In response to Bruce...
Your children have been baptized so they have the sign of the covenant placed upon them. This is either a sign of blessing or cursing. To me, this would have to be seen as a sign of cursing until profession is made, i.e. become a communicant member. To see it the other way would presume regeneration. (I know there are some here who believe that but that's another thread - unless you personally believe that and then I know where you are coming from)
So, for the paedo, how is it viewed upon their children who have not professed? And if it is a sign of blessing, when or if does this ever change?
"
This is either a sign of blessing or cursing."
I think the question in your mind might be "when?" In one sense, as it is for every other baptized person
ever, old or young: at the Judgment Seat.
Go into your average, everyday, 1000 member Breezy-Evangelical mega-church. Seeker-friendly, multi-media, your-best-life-now. Are you going to tell me that all them baptized folk (and you know +80% are baptized) have a "sign of blessing" on them,
according to the standard I see you proposing? I'd wonder if half of them were even saved, given the ear-tickling they get, week in, week out.
But, in line with my theological commitment, I'm going to give them the judgment of charity. And I'm going to give the child who hasn't broken the yoke off his neck (Gen.27:40) the same judgment. I don't know when God regenerates. I only know that my children (under my ministry, if God be pleased) will hear the gospel in church every week, will hear it in their ears daily, in the prayers for them. They will not escape this Word.
And I fully believe (faith in the promises) that in one of those moments, his or her heart will be turned to faith forever, irrevocably (assuming he wasn't given a special dispensation at baptism, something we never know, but isn't impossible). And, if so, I will never know when it was, nor (I hope) will he.
If he ever goes under discipline, before a profession, or after, he should worry if the ground that drank in the rain so much is near to being cursed (Heb.6:7-8). But that is for God to decide ultimately. We can judge provisionally when that person dies, based on their final profession (or lack of one).
But all our judgments in this life are provisional. Baptism, of anyone, is no different.