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: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Original sin of infants Message-ID: Date: 14 Apr 91 03:01:42 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article benning@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com writes: If I may clairify my position. I do believe in baptism. My gripe is that when I became a believer, I rejoined the Church my parents went to. It is a Methodist Church. I wanted to be baptised as a sign to everyone that I was born again, and that I was commiting my life to G-d through our Lord Jesus and the new life he gave me. But they said "Your parents baptised you when you were a child, so we can't perform the baptism again." Three times I begged them to allow me this opportunity, but each time I was lovingly denied. That is my gripe. If the infant baptism was worth all it is made out to be, I wouldn't have waited 26 years to know and obey Jesus. I do believe that if I died during my years of rebellion (14-21) I would not be saved any more by the baptism my parents gave me, than my "good works" or my lucky rabbits foot. Perhaps it is just a personal problem on my part. They were right in not baptizing you again; it has to do with Church history. The decision was made in the early Church that baptism cannot be repeated. I will just give a little info on this: There was a controversy in the early Church around the mid 3rd century. Two of the major contenders were St. Cyprian, an African bishop, and Pope St. Stephen. The problem at that time was what to do with people converting from heresy, etc., who had already been baptized. Were they to be baptized again? The decision of St. Stephen was: "Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the traditions." By the way, there is also evidence that infant baptism has been practiced from early times. [I've seen suggestions (I can't find a reference) that rebaptism was practiced when someone converted from groups that did not believe in the Trinity, presumably because of the requirement for baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's frustrating not to find details, but as I recall, Arians were (sometimes?) rebaptized. --clh]