Baptism and Babies

This morning at our church, a precious baby girl was baptised.

R5 sat on my lap during that part of the service. "I remember the day you were baptised," I whispered. "Do you remember?"

We listened to the pastor talk about the covenant God made with Abraham, the covenant God has made with us.

Pastor Gregg Strawbridge's booklet "Infant Baptism: Does the Bible Teach it?" was key in helping me understand paedobaptism. It clarified many concepts connected with Covenant Theology and the idea of covenant family.

I've been mulling over the implications of children in the Covenant ever since, and even more over the past year. Some of those implications have had a profound impact in how I relate to my family.

It was truly beautiful to witness little Yulichka's baptism today.

Posted by TulipGirl | 09:17 PM| TrackBack (0) | Words

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Comments

We baptise infants. :) I love the concept/understanding of a covenant family. For us, baptising babies isn't for their salvation, but to recognize them as a blessing from God, to acknowledge our agreement to raise the child for God and to have the church commit to providing a Christian fellowship for the baby and the baby's family.
Posted by: Jo, the HappyHSer at May 23, 2004 09:35 PM

My best friend whose blog is http://hampsonbaby.blog-city.com is another Reformed Christian. Hearing you talk about infant baptism and the covenant sounds just like her. Another benefit of this covenant was the assurance for her when she lost her first baby during the second trimester, that her child was part of that covenant being the child of covenant Christians.
Posted by: Anne at May 23, 2004 09:37 PM

You (or maybe it was Discoshaman?) posted that article some time ago. I read it out of curiosity. My reaction? "Oh, crud. This makes sense. Now what do I do?" The rest is history. :-) Thanks for posting it, then and now.
Posted by: Missy at May 23, 2004 10:48 PM

*LOL* Missy!
Posted by: TulipGirl at May 23, 2004 10:53 PM

Missy, that sounds like me! The last thing that held me back was the mode of baptism, "Because," I thought, "you don't dunk babies!" Fortunately I was a convinced covenant theology/paedobaptist long before I learned that many traditions do, in fact, dunk their babies.

:-D
Posted by: Kelly at May 24, 2004 04:37 AM

It gives me chills to think that a Covenant child was baptised on the opposite side of the planet. We span the world! It's ours.
Posted by: Barb at May 24, 2004 07:02 AM

OOH. I love Barb's comment!

Alexandra, would you mind emailing me? I'd like to ask you a question "Off The Blog"!

Thanks.
Posted by: Samantha at May 24, 2004 02:37 PM

In our tradition, we dedicate the child, at birth, in a ceremony, to the Lord, but we choose our baptism when we choose to profess our faith, and enter willfully and knowingly into the Lord's service, as Jesus did when he began his ministry.
Posted by: AutMom at May 25, 2004 07:50 AM

"We span the world! It's ours."

Barb--Hubby said that the postmils can declare victory, then, and start being less militant and more winsome. *wink*

AutMom, that's what I grew up with, too. *g* You might find the article interesting. . .
Posted by: TulipGirl at May 25, 2004 10:17 AM

In infant baptism, the parents present the child to God and His church. We hear God saying, "This child belongs to me." (Not that we believe in baptismal regeneration as many think we do.) We believe that the infant, having been born to believing parents and therefore a covenant child, stands in a special relationship to God. This does not preclude the child from later rejecting his baptism and the Lord.
In dedication, the parents say, "This child belongs to God."

Which of the two statements bears more weight?

Presbyterians see a continuation between the OT sacrament of circumcision and NT baptism. Jesus was circumcised as a child. He was the link between the old and the new.
Posted by: FLGrandma at May 25, 2004 02:44 PM

If you are interested you might check out my web pages on baptism.

http://www.geocities.com/prunepitts1/Baptism.html
Frequently Asked Questions About Baptism
Posted by: Pruitt Communications at July 27, 2004 02:16 AM

i want to baptize my baby,but I have no religion. I was not raised in a religious family and I do not want raise my daughter that way. Do you think I am wrong for wanting this? I stumbled upon this site on my search for answers.Can you help me?
Posted by: Hilary at August 6, 2004 09:00 PM

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