Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dlester@cs.man.ac.uk (David Lester) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Original sin of infants Message-ID: Date: 10 Apr 91 08:10:16 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester UK Lines: 43 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article benning@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: > I just believe that infant baptism is of little use and has no Biblical base. > > Bruce Benning The part about "no Biblical base" may or may not be correct, depending on how you interpret the word Biblical. I agree that there is (essentially) no scriptural authority for infant baptism, but even for protestants such as you and me, this is not the end of the matter. There is also the matter of the worship of the early Christians. Baptism was very important to them, as was the Eucharist. We would therefore expect that our services are an echo of the earliest Christian worship. This is indeed the case with Baptism. Have you ever wondered why Trinitarian Orthodoxy is the way it is? It is an attempt to answer the question: what does it mean, when we "baptise in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"? It is as near certain as these things get that those are the words used by the Apostles when they baptised. And who did they baptise? Again, to me it seems highly likely that it was everyone. The Apostles were faced with a similar problem to that which my vicar faces today: "You've told me I should be baptised, you've told me that the end of the world is soon, so what will happen to my baby?" Remember, we are not talking here so much about "what if the baby dies", as "when Christ returns in all his glory, will my baby be left behind". I find it very hard to believe that infant baptism didn't occur in Apostolic times. To conclude: infant baptism is a tough question. If it wasn't we'd have all agreed ages ago. And that, to me, seems to apply to most of the controversial areas of our faith. {\it in nominie Patrie, Filie, et Spiritue Sanctie} David Lester (Manchester University). I'll try to put fingers to keyboard about the development of the doctrine of "Original Sin". (It's an instructive, but long story, and includes many interesting features, such as social justice in the Roman Empire.)