Baptismal Covenant Essay

Infant Baptism is a manmade tradition, within a misrepresentation of justification and sanctification, where water can purify one’s soul for eternity without the admission or acceptance of Christ Jesus as God. Even Spurgeon “quoted from the Catechism of the Church of England, proving that the church teaches that it is through infant baptism the infant is made a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. He quoted from the liturgy of the ceremony itself to further prove that the church did indeed teach that children are regenerated though baptism.” “Spurgeon also pointed out that no outward ceremony can save anyone. This can be easily proven by the facts: thousands who were baptized as infants have lived wanton, godless lives, proving that they were never children of God. Nor does the Bible teach that someone else can have faith for another; parents cannot

In the Anglican Church baptism starts off by gathering hymns, pslam or anthem depending on the priest. After that is done the priest greets the community as respect. The Collect of the day is prayed and other prayers as well. After this the priest talks about the lesson from the scriptures which most often are from the bible , then they will be a presentation and examination of the candidate then the baptismal covenant is prayed to bless the baby towards the end they also pray prayers of thanksgiving and the priest will bless the baby over the water. When the baby is washed with the water the prayers of consecration over oils is prayed after this the

Centuries ago, the Bible was written when God gave his only son who died on the cross for our sins. “Our” is standing for everyone in the world that God calls his children. Jesus Christ died on the cross with active and passive obedience. This means Jesus actively kept Gods Law for us, which we live by today. Jesus passively took away all of our sins, he died on the cross to take them away and we receive righteousness. Even if we are un-deserving, when Jesus died on the cross for everyone, it gives everyone the opportunity to have everlasting life with God. Baptism is one of the few things that God asks of everyone. The purpose of Baptism is to cleanse your sins and you will be forgiven. With the blessing of God, the Holy Water cleanses the person’s sins and they are given everlasting life.

In the past couple of decades the rise in non-denominational churches has been increasing greatly and are said to be the second largest group of Protestants (Moore, 2011). It is said that most that break off and become apart of this fast growing belief come from a protestant upbringing. The study shows that more people are determining on where to worship by how they like the nursery, if the worship music is good, is it close to home, rather than I am a Catholic I need to go to a Catholic Church. As of 2010, four percent of Americans fall into this non-denominational group (Thumma, 2010).

The sacrament of baptism is typically interpreted as a ceremony that accepts you into the church, however, it also gives us grace. Our job in the process is to accept the grace bestowed upon us in order to ease the pain we feel, gradually. Baptism cleanses us of Original Sin and gives us a clean slate because we will sin throughout life many times. Vaz explains the symbolism behind specific parts of the sacraments’ process. Infants are supposed to wear a white garment due to tradition.

A candle is given to one of the parents who lights it from the Easter

To properly label a Christian an evangelical Protestant, one must ask four basic questions and receive an answer that as a whole, evangelical Protestants accept as “correct”. The questions are: “[W]hat must a person do to be saved?[, W]here does religious authority lie?[, W]hat is the church?[,] and [W]hat is the essence of Christian living?” (“Evangelicalism”, Dictionary of Christianity in America) Through answering and receiving the “correct” responses, one should be able to define an evangelical Protestant.

Often held as a rite of passage and entrance into the Christian church, baptism is much more than just symbolic ritual. Baptism was commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission recounted in the book of Matthew. Even though we are simplistically called to be obedient by being baptized the Christian church has long debated the aspects of this ordinance. Denominations are divided on the basic meaning, types and modes of baptism even two thousand years after the founding of the Christian church. Just as the other ordinance, the Lord’s Supper, congregations find themselves at odd with tradition, biblical interpretation and even individual understanding. However, the simple message of this awe inspiring act can be explained out of the

While infant baptism occurs in Catholicism and these denominations, the pressure on these denominations is very different from that of their catholic counterpart. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East and the Oriental Orthodoxy all believe baptism isn’t merely a symbol of Christ, but that the act actually conveys grace in itself. In addition to three Eastern churches, Lutherans and Methodists also practice baptism. Lutherans believe it is Christians’ duty to baptize children, as the bible states in Matthew 28:19 that Christians must go forth and baptize those around the world. Methodists are similar to Catholics in that they believe baptism is symbolic, rather than actually denoting and giving grace itself, yet differ in that they don’t think it cleanses humans of original

Baptism serves a vital role in the development of Christianity as a living religious traditions in most denominations. It is the ritual used in the

Lutherans, as in many other mainline churches, do infant baptisms. It is at baptism where parents or sponsors bring a child to make a public proclamation of God’s love and unity with a child. At our baptism, we as a community and as sponsors of the child make the promise to introduce the baptized to the Holy Scripture, Lord’s Prayer, and many other items. It would be easy for an infant to digitally download all of this information into the brain when the water is poured over them but that kind of technology hasn’t crossed over into the faith realm yet. Until then, we as sisters and brothers of the baptized are to aid newly baptized in understanding the importance of baptism and the various teachings within the Church. At our baptisms, we are not baptized Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, and etc but are baptized Christian. Confirmation in when you can wear your denomination badge.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit. What is it and how do I get it? A teaching from Pat Robertson. The first of two parts.

All Christians know about the Great Commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, English Standard Version). In that command, Jesus tells us to baptize in the name of the Trinity. What does the word “baptism” mean? Baptimsa and sometimes baptismos, the Greek word origin of “baptism”, can translate to “immersion” or “bathing” without any religious implications (McGowan, 2014). Nearly every Christian church practices baptism with a religious implication; however, they do not agree on God’s activity in, the qualifications for admitting a person to, and methods of administering baptism. For instance, many churches do not baptize people until they become adults and make a profession of faith, while others encourage baptizing an infant soon after they are born. The practices and philosophy for baptism changed throughout its use in the New Testament, the Early Church, and the Medieval era.

Most RCA congregants are paedobaptized and grow up understanding the priority of baptism. An RCA pastor should establish the historic Reformed understanding of God’s covenant. According to Genesis 17:7, “I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” God made a covenant with Abraham which extended corporately to all of Israel. Israel was expected to follow God, love others, keep the Law, and proselytize Gentiles to maintain covenantal status. Although God promised not to break God’s covenant, there were still expectations for Israel and when Israel did not meet these expectations, God punished the nation. Additionally, God’s covenantal call was intended to start with Israel, but branch out to the rest of the world. Jesus comes as the second Adam to fulfill this expectation and includes both Gentile and Jew into the covenant. All are now one in Christ according to Galatians 3:27-28. How does baptism play into this covenant? Brownson

Infant baptism as some churches practice it today dates back to the second century of the Christian era. However, the Bible does not account any infant baptism. When biblical passages such as Acts 16:15, 33 and Acts 18:8 mention the baptism of a whole household, we can assume that there might have been some infants or children among them. And yet, it still remains an assumption. As a result, many protestant churches do not practice infant baptism, they instead practice the ceremony of baby or child dedication.