“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).
I have just returned from an annual ‘Daddy Camp’ where a number of guys I have known for some time get away with their children.
The focus is friendship – but most importantly nurturing memories and building a foundation for kids.
I guess that it's all about us taking the initiative on behalf of our kids, taking them on the journey – and hoping that one day they will continue on by themselves building the same foundations for their own Children.
The same could be siad of our faith.
I have to say that after several years of hard thought, reading and reviewing the topic of Baptism and Children, I have gone from a staunch and somewhat militant proponent of ‘Believers Baptism’ - to now an strong advocate (though not in the same militant sense) of infant Baptism.
Over recent years, I have come to appreciate the depth of thinking of our orthodox forefathers, the way they took the scriptures seriously and fought to keep their doctrines when under assail from new movements.
I purchased a beuatiful old book from Serendipity Books the other week entitled ‘Christian Nurture’ by Horace Bushnell first written in 1888 (I have the 1967 reprint). It is as relevant today as it was when it was first written.
The book looks at the doctrine in depth as well as the history of the practice and after reading this book – amongst many others (including the scriptures) I am currently making arrangements to have both my Children baptised – and will do so for our third due in October.
Infact, I now realise that it makes less sense to withhold my children from this gift.
I am not going to write the detailed defence for infant Baptism myself on this blog – though Sydney Anglicans provides a great synopsis here.
1 comment:
Andrew,
These guys are in a difficult position. It reminds me of the Walt Disney cartoon movie on Moses ("Prince of Egypt") after Moses has asked Pharoh to "let my people go".
Pharoh is tormented and caught between conflicting thoughts between doing the 'right thing' and being seen as 'the weak link'.
There is much money riding on this unscrupulous theology where people are brought into a (financial) 'bondage' and I think that it would take an enormous amount of courage to 'do the right thing' and speak out from a position of influence within these Churches.
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