Question about adult baptism, adherents of this position only respond, please

  • Thread starter Thread starter MoreThan1Hat
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MoreThan1Hat

Guest
First, what is the significance of adult baptism? IOW, what do you believe (or what have you been taught) that it stands for?

Second, what do you believe (and what does your faith tradition officially teach) happens to souls who are members of your specific faith tradition who die before this baptism?

I would like to only hear from posters who either currently are members of a faith community that adheres to this belief, or from converts to Catholicism or Orthodoxy who previously held it. Also please specify in your answer whether your particular tradition practices a “dedication” of infants, and how this is performed.
 
Does “adherents of this position” mean those who forbid infants to be baptized?
 
Hi,

I’m a recent RCC revert which left the RCC and attended a church that was part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. I don;t know how to categorize the church, I’d say Fundamentalist, Evangelical. When I began attending they told me my RCC infant baptism was invalid and since I had accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior I needed to be re-baptised.

This wiki page explains things as I was told and understood them

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Believer%27s_baptism

“Believer’s baptism (also called credobaptism, from the Latin word credo meaning “I believe”) is the Christian ritual of baptism given to adults and children who have made a declaration of their personal faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. It contrasts with infant baptism (pedobaptism or paedobaptism, from the Greek paido meaning “child”), in which young children are baptised.”

More importantly (from the same wiki page)

“Believer’s baptism is sometimes held to have no salvific effect by adherents (such as Baptists and some Evangelicals), but is considered a public expression of faith and symbolically representative of the baptisand’s own conscious conversion experience. Credobaptists believe that saving grace and church membership are gifts from God by the recipient’s faith alone and cannot be imparted or transferred from one believer to another person (such as from parent to child) by sacraments such as baptism or by prayer. These tenets render infant baptism useless within their belief system. On the other hand, other groups such as the Apostolics do hold baptism to have salvation value.”

Hope this helps!
 
Part II

Yes that tradition did practice dedicating infants to God. This included bringing the children in front of the Church, with their parents, and praying over the children and parents.

This would also include young children not just infant.
 
Hi,
I am a born again chritian-evangelical who goes to a non-denom:thumbsup:

We have baby dedications which are almost identical to infant baptism except we dont baptize. I went to a catholic baptism and I was like “WOW, we say the same things except we dont do the baptism”
The baby dedication is to welcome the baby into the faith and for the parents and congregation to promise to raise and to help that child grow in the christian faith. We do not believe this gives the baby any special grace or the Holy Spirit or saves them.

We believe that before one can be baptized–they have to have made a profession of faith in Christ Jesus and repent of their sins. By being baptized they are affirming to the congregation that they have accepted the Lord as their personal Savior.
It is an outward outward expression of an inward change.
Here is an article from gotquestions.org that may explain better.
Question: “What is the importance of Christian baptism?”
Click to expand...
Answer: Christian baptism, according to the Bible, is an outward testimony of what has occurred inwardly in a believer’s life. Christian baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible declares, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4 NIV). In Christian baptism, the action of being immersed in the water pictures being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the water pictures Christ’s resurrection.
Click to expand...
In Christian baptism, there should be two requirements before a person is baptized: (1) the person being baptized must have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior, and (2) the person must understand what baptism signifies. If a person knows the Lord Jesus as Savior, understands that Christian baptism is a step of obedience in publicly proclaiming his faith in Christ, and desires to be baptized – then there is no reason to prevent the believer from being baptized. According to the Bible, Christian baptism is simply a step of obedience, a public proclamation of one’s faith in Christ alone for salvation. Christian baptism is important because it is a step of obedience – publicly declaring faith in Christ and commitment to Him, and identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Click to expand...
and
Question: “What is the proper mode of baptism?”
Click to expand...
Answer: The simplest answer to this question is found in the meaning of the word “baptize.” It comes from a Greek word which means “to submerge in water." Therefore, baptism by sprinkling or by pouring is an oxymoron, something that self-contradictory. Baptism by sprinkling would mean “submerging someone in water by sprinkling water on them.” Baptism, by its inherent definition, must be an act of immersion in water.
Click to expand...
Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4 NIV). The action of being immersed in the water pictures being buried with Christ. The action of coming out of the water pictures Christ’s resurrection. As a result, baptism by immersion is the only method of baptism which illustrates being buried with Christ, and being raised with Him. Baptism by sprinkling and/or pouring came into practice as a result of the unbiblical practice of infant baptism. For more information about infant baptism, see “What does the Bible say about infant baptism?”
Click to expand...
Baptism by immersion, while it is the most biblical mode of identifying with Christ, is not (as some believe) a prerequisite for salvation. It is rather an act of obedience to the command to “repent and be baptized” (Acts 2:38). Those who believe in baptismal regeneration fail to understand that it is the “repent” part that is necessary for salvation, not the act by which we declare that repentance to the world.
Click to expand...
Hope this helps:D
 
