Infant baptism


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Guest bren1975

For our non-LDS Christian friends--

Can anyone tell me how, where or when infant baptism began? I'm just curious because it's not specific in the Bible and also Jesus was not baptized as an infant.

Also, forms of baptism other than immersion--what are the origins of these?

Thanks.

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For our non-LDS Christian friends--

Can anyone tell me how, where or when infant baptism began? I'm just curious because it's not specific in the Bible and also Jesus was not baptized as an infant.

Also, forms of baptism other than immersion--what are the origins of these?

Thanks.

Infant baptism is a catholic practice.

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There's a reason Christ was not baptized as an infant. It's not of God.

The question was asked of non-Mormons.

I don't qualify as a non-Mormon, but I think the practice of infant baptism derives from the belief in Original Sin, that all mankind is guilty from conception of Adam's sin. (I believe that Catholic theology teaches that Mary is exempt from this sin, but no one else.)

If your belief is that every human soul born into the world is guilty of sin and will therefore be damned if not baptized, then you will almost certainly practice infant baptism.

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It's a public board. I can respond if I choose.

Did someone suggest otherwise? I did not tell you to shut up; I merely mentioned that your response was inappropriate, assuming you to be innocent of ill intent.

By the way, this is a "public" board in the sense that it's publicly visible, but not in the sense that it's publicly owned. Content and members can, and at times will, be censored.

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You then mentioned that you don't qualify as a "non-mormon" either, which would mean your post is just as inappropriate as mine.

Not really, for two reasons:

1. By mentioning up front that I was not LDS, I did not attempt to fly under the radar and masquerade my opinion on the "Christian Beliefs Board", which is specifically set aside as a place to discuss non-LDS Christianity, as a non-LDS opinion.

2. My statements were not a value judgment on non-LDS Christian beliefs, but rather an attempt to explain non-LDS doctrine, and was offered because no other explanations had yet been offered.

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There is no mention in early Christian documents of infant baptism. The Roman Church begins to toil with the idea around 230 AD (the Greek and Eastern churches opposed the practice).

Later, very liberal interpretations and extrapolations of the text give root to the tradition of infant baptism. Presenting the new born males to the priest on the eighth day had to do the the circumcision under the Torah but a child is not brought to the temple as a fully sanctioned and aware "adult" person but until age 12-13. At such time they are accountable under the law.

There is no evidence baptism was carried out on children under this age among early Jewish converts to Christianity and later Christians at large prior to the Carthage Council in 253 AD where it begins to gain acceptance in the Roman church.

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Infant baptism is a catholic practice.

Do you mean catholic as in universal or as in church? If church, then it is not just a catholic practice but also:

Most Christian churches practice infant baptism.[1] Among them are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Anglican Communion, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Church of the Nazarene,[2] the Reformed Church in America,[3] the United Church of Christ (UCC) and the Continental Reformed.

From what I've perused there seems to be slightly different reasons from different religions but I think it would be fair to say that the main reasons are:

The guilt of Original Sin is removed.

They gain admission into the Church.

Their standing before God is changed from one under condemnation to a child of God.

Infant baptism is very similar to baby blessings or dedications practiced in other churches. It introduces the child to the church family and it's an expression of faith in God for the parents.

I was baptized at 9 days old, still in the hospital. The nurses who took care of me were my God mothers. (I even know their names) When I was 3 months old, my mother took me back to the doctor for a check-up. I was still underweight for my age, but the doctor told my mother I was beautiful, because I was alive. They had not expected me to live. I always like to think of my baptism as a special blessing.

M.

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I couldn't care less if you feel my posting here is inappropriate. I'll do it anyway.

Seriously? You actually, literally could not care less?

Wow. That's some impressive lack of caring. To tell you the truth, I don't think I could even identify something about which I could not care less. How would I even know I couldn't care any less about it?

If you have a heirarchy of caring, I suppose there is only one thing you actually could not care less about, since you care less about that thing than any other. So I guess I'm honored to hold the position of having the feeling about which you care the least.

Unless, that is, there are a whole bunch of things that you equally don't care about and could not care less about. Then mine would be but one of an enormous number of things about which you could not care less.

Which brings me to the question: Do you usually write about stuff for which you could not care less? For example, "I could not care less whether the oldest lady in Tokyo is eating sushi at this moment." "I could not care less what the average surface temperature of a specific brown dwarf in the near part of the Andromeda galaxy is." "I could not care less about the exact number of molecules present in a random grain of sand on a beach in Yemen." You must keep pretty busy writing about all the stuff you couldn't care less about. Sounds like an awful lot of work. I wonder how you do it? But, truthfully, it's not like I really care, although I can't honestly say that I could not care less about it. I probably could.

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