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| Believers' baptizo or babies' rantizo? |
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/2162098007480
November 3,
2011
Baptism:
Presumption or Profession; Proxy, or Personal.
These four Ps,
consider them!
A baby sprinkler
inquires:
Kind sir, Why
shouldn't babies be baptized? They are capable of salvation just as the adult
believers....yes?
I, a believer
immersionist reply:
Brother Chris,
Thanks for your friendship.
Are you related
to... ? I have been reading its Theological Journal for many years.
Are you asking me
that question?
That's the wrong
question. The right question is this - can babies give the answer of a good
conscience toward God? Asking the wrong question leads one down the wrong path.
1Pet 3:21 ¶ The
like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away
of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I will baptize
anyone, BABIES included, who are CAPABLE of giving the answer of a good conscience
toward God.
He replied:
Brother, I am
indeed related to Prof..... As for baptism, do
you believe babies can be saved?
I replied:
Yes, I do. Anyone
can be saved. No one is beyond God's divine effectual call! Babies and old
[hardened] dying adults and all in between are in the same spiritual condition
- dead in trespasses and sins. God alone can effectually call them out of that
state of sin and death to that of grace and eternal life.
If 'can be saved'
be the ground of baptism, then on that same ground all, without distinction,
ought to be baptized unless you can show beforehand that those whom you
refused to baptize cannot be saved, i.e. is beyond God's irresistible grace.
The baby sprinklers
are assuming that all the babies they sprinkled are saved...a wee bit
presumptuous, clearly going beyond Scriptures' mandate.
And baptism is only
for such who give evidence of such divine work. Submitting to baptism is the
answer of a good conscience toward God - confessing to the truth of God's
divine work through water baptism.
A year ago I met
Brother .... at a public meeting in Penang. I was a pleasant surprise.
He replied:
Ok...thanks for
this. I really appreciate your willingness to discuss this with me, and I like
the spirit of this discussion. Here is one question I have for you......baby
sprinklers assume that the child is saved; adult baptizers assume that the
person they are baptizing is saved. What's the difference? Both are presuming.
Neither one knows the heart. They both base their baptism on a presumption.
yes?
I replied:
Believers' baptism
and adult baptism are not the same.
Believers' baptizers
DO NOT assume that the person they are baptizing is saved.
Believers' baptizers
baptize those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, and baptism is the answer of a
good conscience towards God.
I will immerse
anyone, even a baby, who profess faith in Jesus Christ and want to be baptized
as an answer of a good conscience towards God as a witness to the gracious work
of redemption by God's free grace in Jesus Christ.
So, there is no
PRESUMPTION involves in the believers' baptism.
Infant sprinklers
PRESUME - that's their basis.
Believers' immersionists act on the PROFESSION of faith in Christ since baptism testifies to the death and resurrection of Christ. That's the biblical model.
Thanks.
He replied:
Well...this is
where we part ways. You claim to KNOW that a person who professes faith is
sincere. That is where you and I disagree. I would assert that NO one can know
that a person is sincere even if they do make a profession of true faith. All
we can do is accept their profession as it is and presume they are being
sincere. The same thing that a baby baptizer does when they presume the child
is a believer based on the fact that the parents are believers. The biblical
model is to baptize families, not individuals.
At any rate, I appreciate your discussing this with me. God prosper your ministry exceedingly. If you are ever interested in free lecture material from our seminary, please feel free to register at this site. (web address given...)
I replied:
Well... if that be
the case, then it is a sincere PERSONAL profession versus sincere PROXY
profession. Believers' baptizers choose the former, baby sprinklers the latter.
If the biblical model is to baptized families, then we would see thousands of families baptized on the day of Pentecost and on many other occasions before we come to Cornelius. And it is a PRESUMPTION that there are little children in Cornelius household, I have four children but my youngest is already a young adult.
So, PRESUMPTION or
PROFESSION? Is it PROXY or
PERSONAL?
The Lord bless you
richly Brother!
It is pleasant to
converse with you.
