{"id":1000,"date":"2015-05-09T09:44:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-09T13:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/?p=1000"},"modified":"2015-05-09T09:44:31","modified_gmt":"2015-05-09T13:44:31","slug":"infant-baptism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bobfelton.com\/?p=1000","title":{"rendered":"Infant baptism"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t believe baptism is anything but superstitious symbolism, so it’s no concern to me when or whether somebody gets baptized. You’d think that Baptists would care<\/a>, though.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWithin Southern Baptist life, we have been on a steady march towards infant baptism, routinely baptizing children younger and younger in age,\u201d [Midwestern Seminary President] Allen said.<\/p>\n

A North American Mission Board task force on baptism and evangelism in 2014 found the only consistently growing age group in Southern Baptist Convention baptisms is 5 and under<\/span>. Allen said the trend should prompt careful reflection and remind Southern Baptists of some of the dangers associated with baptizing young children.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a convictional Baptist, it is hard for me to admit this, but when we baptize children too young to grasp the gospel and, as a result, whose hearts haven\u2019t been affected by it, it is more troubling than a sprinkling of an infant,\u201d Allen said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Southern Baptists were once identified by three great distinctives:<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    The priesthood of the believer, which holds that the meaning of the Bible is accessible to all with prayer and diligent study, e.g., no Holy Man required to reach a correct understanding.<\/p>\n

  2. \n

    No baptism before the age of understanding.<\/p>\n

  3. \n

    Separation of Church and State.<\/ol>\n

    What makes this interesting is that all three of these defining principles have been thrown out; practically, though the word is in their name, the Southern Baptists are not baptists at all.<\/p>\n