Hi Fellas, Happy Saturday!
Grock has given the scriptural bakcground for salvation.
82nd, for baptism to be of any use it must be baptism according to what is written:
1. not one instance is recorded in the bible of infant baptism, every time it is mentioned, the people are adults and of the age of accountability... children are pure... there is not one iota of sin in them... to think otherwise is madness... Christ came to save the lost... the doctrine of original sin is a doctrine of man and not of the Lord... it is a way to make more followers without their consent or active participation
2. baptism is from the Greek baptizo which is "submerge or dunk", you cannot be buried in rain, regardless of the SE Asian monsoon rains some here might have experienced. not sprinkling, not pouring... a specific method of baptism is discussed and that is being "buried" in the likeness of Christs death, to rise in the newness of life........ born again is what a Christian professes to be... Christ supplies the spiritual rebirth and we provide the water to participate in being buried like he was.
Even though the ceremony was impressive, and appealed to the vanity of man, the wetting down of that child you witnessed avails nothing for its spiritual well-being. They are treating the child for a disease that it does not have, to whit, sin. A child cannot confess sins and how can someone else stand there and confess "your" sins to the Son of God? Cant do it, it is not possible. There is not a formula to calculate when a child can understand the nature of sin and rebellion against what Christ has asked of us. It is up to that individual persons conscience to decide when to accept, or even reject, what Christ asks of us if we would be saved through scriptural baptism... but this CANNOT occur if the person has no knowledge of what "sin" is. Children have a rudimentary knowledge of right and wrong but sin is the knowledge of good/evil and is a concept that requires being self aware, which a child is NOT.
No infants. No sprinkling. No pouring.
And remember, as a disclaimer, I did not write the Word. I just try and do my due diligence and study to show myself approved, trying to have a ready recollection to tell people the good news of Christ.
Dramborleg :)