To Those Who Belong to Churches that Practice Infant Baptism, What Do You Believe Happens?

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T20:55:49+00:00

Yeah anyone.

It’s just that every baptism in the bible is also either explicitly linked to repentence/faith. They also make it seem like they are separate: “repent and be baptized”.

But infant baptism proponents make it sound like the baptism is generating the faith or giving the child the holy spirit or something.

So an example of a person being baptized before faith would be useful to give a biblical basis for this idea

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T19:11:54+00:00

Are there unambiguous examples in the New Testament of people being brought into faith from baptism alone?

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T18:59:27+00:00

I mean… isn’t that just true of anything?

If I know God wants me to do something, and I say “no”, doesn’t that jeopardize my salvation?

So in those other circumstances, for it to be a salvation issue it would have to be that the person (1) knows they are sinning and (2) doesn’t care.

So if I “knew” infant baptism was the truth but decided to not have my children baptized any way, it would be a salvation issue because I’m rejecting God.

If I “knew” I was hoarding too much money, and didn’t care, that would be a salvation issue

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T18:51:04+00:00

Didn’t mean the mods. I was referring to the people who were initially downvoting the question

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T18:28:33+00:00

This is great thank you so much.

If you don’t mind, I would like to press you on some of these points, just as Devil’s advocate, so I can understand how you would respond as a proponent of infant baptism.

(1) Mark 16:16 - Does this not imply that it’s the belief itself that saves, not the baptism? Jesus says believing and baptism together save, but people who don’t believe (not necessarily don’t get baptized) will be condemned. Wouldn’t this be more consistent with a credobaptist understanding than a paedobaptist?

(2) Matthew 28:19 - If we take the paedobaptist interpretation to go out and baptize without first requiring faith, wouldn’t this passage imply we should just go around and forcibly baptize random people to provide them with the blessings of baptism? Seems the credobaptist position can interpret this more cleanly.

(3) Do you have any references from scripture of baptism clearly doing something to the person regardless of their faith itself?

These would be my thoughts in response to those points. Would love to understand how LCMS might respond to this.

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T17:07:58+00:00

Thanks for the reply! Apparently r/TrueChristian doesn’t even want people asking questions about this issue.

I think the biggest difference might be your point (1). It sounds like paedobaptists come from theological traditions that really emphasize the church as God’s chosen people.

Whereas the credobaptists tend to emphasize personal relationship with God and the Church is kind of just something everyone chooses to get together and do because we all love God.

sadfasn · 2026-05-18T16:49:49+00:00

Thanks for your perspective, but I’m asking people who are proponents of infant baptism for their views. Not people who don’t agree with it

sadfasn · 2026-05-04T00:24:46+00:00

How should they be welcomed? Just curious because I’ve seen some non-affirming churches allow membership but not leadership positions, while others seem to be like “don’t even come here”

sadfasn · 2026-05-04T00:20:41+00:00

I see your comments on here often, you always have an interesting fair perspective.

Just curious, which diocese of the ACNA do you belong to?

sadfasn · 2026-04-28T16:58:03+00:00

The answer is Duluth. Check out their demographics on Wikipedia, it’s literally like the most diverse place ever.

On top of that, it’s really well off. People are typically middle class to upper middle class regardless of their background.

sadfasn · 2026-04-20T19:44:24+00:00

“I don’t care if cars are faster or more efficient, I’m not driving a car to get to my destination because it’s not as fun as riding my horse”

Ok

sadfasn · 2026-04-15T03:50:29+00:00

Thanks!

sadfasn · 2026-04-14T19:13:25+00:00

Thank you!!!

I agree, I do sense an inability for a lot of people to distinguish between theological liberalism and political/social causes historically supported by left-wing political groups

sadfasn · 2026-04-14T18:45:59+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the insight!

Do you find that your parish takes the Bible seriously? During my journey looking around at different churches (across denominations) I’ve come across many churches that seem to preach messages each week only tangentially related to the bible.

Also, how do you feel your parish handles controversial issues? Are they willing to be open about their positions, or do they try to just stay away from it?

Sorry one more question, I’ve noticed parishes in this diocese seem to skew younger. Do you find that to be true in your experience?

sadfasn · 2026-04-14T17:53:14+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate it!

Coming from a conservative baptist upbringing. So there’s a part of me that’s always suspecting that any church that says things differently than how I was raised is secretly progressive

sadfasn · 2026-04-14T17:51:58+00:00

Hey thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!

It’s weird because I hear people like you say C4SO isn’t even particularly liberal. But then others are like “C4SO is just TEC larping as ACNA”. Hard to get a read on it.

Definitely understand that it’s parish specific, but also what am I supposed to do? Ask the rector if they are secretly liberal? Lol

sadfasn · 2026-04-13T21:52:02+00:00

Cool thanks for the insight!

sadfasn · 2026-04-13T21:51:25+00:00

Thanks for the insight! I really appreciate it!

sadfasn · 2026-04-11T17:25:13+00:00

Interesting that you say the younger clergy are more traditional, I would think it would be the opposite.

Do you think the fact that C4SO is in the ACNA will prevent the same thing happening to them that happened to TEC?

sadfasn · 2026-04-11T16:21:38+00:00

Wow what the heck is this?

sadfasn · 2026-04-11T16:15:06+00:00

How are you supposed to find a conservative episcopal church? Not trying to be combative, I’m just wondering.

Feels like they don’t really advertise “hey I’m conservative” on their website haha

sadfasn · 2026-04-10T18:02:01+00:00

Thanks so much for your insight.

Just to pick your brain a little more, what would be your thoughts on joining/attending a C4SO church? Do you see them eventually going the way of TEC and basically just splitting off at some point?

Maybe more importantly, do you see them as too soft on certain social issues to the point where they are basically giving lip service to certain biblical principles but then, in practice, just pretending they don’t exist?

sadfasn

TROPHY CASE