Is Infant Baptism A Natural Tradition? Essay

I had only known a handful of individuals who were baptized when I was a child. I never had an interest in being baptized. I didn't know what it was, but my mother wanted me to baptized. What I didn't know was how nerve wracking, exhilarating and emotional it could be. I found out last weekend.

Baptism has many inextricable ties to the beliefs that are held so very tightly by the Christian church and its adherents. It is one of the many traditions of the faith that seeks to express aspects of the religion that are essential to its practice. Baptism is linked to beliefs about: spiritual rebirth through Christ who seeks to cleanse and purify each individual from their sins, admission into the Christian Church and its mission, faith in the Holy Trinity, particularly in the power of the Holy Spirit which seeks to bring knowledge of God to the world as well as the need for salvation from eternal damnation as emphasised in Lewis Sperry Chafer’s book Major Bible Themes which states that: “...baptism when practiced can be no more than an expression of faith and the hope...that the child will ultimately be saved.” Baptism also highlights the Christian beliefs based on faith and repentance-reconciling with God and accepting one’s role as His son/daughter, participation in the life, death and resurrection of Christ by being able to partake in celebrating His sacrifice for mankind, and finally the forgiveness of sins- turning towards a life filled with God’s guidance and righteous presence.

Between the ages of three and nine months, Greek Orthodox infants are baptized. This means that the infant is dipped in water, representing how Christ was also baptized. The ceremony takes place in the cathedral, with family and church members present. The priest conducts the ceremony, and parents and godparents of the child participate

May 1, 2016, the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, located in Greenwood (S.C.) County will celebrate its 142nd church anniversary. Many years Mt. Olive have been a church that loved people, gave without limits and took great care of its members. The last five of those one hundred and forty-two years, I have been honored to serve as pastor of this great church. Although this is a great church, Mt. Olive and many churches like it are plagued with a disease that has slowly, but surely, causing the church to drift further away from God and fall deeper into the ways of the world. This epidemic is known as “tradition”. Churches that are bound by tradition and not led by the Holy Spirit will find themselves missing the mark of what God has called us to do. The bible is filled with instructions for the church, but as Christians and Disciples of Christ, Matthew 28 is the foundation upon which we should be operating on in the church as well as in our lives. The Great Commission challenges us to “go, teach and preach to all nations.” Traditional churches will allow church tradition to dictate biblical doctrine. It will allow the church to argue about who’s right instead of what’s right. Sadly, church success has been based on structure and finances rather than saving lost souls.

In the church, the pastor or preacher has an innate responsibility to address sin and nominalism without hesitation or fear of retribution. The church’s focus on mere building membership, no matter the cost, overshadows God’s abhorrence of sin. Further, both sin and nominalism seems to have intensified as many point to the religious concept of being a Christian without having a changed heart or life through Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon shares, “There will always be trouble in the churches as long as men are afraid to denounce sin and error. To confront sin, it is without doubt a pastor’s responsibility to challenge the sins of this present time.

A candle is given to one of the parents who lights it from the Easter

order of the instructions is what is important here. Jesus told them to make disciples, which

Often held as a rite of passage and entrance into the Christian church, baptism is much more than just symbolic ritual. Baptism was commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission recounted in the book of Matthew. Even though we are simplistically called to be obedient by being baptized the Christian church has long debated the aspects of this ordinance. Denominations are divided on the basic meaning, types and modes of baptism even two thousand years after the founding of the Christian church. Just as the other ordinance, the Lord’s Supper, congregations find themselves at odd with tradition, biblical interpretation and even individual understanding. However, the simple message of this awe inspiring act can be explained out of the

This interview will assess the participates input relative to historical or theological issues impacting the church. Special attention and analysis will be gathers in the areas of historical impacts, worship ramifications, and theological challenges for the 21st century. In this interview three major categories will be analysis: historical, theological, and ministry – philosophy will sum up this project.

While infant baptism occurs in Catholicism and these denominations, the pressure on these denominations is very different from that of their catholic counterpart. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodoxy all believe baptism isn’t merely a symbol of Christ, but that the act actually conveys grace in itself. In addition to three Eastern churches, Lutherans and Methodists also practice baptism. Lutherans believe it is Christians’ duty to baptize children, as the bible states in Matthew 28:19 that Christians must go forth and baptize those around the world. Methodists are similar to Catholics in that they believe baptism is symbolic, rather than actually denoting and giving grace itself, yet differ in that they don’t think it cleanses humans of original

Thus, being a member of my Quaker in-group involves being prepared to right this particular misconception and also being willing to explain what Quakerism in fact is. This, I think, is what makes Quakers different from most other religious denominations in America—we frequently have to explain who we are and where we came from (what we believe) *"What we believe" goes better with "practices" below. This creates a strong sense of group identity, for I have to know and be able to explain my in-group’s history and practices at any given moment. With these explanations, I am constantly reminded that my denomination is unique and that I should carry my membership with pride.

As Hugh was explaining the importance of baptism and what it truly is, I found myself reflecting on what I have been taught about baptism. Even though i feel that I was raised to see baptism similar to how Hugh believed it to be, there was this sense of true passion and understanding as to the real importance of baptism. That is just is not a time for you to be wash of your sins, but a time for you to realize that without baptism, salvation is almost impossible. That Jesus himself said, unless you are baptised in the the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. I feel modern Christians have lost that true sense of what baptism is and I truly believe that this is something that needs to be readdressed in the Protestant

The baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is it and how do I get it? A teaching from Pat Robertson. The first of two parts.

These churches also perform both types of baptism, believer and infant baptism. The three aforementioned churches baptises infants based on the biblical quotes “Jesus answered, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit'” (John 3:5). The biblical states “no one” which implies even infants are to be baptised. Immersion is the man method of baptism in the Catholic based on the Bible verse “But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal” (Luke 11:38), however immersion is also another method used as Jesus “went up out of the water” (Matthew 3:16) and also symbolises Jesus resurrection after being crucified in the

All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.