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There is absolutely no Biblical basis for baptizing infants. Just read the Bible. Without giving a laundry list of all of the other things that take place in many churches that aren't Biblical, I'll just address baptizing infants.

Baptism is an outward response to an inward change. All non-believers aside, if you confess that Jesus is Lord, repent of your sin, ask forgiveness and invite Jesus to be Lord of your life, then you have been saved, born again, washed in the blood, etc. Once that INWARD change has taken place, an OUTWARD response and public ritual (it is, after all, a ritual) of baptism is held to show other believers that you have completed the steps of salvation and follow Jesus in His example.

Again, READ the Bible. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that sprinkling water on the head of an unwilling, unaware, and incapable person does anything other than get that person's head wet. Holy water isn't 'holy.' A priest praying over a dish of water, saying an incantation concerning it, doesn't make that water holy anymore than my standing in the hen house makes me a chicken. Baptism without a prior life-changing salvation experience with Jesus is as effective towards reaching Heaven as installing screen doors on a submarine is to not drowning.

Many religions that do not believe in the 'dip and sprinkle' method of salvation have offered their own counterparts to infant baptism. One common practice is baby dedication. The parents still get to invite the whole family, get up in front of the church and show off Junior, but there is no ludicrous claim of the child's salvation because somebody dribbled water on the poor thing. The statement is simply that the parents vow to do their best to raise the child in a Godly home and the church members vow to support the family and child in that endeavor. In closing I say, don't get me started on the many ridiculous rituals of (shall remain nameless) religions. I'd be here all night long.

Learn more about this author, Esmerelda Q. Culpepper.
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