How can I justify infant baptism to a protestant?

Anonymous

I invited a friend to my child's baptism last week and they started to get onto me about how infant baptism was wrong and children shouldn't be baptized until they are of age of reason.

How do I defend this?

Can an infant goto heaven if they die and were baptized? Is there any real reason we baptize as infants?

my3angels · Newbie Joined: Feb 04, 2007 Posts: 15 Status: **Offline**

We baptize infants for a few reasons. One is to wash away the original sin. We are all born with the sins of Adam and Eve called original sin. We must be washed away of these sins to enter Heaven. We believe a child can go to Heaven before the age of reason with this Baptism.

Another reason is for the parents to make the commitment to raise the child Catholic. This is when the parents make the decision.

A third reason is also tradition. In the past, when non-believers converted to Catholicism the men would attend the teachings then they would bring it home to the rest of the family. When they decided to join the Church they would all be baptized at the same time, including children and infants. See Acts 16:33, Acts 16:15 and 1 Cor 1:16 where whole families were baptized implying children were involved.

The protestants believe the child should make the decision and this is at baptism. Catholics believe the parents should first make the decision at baptism being "born of water". Then the child will make the decision to continue his life as a Catholic at confirmation being "born of the spirit", which occurs at or after the age of reason. Confirmation is our equivalent to a protestant's baptism. So we are not eliminating this important event. This is when we are "Saved" or "Born Again", whatever terminology they may use.

I hope this helps when talking to your friend. I hope they will attend the baptism. It is truly a beautifully blessed event.


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