It is surely unfair that only those who adhere to adult baptism, meaning, only those who forbids baptism of infants could participate in this thread. Forbidding infant baptism is against Catholic teachings! And now, you prohibit Catholics to defend Catholic teachings in this thread? What an insult is this you are doing to CAF!
 
agangbern said:
It is surely unfair that only those who adhere to adult baptism, meaning, only those who forbids baptism of infants could participate in this thread. Forbidding infant baptism is against Catholic teachings! And now, you prohibit Catholics to defend Catholic teachings in this thread? What an insult is this you are doing to CAF!
Click to expand...
I intended no insult. It was not the purpose of the OP to start a debate; I titled the thread as I did in order to get clear, concise responses from non-Catholics whose faith traditions teach (a)that baptism is not a sacrament, i.e. does not impart grace to the soul/remove the stain of Original Sin, and (b)adults are baptized as an outward sign of an inner conversion, and (c)infants/children are not baptized due to reason b, but they can be dedicated by the parents as a sign of intent to raise the child in Christianity.

As a convert to Catholicism from the Moravian church via Presbyterianism, I did not understand adult-only baptism because I have never practiced a faith that did not do baptisms of infants and view this baptism as a sacrament.

I would like to thank those who responded for giving me a greater understanding of why some faith communities believe as they do.
 
MoreThan1Hat said:
First, what is the significance of adult baptism? IOW, what do you believe (or what have you been taught) that it stands for?
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t say adult baptism. Our church preaches that you should choose Jesus for yourself. My daughter made up her mind at 8 years of age that she accepted Jesus and wanted to be baptized. Others it can take longer for several reasons.

Baptism stands for your personal acceptance of Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It’s the death of your flesh that commits sin and a re-birth into Christ. We have infant dedication where the parents profess to raise the child to know Jesus and live according to HIS ways.
Second, what do you believe (and what does your faith tradition officially teach) happens to souls who are members of your specific faith tradition who die before this baptism?
Click to expand...
We believe children who die that don’t understand Jesus go to Heaven. The Bible clearly shows us Jesus’ love for children. HE tells us if we can’t become like children we will never enter the Kingdom of GOD. The RCC has changed it’s posture on this as well. We don’t believe Jesus would ever turn HIS back on a child because they were not baptized.

Matthew 19:14 “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus tells us if we teach a child to sin it would be better to have a great millstone fastened around our neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

For adults that know Jesus but haven’t accepted HIM they are subject to GOD’s judgement. For adults that don’t know Jesus and never had the opportunity to know HIM, we believe that is in GOD’s hands. If someone has accepted Jesus but hasn’t been baptized yet they still go to heaven. They should have the intention of getting baptized though.
I would like to only hear from posters who either currently are members of a faith community that adheres to this belief, or from converts to Catholicism or Orthodoxy who previously held it. Also please specify in your answer whether your particular tradition practices a “dedication” of infants, and how this is performed.
Click to expand...
PEACE
 
For me, the thing about adult baptism is that by that point, YOU understand the choice that YOU are making and you are making it freely. It means a lot and hopefully you’ll understand that. People baptized as infants will hopefully have this experience at confirmation, but because confirmation tends to be just a part of the Sunday school classes people go through, I’ve found that for the most part it isn’t like that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top