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What is the purpose of infant water baptism if there are many infants baptized who grow up and don't believe?

What purpose did the infant water baptism serve? Did it save them? Did it cause them to believe?

If neither, then can you explain what purpose it served?

Public Comments

1. Google "Covenant Theology."

2. Infant water baptism is a serious problem. A child can't make it's own decision, it has to go with whatever the parents believe. You wouldn't force a political view on someone like this would you?

3. To make the parent feel better. They obviously don't get baptism.

4. Good point. We are all born atheists. Religion is learned.

5. THE CHILD HAS TO LEARN WHAT WATER BAPTISM IS AND THEN DECIDE TO BELIEVE AND BE SAVED.

6. Exactly! I don't get it either, i just think it has something to do with the new covenant, but still it seems they're ignoring the whole circumcision thing/point that Paul talked about.

7. It represents the beginning of indoctrination.

8. Water presents you to God , but choice is yours... What you want to do is your own choice , and not Gods. however many people come back to the lord after living a worldly life.

9. Because parents enjoying forcing their religious garbage down their kids' throats. It's just something parents do because they are religious and think that their babies need to be too, instead of waiting and letting them make their own choices when they are old enough.

10. Baptism forgives any sins the person has at the time. We are all born with original sin, the sin of Adam, which Baptism removes.

Responsible parents baptize their children in the hopes of raising their children in the Christian faith. Unfortunately, personal selfishness coming from pent-up teenagers, union workers and educrats who brainwash children is a challenge these days, but not altogether unexpected. After all, Judas traded Jesus over for thirty pieces of silver, so it's not surprising these individuals (evermore on this blog) are selling their souls and the core of their humanity for good feelings and $$$.

Baptism may or may not cause someone to believe.

11. Water baptism of infants, brings them into the official membership of the church.
It washes away the stain of original sin, the sin of Adam & Eve.
The presumption is that the parents will raise the child to believe.
But no-one can be forced to believe, anymore than to love.
It's the mercy of GOD which saves any of us; read parable of the sower.

12. Infant Baptism

There is no support for infant-baptism in any Scripture. There is no express command for infants to be baptized until they become responsible agents and turn to God and have their sins remitted as m the case of adults. There is no case of baptism of infants in the Scriptures. No passage even implies such a practice. Salvation is a personal experience and children must become old enough to accept salvation before they are commanded to be baptized. Children until they become responsible, even though their parents are unsaved, will be taken to Heaven if they die before accountability just as much as those of saved parents (Matt. 18:1-10; 19:14). Scriptures demand faith and repentance as necessary before baptism and this no child can do until he is old enough to understand sin and what to do to be saved. Infant baptism became prominent when churches began to teach baptism and other sacraments to save the soul and remit sins. Such practice makes it impossible to obey Christ's command later without admitting infant-baptism was of no benefit. Since there are so many scriptural reasons why infant-baptism should not be practiced and since it has no efficacy it would be best to wait until the child turns to God by faith and repents of its sins before it is baptized.

13. This is not baptism, this is ...Dedication. The child is not only being dedicated to God, but the parents and church is responsible for the commitment of this child's religious upbringing.

14. its a catholic tradition that has washed over to christian.

I live by the example that Jesus set for us - he was not baptized as an infant but as a grown man.

The word says in John 3:3-5 Jesus said to nicodemus that a "MAN" must be born again - through water and in spirt for him to enter into the Kingdom of God. (which is Jesus). Baptism is not something your parents can decide for you.They can't repent for your sins on your behalf. That is after all why Jesus died on the cross and send his holy spirt to guide us in his will. It is a life changing decision that each and every child of God has to make, to be born again into the new family of Jesus Christ and to follow christ and live by his word.

I hope this somwhat answer your question.

