The Peril of Infant Baptism | Doug Wilson

[@MrPruijssen]

Great! 'What I am after is an institutional church with an evangelical heart!' More on that please!

[@CowboyPilot79]

Amen

[@genemyersmyers6710]

Im Orthodox but doug is great teacher.

[@JoshAlicea1229]

We in the west out too much faith in our choices, and not on the God who calls us. Think of Samson, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, or Jesus Himself- whose callings were known before they were even born. If baptism sets us apart as one’s who share in the death and resurrection of Christ, and these men mentioned above received their calling before they were born, spiritual circumcision through baptism can be prophesied and pronounced over us even as infants.

[@ETHANGELIST]

What's the next message after this one that he mentioned?

[@dcrawford928]

Hi Pastor Wilson, if you read this I have appreciated your postings and have hit “like” on videos by Canon Press, so thank you for those. If I may, I have some musings about the joke made in this particular talk with regard to a section of the body know as TEC. So my questions through this platform are the following. Was the joke more than the occasional friendly fire toward said group? What help would such joke make to encourage the current overseers or prospective bishops to move to, along w/the laity and other clergy to elect unilaterally, that of the conservative lifestyle? Would Christ have taken the same approach? To a lesser degree would Luther, Spurgeon, Stott or Graham have taken the same route? Is the kind of joke here an area where “taming the tongue” is in question echoed in the letter of James and the book of Proverbs? To close, if said joke has been offered to God in prayer in the meantime, or I am off base in anyway in my assessment then forgive me. Please also know that if we were talking over coffee for example, you would find me most agreeable and gentlemanly. Thanks for the consideration

[@loragorton881]

😢 I hear from so many that infant Baptism is a work. But I ask a simple question. How can a baby who is baptized be working? Baptism is 100% by God's grace, not by what we do. Seems to me when you baptized a person after they have "decided to believe and surrender to God's Lordship over their life," that is a work. Baptism is something 100% God's work. Call it baptismal regeneration if you want because that's what He promises in His word when you take water and the word. It creates new life. Yes, we can walk away from that new life by not believing what God’s word says about Himself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and it's a gift, so no one will boast. We are born again by God's gracious act, not ours or our surrendering. That kind of faith has no fear because perfect love cast out all fear. 😂 What a glorious savior we have!!!

[@jakeloftus6966]

Why the laughing emoji?

[@jimtweeten2586]

God is a God of order. The great commission says to teach and preach the gospel and the baptism follows. Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16 Covenant theology was developed later. To tie infant baptism as a New Testament practice in place of Old Testament circumcision is not rightly dividing the word of truth. There is nothing that Jesus said or did that teaches this, neither the apostles.

[@johornbuckle5272]

There seems to be gap in the reformed approach. Your baptised, unbelieving, child in his state of total depravity cannot understand the teaching of the Word of God. You cannot teach him to trust/believe. Calvinism says he must be regenerate first.

[@OldFarmCraft]

Who is regenerate? That’s the real question?

[@stegokitty]

John the baptist leapt in the womb of his mother when the infant Jesus, in the womb of His mother approached. John didn't believe? Are you suggesting that belief is mere intellectual assent? Did Jesus make a mistake when He said "Suffer the little children to come unto me, for OF SUCH is the kingdom of God"? How much intellectual assent is necessary? Do you have to be able to articulate the Doctrine of the Trinity, or is it enough to say "Jesus loves me; this I KNOW for the Bible TELLS me so"? I would ask as well, the unregenerate adults that are baptized and given the Lord's Supper, who later reject the Lord Jesus -- did they really understand the teaching of the Word of God? How about the folks who spend their lives in Fundie churches couldn't defend a reasonable position on the necessity of the virgin birth of Christ? And yes, I can teach my child to trust and believe. There's a difference between teaching someone to trust and believe, and them actually doing it. But I CAN and I am responsible to do so. The results are God's country.

[@mpbenoit]

Surely, someone must be regenerate before they can repent and believe in Christ from the heart. Spirit wrought faith alone will unite us (and/or our children) with Christ, then from that union, flow the benefits of it, adoption, justification, sanctification, glorification, etc. While someone may not be able to believe from the heart with saving faith until they are regenerate, they can be taught the things of the Lord, and they can understand them (even if not yet savingly; they may have ears that hear but don’t yet HEAR). Further, it is the very act of preaching (bringing the Word, teaching, training, instructing in righteousness), that is instrument the Spirit uses to convert (how will they believe unless they hear, how will they hear unless someone is sent?). Parents are sovereignly sent to their children, and children are sovereignly given to their parents (to whom a particular soul is born is not an accident). The gap you propose in Calvinist soteriology doesn’t exist. They must hear (in some way) and the Spirit must regenerate and provide the ears that meet that hearing with faith (in some way). The fact is that we are to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The first step in this discipleship process is baptism which is a sign of the covenant, whos promises are expressly given to us and to our children (Acts 2). Yes the rest of the verse in Acts 2 says “as many as the Lord shall call to himself.” The Lord has called our children to himself by giving them to us and giving them promises (see also Ephesians 6), and by commanding us to raise them in his nurture. Teaching an unregenerate person (regardless of age) that they must repent of their sins, and believe in Christ, does not negate that they must be regenerate to do so. The Spirit blows where he wishes and will regenerate in his time, eventually bringing all the lost sheep home. This promise does not negate our responsibility to be obedient in evangelism or in raising, discipling, and teaching our children. There is no gap.

[@toughbiblepassages9082]

Try telling God that He shouldn’t have commanded babies to be circumcised.. let me know what you find out.

[@SerenityNow22]

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” ‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬ According to you, this is not possible.

[@ranbran2948]

What parent denies a child taking communion, if the child makes a profession? Is Doug being disingenuous? Additionally, to say that people who do not baptize their infants, do not teach their children obedience to The Lord, is ridiculous. These arguments are a straw man. Which of course can make one doubt the teaching altogether.