Michael E
Puritan Board Freshman
Forgive me if this has either been discussed (I'm sure it has but couldn't find a concise thread here) or this is the wrong place. Hear my plea:
I am reformed baptist (inb4 we all joke that baptists can't be fully reformed). However, my wife and I have both come to a place where we feel like more traditional reformed churches are where the Lord will have us. We've found that most of the churches we respect the most and desire to attend when we move next month are all paedobaptist. This is a sticking point for us and we have a baby on the way so we'd like to figure this out. Now forgive me for lack of understanding in this area or inaccurate understanding of the Scripture or arguments in favor of Paedobaptism, but here's where I am at:
- While I deeply respect church tradition, I don't find this in and of itself a compelling defense to contribute to paedobaptist tradition as we've seen many things that have historically been present in the church up through 500 years ago were not necessarily right or correct.
- The baptize your household passage feels like a real stretch to say clearly it's including children as we aren't even aware of the members of the home.
- If we're drawing covenantal links in OT > NT, Scripture seems to indicate that a circumcision of the heart is what we need in the NT (faith).
- It appears that every instance of baptism or command of baptism occurs with professing believers.
I want to be open to this but I am just having a real time getting there. I don't feel something that should be so simple should require a book or dissertation to explain how you can make these connections to arrive at the proper conclusion. Please help! We just want to be faithful to what the Lord instructs us.
I am reformed baptist (inb4 we all joke that baptists can't be fully reformed). However, my wife and I have both come to a place where we feel like more traditional reformed churches are where the Lord will have us. We've found that most of the churches we respect the most and desire to attend when we move next month are all paedobaptist. This is a sticking point for us and we have a baby on the way so we'd like to figure this out. Now forgive me for lack of understanding in this area or inaccurate understanding of the Scripture or arguments in favor of Paedobaptism, but here's where I am at:
- While I deeply respect church tradition, I don't find this in and of itself a compelling defense to contribute to paedobaptist tradition as we've seen many things that have historically been present in the church up through 500 years ago were not necessarily right or correct.
- The baptize your household passage feels like a real stretch to say clearly it's including children as we aren't even aware of the members of the home.
- If we're drawing covenantal links in OT > NT, Scripture seems to indicate that a circumcision of the heart is what we need in the NT (faith).
- It appears that every instance of baptism or command of baptism occurs with professing believers.
I want to be open to this but I am just having a real time getting there. I don't feel something that should be so simple should require a book or dissertation to explain how you can make these connections to arrive at the proper conclusion. Please help! We just want to be faithful to what the Lord instructs us.