Baptism

            We are planning to have Ca baptized later this month. In order to work through our own thoughts and hopefully clear up any confusion for the rest of you, we thought we'd explain why we're doing it.

            First of all, why do we baptize any of our kids? We (B&E) believe God commands it. We believe that the Bible calls us, because we are Christians, to participate in this sign of God's covenant with his people. Starting in Genesis 17, when God establishes the covenant sign of circumcision with Abraham, we see throughout the Bible that when God calls people to himself, he gives the believers and their families a physical sign. In the Old Testament, the sign of being God's people is the sign of circumcision. In the New Testament, God uses the sign of water baptism. (A great example of a whole family being baptized because a parent believed can be found in Acts 16.) We baptize our kids because we are God's people and it is an outward sign of the covenant benefits our kids enjoy because we're raising them - teaching them to love and follow God and his word. Our kids are part of God's church and receive some of the blessings of his covenant whether or not they've yet made a profession of faith. The sacrament of baptism proclaims the truth of God's covenant and our commitment to our child.

            When I and Co were babies, they were baptized. Shortly after S was adopted, he was baptized as well. We are having Ca baptized because she is our daughter, and a part of our covenant family - a family that follows God. We are not baptizing her because she has made a profession of faith (she hasn't). We have waited until now because we wanted to make sure that she understood what was happening, and wasn't confused or scared by the ceremony. We have explained to her that the babies she's seen baptized at church were baptized when they joined a family that loves Jesus. She will be baptized because she too has joined a family that loves Jesus. She just joined the family when she was a lot older.

            Some Christian churches only baptize a person once they've made a profession of faith. A believer's baptism ceremony provides an opportunity for a new believer to publicly proclaim the change God has made in their heart. New believers as well as kids who have been raised in the church have an opportunity to make a similar public profession of faith at our church, but water is only involved if they've not been baptized previously. You can pray with us that Ca will soon understand the gospel. Pray that she will see how separated she is from God, how Jesus's death on the cross makes a way for her to be with Him, and the she will experience the joy of trusting solely in His blood to save her.