Is It Right To Baptize Infants? Series

Raccoon John Smith was one of our brotherhood’s more colorful evangelists in the early 1800s. One day he was passing by a Methodist camp meeting and he watched as a young Methodist preacher sprinkled water (for baptism) on a baby who was kicking & screaming at the top of its lungs. When the service was over, Raccoon Smith stepped to the front of the crowd and, introduced himself. Then he took the Methodist preacher by the arm and started dragging him down toward a nearby creek. The young preacher protested “What are you trying to do? Are you out of your mind?” Raccoon Smith looked surprised: "What am I trying to do? Why, sir, I going to baptize you by immersion into the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Methodist preacher cried out "I have no desire for such baptism. I know you; you are called 'The dipper.' But you are not going to dip me. I'm a Methodist; you let me go!" But Smith tightened his hold on the man's arm and asked "Are you a believer?" "Well, of course, I'm a believer," the preacher said. "But I'm not willing to be immersed. It would do no good for you to baptize me against my will. IT WOULD BE WRONG." "I don't understand," said Smith. "Only a few minutes ago, you baptized a helpless baby against its will although it screamed and it kicked. Did you get its consent first?" And the crowd broke into laughter, as Smith again pulled the preacher toward creek. Then he suddenly released him and he motioned the audience to be silent. "Friends, I will be in the neighborhood for a little while visiting among you; let me know if this poor, misguided man ever again baptizes another without his consent. For you have heard him say that it would do no good, and that IT WOULD BE WRONG."

It would be wrong to baptize someone (like an infant) who hadn’t given consent? Really? Well, yeah… it would be wrong! But the question is: why?

Well, many churches "baptize" their infants as a way to "dedicate" them to Jesus. The idea is that the parents are publicly proclaiming that they will promise to raise their children to honor Christ. Now, that sounds nice... except such a practice was never mentioned in the New Testament nor in the history of the church for the first 1500 or 1600 years of its existence. That would mean that neither God, nor the early church considered it a practice it wanted to encourage. It's a fairly modern invention of churches and really has no Biblical value.

By contrast, by the year 200 A.D. there were numerous churches who were baptizing their children and infants to make sure they went to heaven. By the time of Augustine (around 400 A.D.) it had become so common that someone asked him “What about babies who died before they were baptized?” His conclusion was that … without being baptized, they would go to hell (see footnote). He taught this because of a growing belief in “original sin” in the Catholic church. And while there had been instances where churches baptized infants, Augustine opened the floodgates to this way of thinking in the church. Those who taught this insisted that babies MUST be baptized to get into heaven.

And, while not every church (that sprinkles babies) believes that teaching, many still do.

ILLUS: I read of one preacher who was visiting a hospital where he met a woman who was anxious to talk about the salvation of a child that she’d lost 18 years before. It seems that her own preacher had come to call on her, and she’d asked him what would happen to her child after it died. He told her her baby was lost because she had failed to have it baptized. (Glenn Pease, sermoncentral.com)

Many parents (who’ve had their babies “sprinkled” for baptism) have done so because they are afraid that – if they don’t – they won’t see their children again. And that’s a powerful motivation.

But IT’S WRONG… just plain wrong. Notice what Acts 2 tells us: REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED. Not just BE BAPTIZED – because baptism without repentance… is just a ritual. It’s a ritual that says that all you need is the right person (the priest) = Saying the right words (the blessing); in the right way (applying water to the baby’s head); This RITUALIZED baptism implies that there is no need for a changed heart and no need for faith in Christ, and no need to trust Jesus for mercy. Without faith and repentance and confessing Jesus as our Lord and Master you can be joined to the church without even giving your consent.

And that’s one of the reasons that infant baptism is wrong: The Bible teaches that you cannot become a Christian (let alone a member of Christ’s church) without giving your consent (that practice is like shoe-horning people into the pews).