15. Shortly before AD 313, the Emperor of Rome Constantine the Great was advised by his mother that she had embraced the Christian religion. After hearing details he(this is guess work by historians) saw from observation of the Christian bands(small groups of believers) that they were very faithful to one another and to other similar believing bands or families as often referred to. In AD 313 the Roman Empire was experiencing division, townships were opposing other townships--little jealousies and would split the Empire if ignored. In Christianity he saw perhaps an opportunity to unit the townships by having a one church or one faith empire as had been with the Pagan religion earlier. So he called a council of Christian ministers and Pagan priest. The Christians were being persecuted by Judaism and Pagans so you can imagine how reluctant they were to come out of hiding---not very likely. The council was formed of mostly Pagan and the Roman Universal Catholic Church was formed and made the Church State of the Roman Empire.
Flash forward a couple hundred years. The people were to come to be part of the state church and that was not happening as fast as desired. Those little families of Christians were still existing and resisting the state church even under greater persecution as heretics. The today Catholic stole a concept from the bible and for centuries have claimed to have put it to practice even in AD 500? The bible in Proverbs says something to the effect if you train a child God's ways from birth he will always be of God. The modern Catholics say "Give me a child to be taught catholicism until he is six and he will always be Catholic." or some version of that. That statement was the foundational statement or concept of infant baptism. The true Christians whom the Catholics were killing as heretics fought over this concept---only an adult aware of good and evil should receive salvation and thus be eligible for baptism, a symbolic sacrament of what has already happened in a person's life. So the question remains: how can an infant know good and evil. Baptism became a very big issue between true Christians and Catholics.
A later council of the Catholic church then deemed it mandatory for all infants to be baptized and receive membership to the Roman Universal Catholic Church. This is the full blown version of the concept of "give me a child until six-----". Well, it did not work then, it does not work now and so the killing of over 50 million true Christians who never submitted to the state church of Rome passed on a legacy of always following Jesus rather than a man order called a church. Today we have the Roman Catholic still baptizing infants, the four Protestant church who split from the Catholic, some baptize infants and perhaps some do not but even more important, we have millions and millions of evangelical Christians who survived 2000 years of persecution from Pagans, Judaism and Roman Universal Catholic Church and Protestant church to proclaim that Baptism is for saved members of the family of God, not infants nor for non-believers. It does not save a person but symbolizes that one is already saved, dying of self, being buried with Christ and rising resurrected with Christ as Jesus was the first born of the new Covenant with God--that is the Gospel story, even we Gentiles can be family with God.

16. baptism is a gift from god. if you fail to use it whose fault is it. there is an old saying.. dont look a gift horse in the mouth.

17. The idea of infant baptism is related to a mistaken idea that babies are born with the guilt of inherited sin. If a baby is guilty of sin, the thought is that they should be baptized to wash away that sin.

The Bible however teaches that "sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4) If a baby is guilty of sin, what law have they transgressed? A baby is not capable of transgressing, or even understanding, any law.

But, what about inherited sin (guilt)?

This idea goes against many verses, including Ezekiel 18:20.

"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself."

This verse clearly teaches that children do not inherit the guilt of sin.

We will each be judged on what we have done; not on the basis of what our parents (or anyone else other than Jesus) has done on our behalf. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10) "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)

Those who teach infant baptism many times point to the households that were baptized in the New Testament. They assume these households had infants and those young children were included in the baptism.

This, however is just an assumption. It is risky to base your doctrine on a guess that cannot be proven from the Scriptures!

In fact, the context of many of these scriptures DISPROVE infant baptism.

Some point to "the household of Stephanas" that Paul baptized (1 Corinthians 1:16). This "household", however, "devoted themselves to the service of the Lord’s people." (1 Corinthians 16:15) Since an infant can't devote himself to such a work, "household" in this case can not refer to any infants.

Also, notice the example of the household of the keeper of the prison in Acts 16.

He was baptized with his household (verse 33). But notice also, all his household was taught ( verse 32), and they all believed (verse 34). An infant cannot be taught, and an infant cannot believe. Therefore, "household" here does not include any infants either.

Neither of these examples included infants, yet they are both often used as support text for infant baptism.

To be baptized one must first believe and repent, therefore, baptism is not for infants. (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38)

Notice the eunuch in Acts 8. He asked, "What hinders me from being baptized?” (verse 36) "Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.'" (verse 37)

A baby cannot believe, therefore a baby would not meet this requirement for one to be baptized.

Acts 8:12 says, "But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized." Notice it says they were baptized "when they believed" and the ones being baptized were "men and women"!

Acts 18:8 says, "And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized." Notice the order. They heard, they believed, then they were baptized. (Just like in Mark 16:15-16)

An infant cannot believe, therefore they are not yet candidates for scriptural baptism!
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