Why I Changed My Mind about Infant Baptism

Comments · 1K

• WH

  @WhitneyR. · 2 years ago

  Thanks, Chad.  Listen, I disagree.  But the older I get, the less I’m willing to get distracted by our differences in these types of issues.  Christ prayed for our unity in John 17, and I can’t wait for us all to truly be united in eternity one day.

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• TH

  @TheKingsOutlaw · 2 years ago

  I also come from a background opposed to infant baptism and have found myself Lutheran. Through the years I’ve not been totally convinced, but I’m no longer opposed. I found your point about circumcision particularly cogent. Thanks for all you do. You’ve been a tremendous blessing!

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• RA

  @ralf547 · 2 years ago

  Thank you for being careful and thorough.  One of the beautiful things about confessional Lutheranism is the trust in God's Word without feeling a need to understand how God does it.

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• DE

  @devonhicks5923 · 2 years ago

  looks like im a Lutheran now.

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• TH

  @TheBiblicalRoots · 2 years ago

  Thank you! This is very helpful. I&apos;m working my way through Luther&apos;s Catechism at the moment and wrestling with this very issue.<br>Blessings,<br>Rob

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• OU

  @Outrider74 · 2 years ago

  I&apos;m now a confessional Lutheran (ELS) but one of the things that helped to change my mind about baptism was the prominence of the belief in infant baptism prior to American evangelicalism&apos;s rise, and especially when reading Calvin and John Wesley. &nbsp;I attended both Calvinist and Wesleyan churches prior to converting to Lutheranism, but even though the Calvinists and Wesleyans advocated for a Zwinglian (symbolic) view of the sacraments, both Calvin AND Wesley believed in a degree of sacramental efficacy. &nbsp;True, they did not subscribe to Luther&apos;s understanding of it (although Wesley was far closer to Luther&apos;s position than many modern Wesleyans realize), but they also rejected a flatly symbolic understanding of the sacraments as well. <br><br>Truth be told, a purely symbolic view of the sacraments is a relatively recent doctrine in church history. You don&apos;t find it in the first 1500 years of the church at all.

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• KA

  @kaymojil7669 · 2 years ago

  The last one is the best point I’ve personally heard, thank you.

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• TE

  @Texas_Knights · 2 years ago

  I recently left a Southern Baptist church to join a confessional Lutheran Church. The main reason I did this was over the Sacraments, Baptism and Communion. When I sat down with my Baptist pastor, he had no problem with everything I said, EXCEPT infant baptism. This is a very high hurdle for anyone raised in the reformed tradition. You explain this so well. I hadn&apos;t thought of the connection between original sin and the infant&apos;s need for salvation, but it makes perfect sense. Thank you for your clarity, and for your faithful teaching, constantly clarifying New Testament lessons by their Old Testament antecedents.

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• LE

  @leemacpeek2698 · 2 years ago

  Thank you for a very timely explanation. I am also grappling with the practice of baptism. I was raised Lutheran in the ALC. <br>I was confirmed at 16. In the late 80s I was in Texas in the midst of the liberal encroachment into what would become the ELCA. My family moved to Utah and through circumstances have ended up in a Southern Baptist congregation. <br>Recently I have started studying and looking into the issue to settle my mind on the teachings. <br>Just thank you. Your insights are very helpful.

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• AL

  @allenyoung807 · 2 years ago

  That was great! Thanks. I am one who disagrees on this particular point, but I greatly respect and am built up by your ministry. I won&apos;t get into why I disagree because it is not important. Keep doing what your are doing and I will keep learning and enjoying. Blessings!

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• EL

  @EleonoraDuvall · 1 year ago

  Thank you Chad. As Orthodox I was baptized as infant in atheistic country and all my childhood I knew to Whom I belong to even though we did not practice prayer or went to the church, and all my unbaptized friends were different somehow, I do not know how &nbsp;to explain how different but different.

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• MI

  @ministeriosemmanuel638 · 2 years ago

  Thank you for sharing Pastor!<br>Same thing for me, former Baptist now Lutheran!

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