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I am Catholic and was baptized as an infant. I
have grown up seeing babies baptized,
but I have also heard that you should wait
until a person grows up first.
Should Baptism be performed at birth or
later on in life?
Are there religions that believe that infant baptism is wrong and that you should
wait to be baptized?
What is their reasoning?
Kayla
{
Should Baptism be done at birth or later and what's the reasoning of non-infant Baptism believers? }
Mike
replied:
Hi, Kayla —
Thanks for the question.
Baptism should be administered to children shortly after birth in the Church. I have heard of some parents privately baptizing their children beforehand but, because some element may be mistakenly missed, I would discourage this. The Church has been doing this for almost 2,000 years and priests know what is needed for a valid, Trinitarian Baptism. Period.
Our Lord Himself says that Baptism
is necessary for salvation. Mark
16:16 plus this is what His Church tells
us through the Catechism:
1250 Born with a fallen human
nature and tainted by original
sin, children also have need of
the new birth in Baptism to be
freed from the power of darkness
and brought into the realm of
the freedom of the children of
God, to which all men are called.
(cf. Council of Trent (1546): DS 1514; cf. Colossians 1:12-14) The sheer gratuitousness of the
grace of salvation is particularly
manifest in infant Baptism. The
Church and the parents would deny
a child the priceless grace of
becoming a child of God were they
not to confer Baptism shortly
after birth. (cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 867; Corpus Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium, Canons. 681; 686, 1)
1252 The practice of infant Baptism
is an immemorial tradition of
the Church. There is explicit
testimony to this practice from
the second century on, and it
is quite possible that, from the
beginning of the apostolic preaching,
when whole households received
baptism, infants may also have
been baptized. (cf. Acts 16:15,33; 18:8; 1 Corinthians 1:16; Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith, instruction, Pastoralis actio: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 72 (1980) 1137-1156)
I can't give you the exact reasoning,
but I believe, that certain Protestant
denominations frown on infant baptism because they think it is unbiblical, which it isn't (see below).
"Baptize first the children; and if
they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or
other relatives speak for them." (The Apostolic Tradition 21)
Origen (post 244 A.D.)
"The Church received from the Apostles the tradition
of giving baptism also to infants." (Commentary on Romans 5, 9)
St. Cyprian of Carthage (252 A.D.)
This council [Council of Carthage] condemned the opinion that infants must wait until the eighth day after birth to be baptized, as was the case with circumcision. (Letter 64 (59), 2)
Interested in what other Christians in the Early Church thought, taught, and died for?
Instead, they believe that one should
wait until a certain age and choose
for oneself.
This argument is a little ridiculous
in my opinion. Let's say a baby was
born in a hospital today.
Can you
tell me what mother would say to
a nurse before going home:
I think "my baby" should
decide for [him|her]self whether
they should be brought home with
a warm blanket to keep them warm.
We won't take the blanket, or,
for that matter, the diaper they
are wearing. Thanks, the same! ?
To anyone, this would be crazy. In
the same way all mothers wish to
physically protect their new born,
it's the natural desire for all parents
to want to spiritually protect their
new born by removing original sin
from their immortal soul, which is
what Baptism does.
The parent's best wishes for the
children's spiritual well being are
given to them at Baptism.
It is the parent's responsibility
to ensure their children grow up
to appreciate the faith they have told the Church they believe
in as Catholic parents.
At Confirmation, the grown adult
makes the choice for themselves.
Hope this helps,
Mike
John
replied:
Hi, Kayla —
To add to what Mike has said. Most Protestants who reject infant baptism, also don't believe it does anything. They believe that we must first profess faith and, even then, Baptism is only a symbol of the regeneration which came about the moment we believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Catholics and all Christians until
the Reformation, understood that all
sacraments, including Baptism, are
spiritual realities. They symbolize
what they accomplish and accomplish
what they symbolize.
So yes, when the priest pours water
on the person it symbolizes the work
of the Holy Spirit which is taking
place in the person's soul but it
also brings about that work.
John
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