Against

• 1. Baptism as an ordinance 


  • a baby cannot possibly be a disciple because a baby is too young to learn about and understand the Christian faith
  • church should support families with young children - this is how they can 'make disciples' of young people so when they are older they can be baptised and join the church community
• 2. Baptism as following the example of Jesus 


  • aim to imitate what Jesus did - baptised around 30 years old
  • By the time he got baptised, Jesus had been raised with a good understanding of the faith and had built up a personal relationship with God
  • Babies and children cannot make such a commitment
• 3. Baptism as the washing away of sins

  • do not believe in original sin but recognise sinful behaviour
  • natural for children to do things against God's wishes and it is only when they are older that they can regret the sins they have committed
  • People have to be mature enough to really understand what sin is and have to be able to make a free choice to live a life free of sin
  • Babies and children cannot do these things
• 4. Everyone is included in God's grace 


  • moment a baby is born - receives God's grace in all aspects of its life
  • whole church shares the responsibility of raising the baby
  • wrong to suggest that baptism is the start of christian life as the child cannot fully understand the Bible and faith yet
• 5. Jesus' teachings about children

  • Jesus did not baptise the infants the mothers brought to him
  • did not instruct his disciples to baptise babies
• 6. Baptism in the early church

  • Book of Acts: never specifically describes the baptism of a child
  • only an assumption that the whole household was
  • more likely they were referring to the adults in the household
  • descriptions of specific baptisms always refer to adults e/g Phillip baptising the Ethiopian
  • before the baptism, there is always a christian teaching
  • infant baptism therefore not a practise of the early church and shouldn't be now