Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Infant baptism can be contrasted with what is called "believer's baptism" (or credobaptism, from the Latin word credo meaning "I believe"), which is the religious practice of baptizing only individuals who personally confess faith in Jesus, therefore excluding underage children.
Many Methodist denominations, such as the Free Methodist Church and Evangelical Wesleyan Church, practice infant baptism for families who desire it for their children, but provide a rite for child dedication for those who have a preference for believer's baptism only after their child has made a personal acceptance of Jesus as his/her saviour.
Baptism also signifies regeneration and remission of sin. Reformed Christians believe that the children of church members should be baptized. Because baptism is believed to be beneficial only to those who have faith in Christ, infants are baptized on the basis of the promise of faith which will come to fruition later in life.
[69] In the special section on infant baptism in his Large Catechism, Luther argues that infant baptism pleases God because persons so baptized were reborn and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. [70] Swiss Reformer Huldrych Zwingli differed with the Lutherans by denying that baptism conveys grace to the baptized. Zwingli identified baptism and the ...
In a separate discussion on original sin, Zwingli denies original guilt. He refers to I Corinthians 7:12–14 which states that the children of one Christian parent are holy and thus they are counted among the sons of God. Infants should be baptised because there is only one church and one baptism, not a partial church and partial baptism. [15]
Even though the Christian Church had not practiced child dedication for 15 centuries from its inception, in 1523, the Anabaptist movement, which taught that baptism is only for adults (believer's baptism) according to their understanding of the bible, first instituted child dedication practice for all children from believing households instead of just the first born sons. [9]
In the Catholic Church by baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins. [233] Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes the neophyte "a new creature", an adopted son of God, who has become a "partaker of the divine nature", member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit.
He rejected the Separatist movement's doctrine of infant baptism. [18] [19] Shortly thereafter, Smyth left the group. [3] Ultimately, Smyth became committed to believers' baptism as the only biblical baptism. He was convinced on the basis of his interpretation of Scripture that infants would not be damned should they die in infancy. [20]