There, I wrote it. I am not tip-toeing around it. I don't condemn those who have been baptized as an infant nor do I condemn those who have baptized their infants. That is not my job-- I don't look down on you, I won't accuse you of heresy and I won't snub you the next time we meet. It's just that tolerating baby baptism is a dangerous road to travel.
I will dispense with the baby baptism equals salvation issue. It doesn't. Personal faith takes a personal relationship and a responsibility to come to God on His terms. Dropping tap water or "holy" water on a baby's head does not make up for the individual's death sentence and condemnation. Think about it: it is ludicrous. ONLY Jesus Christ by way of His loving sacrifice can atone for each person's sin. The "grace of baptism", as described in Luther's catechism is NOT the grace of Jesus Christ.
Is baby baptism some sort of insurance policy? Some people I have talked to think so, and believe their pastors think so. Therefore, I have always wanted to ask those pastors in certain churches that believe a baby MUST be baptized: "If an adult came into your church and asked, 'I don't believe in Jesus Christ, but will you baptize me, just in case?', would you baptize the unbelieving, unconfessing, unrepentant adult?" Truly, I would like to hear the answer.
So, my question was, what if an unbaptized baby dies? Will that baby go to heaven? "Well, I hope so. I hope that God, in His love and mercy, would take that child in." If you need to question God's love and mercy, we are not worshiping the same God.
But more discreet is how the belief in baby baptism could ultimately affect your faith in Jesus Christ. Baby baptism is works-based and religious: if we baptize this baby.... It's subtle, I know, but that's the point. If God is so little that He needs us to do something to ensure and secure our salvation or our trip to heaven, then He is not God, because He is not enough on His own. Jesus' sacrifice becomes muted and muddled as one of the ways we can get to the Father, not the only way, as Jesus proclaims. "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith [in Christ], and this not of yourselves, so that no one can boast". The grace of God has been poured out since the beginning of time and the faithful are rewarded but it is always His work, not our own.
And these are the convictions I had before I read The Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism. Please read for yourself; the claims are presumptuous and contradictory. I am thankful for Luther and the stand he took, but He is not God and, like the rest of us, is fallible and did not get everything right.
I know writing such things may anger many, even many of my friends. That is not my intent. Please know that truth needs to come in love and because I love you, I want you to seek the truth for yourselves. Like Luther, I may be passionate, but I am not always right. God is. Ask Him to reveal His Word to you on this and every topic.
