. The Council of Ravenna, in 1311, changed the form from immersion to pouring.” (Our Faith and the Facts, p. 399).
The Catholic Church did practice immersion at one time AND STILL DOES. Three forms of baptism are valid: immersion, pouring and sprinkling. Can you prove from the Bible alone that those who were baptized were not baptized by sprinkling or pouring? Where, for example, was the Philippian jailer baptized? IN THE JAIL AT MIDNIGHT? Not in a pool or river. Paul poured some water over his head…and the heads of all his household…kids included.
Although Latin-rite Catholics are usually baptized by infusion (pouring), they know that immersion (dunking) and sprinkling are also valid ways to baptize. Fundamentalists, however, regard only baptism by immersion as true baptism, concluding that most Catholics are not validly baptized at all.
Although the New Testament contains no explicit instructions on how physically to administer the water of baptism, Fundamentalists argue that the Greek word
baptizo found in the New Testament means “to immerse.” They also maintain that only immersion reflects the symbolic significance of being “buried” and “raised” with Christ (see Romans 6:3-4).
It is true that *baptizo *often means immersion. For example, the Greek version of the Old Testament tells us that Naaman, at Elisha’s direction, “went down and
dipped himself [the Greek word here is *baptizo] seven times in the Jordan” (2 Kgs. 5:14,
Septuagint, emphasis added).
But immersion is not the only meaning of
baptizo. Sometimes it just means washing up. Thus Luke 11:38 reports that, when Jesus ate at a Pharisee’s house, “[t]he Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash
baptizo] before dinner.” They did not practice immersion before dinner, but, according to Mark, the Pharisees “do not eat unless they wash
nipto] their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they
wash themselves baptizo]” (Mark 7:3–4a, emphasis added). So
baptizo can mean cleansing or ritual washing as well as immersion.
A similar range of meanings can be seen when
baptizo is used metaphorically. Sometimes a figurative “baptism” is a sort of “immersion”; but not always. For example, speaking of his future suffering and death, Jesus said, “I have a baptism
baptisma] to be baptized
baptizo] with; and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!” (Luke 12:50) This might suggest that Christ would be “immersed” in suffering. On the other hand, consider the case of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
In Acts 1:4–5 Jesus charged his disciples “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” Did this mean they would be “immersed” in the Spirit? No: three times Acts 2 states that the Holy Spirit was
poured out on them when Pentecost came (2:17, 18, 33, emphasis added). Later Peter referred to the Spirit
falling upon them, and also on others after Pentecost, explicitly identifying these events with the promise of being “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 11:15–17). These passages demonstrate that the meaning of
baptizo is broad enough to include “pouring.”
(cont.)
. Not important though. Protestantism is confusing and so diverse, it must be very disconcerting and trying.
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