Wise Words on Wednesday: Good Argument
The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress
– Joseph Joubert
Author: pilgrim
Immersion Only?
As you may have noticed, I’m doing a bunch of posts at the moment about infant baptism. One issue I’m not going to address in this series is the question of the mode of baptism: immersion, pouring etc.
Fortunately, Doug Beaumont over at Soul Device has just released a post on that very subject:
Baptism Matters: Part 2 (Forgiveness of sin)
Yesterday I began to look at the question of infant baptism. We saw how, although we don’t have explicit references to infant baptism in the New Testament, that there are passages which strongly suggest that infants and children were baptized. Today I would like to continue looking at this issue, but from a slightly different angle…
Baptism Matters: Part 1 (Scripture)
Over the last six months, many of my non-Catholic Christian friends have given birth to their first child. This was brought about, presumably, through the combination of an extremely poor TV lineup last summer and an abundance of free time on their part.
With this wonderful addition to their family, several of these new parents are now facing a dilemma: should they baptize their newborn child?
You see, in many cases, one spouse comes from a denomination where infant baptism isn’t performed (Baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, non-denominationals) and the other has come from a denomination where it is standard practice (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist). The parents typically make the choice to either baptize their child or to have some kind of dedication ceremony.
This is an important issue to me. I was once a member of Protestant congregation where they did infant baptisms, but they also carried out child dedications, depending upon the wishes of the parents. This inconsistency was an important catalyst in my study of the ancient Christian faith and my eventual reversion to the Catholic Church.
So, in the next few posts I would like to present the basic case in favour of infant baptism…
Are you ready for the March for Life?
I’m going to be in DC for the March For Life (22nd January) with a posse of people from San Diego. Are you ready?
The Proto-Mass: The Road to Emmaus
I came across this very cute little video…
Lord, give me patience…now!
It’s been one of those days…this quotation feels appropriate…
“When someone prays for patience do you think God just gives them patience? No, he gives them lots of opportunities to practice patience. It’s the same when someone prays for courage…”
– God/Morgan Freeman, Evan Almighty