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Hi, Randy —
No, there isn't. Do an exact phrase
search for "infant baptism" in our knowledge base for more info. The Search page can be found on the main Ask A Catholic Knowledge
base page. Just click on:
Save time; Search for an answer
These postings should help:
Also, the New Testament compares
baptism to circumcision (Colossians
2:11-12).
11 In him also you were circumcised
with a circumcision made without
hands, by putting off the body
of flesh in the circumcision of
Christ; 12 and you were buried with
him in baptism, in which you were
also raised with him through faith
in the working of God, who raised
him from the dead. (Colossians
2:11-12)
Both are signs of God's covenant.
Since Jewish men could become members
of God's covenant as infants, so
can infants in the Christian dispensation.
As alluded to by one of the links
above, we see entire households baptized
in Acts owing to the faith of the
head of the household. (Acts 16:15, 1 Corinthians 1:16) This certainly
implies children could be baptized
before the age of reason.
Part of point in question stems from
a difference in views on Baptism.
Catholicism believes that baptism
saves us (1 Peter 3:21) and brings
the grace of God (Romans 6:3-8).
Some Christians teach that all children
under the age of reason are saved
but this is not Scriptural. (All
of us are born, owing to Original
Sin, into a state of spiritual death (Romans 5:18), and are in need of
Baptism to be saved, or at least
to have a confidence of salvation.).
- So ask your father, how children,
under the age of reason, are supposed
to be saved if not through Baptism?
He'll have to claim that they are automatically saved,
which you can say is contrary to
Scripture, citing Romans 5:18:
18 Then as one man's trespass
led to condemnation for all men,
so one man's act of righteousness
leads to acquittal and life for
all men. (Romans 5:18)
Or, he'll claim that salvation is
unrelated to Baptism, in which case
you can quote 1 Peter 3:21:
21 Baptism, which corresponds
to this, now saves you, not as
a removal of dirt from the body
but as an appeal to God for a
clear conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
(1 Peter 3:21)
Also see the following pages:
Eric
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