Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jayc@hubcap.clemson.edu (Jay Crawford) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Infant Baptism Message-ID: Date: 3 Feb 91 04:23:38 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Clemson University, Clemson, SC Lines: 24 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu I have a good friend to whom I am trying to explain the credibility of infant baptism. She was raised in a Baptist church and feels that you can be baptized only when you have a conversion, when you can decide for yourself what you believe, and profess it. I suppose you can say that she believes in "believer's baptism" only. I believe that it is correct to baptize infants, to make them part of the Christian community. However, I have not done a very good job explaining this issue. If anyone wants to offer their justifications for infant baptism, I would like to hear from you. Thanks to all! -Jay jayc@hubcap.clemson.edu [It appears that "believer's baptism" and "infant baptism" symbolize somewhat different aspects of Christian experience. Baptists see baptism as symbolizing our decision for Christ, a commitement that involves a reasoned decision, and thus cannot be made by an infant. Those who practice infant baptism seem it as symbolizing God's call to us, and see our response to God as involving more than just reason, such that each age has its own appropriate way of responding to God. "Upon thee I have leaned from my birth; thou art he who took me from my mother's womb" Ps 71:6 (RSV) There are some of us who think both aspects are important, and thus see some value in having both traditions present in the Church. --clh]