Tag Archives: Baptism

COC #58: Baptism for Infants; Concluding Remarks

I have asked for you to evaluate which Faith is more reasonable. The Bible does not explicitly reveal the Church’s acceptance of Baptism for infants, but it does implicitly reveal the Church’s acceptance of the practice, and the historical record reveals that the whole of Christianity accepted it as orthodox.  

Within historical Christianity, as taught by Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, and revealed by other historical documents, Baptism washes away an infant’s original sin, and it washes away both original sin and actual sin (volitional sin) for adults. The Protestant Church of Christ’s method washes away original sin even though the group does not realize it, and it also washes away the actual sin of its members who have attained the (biblically-absent, yet NI-forced) “age of accountability”.  

The Catholic Church of Christ believes her infants share in the New Covenant, and, by the faith of our infants’ parents, we joyfully carry them to Jesus—even if such faith might only be the size of a mustard seed.

COC #57: COC Objection to Baptism for Infants: “No History”

(3) The Protestant Church of Christ denies that the history of Christianity is Catholic.

Instead of considering history and how the Christian Church has always understood Baptism, many of your members decide that the paper trail of the Catholic Church’s presence throughout history does not reflect the true Church or Christ, but rather, an apostate organization; and your members are so certain of their prejudice that they sense no need to honestly consider the Catholic Church’s understanding of Baptism. In my experience, however, those who in fact honestly consider the merits of the Catholic position come to love the Catholic Church, but your group’s collective and unfounded hate for her prevents most of your members from experiencing the joy of finding out that one’s family is much, much larger. Therefore, any document other than the Bible that illustrates the Catholicity of the Christian Church from any century is either denied as a hoax or written off as irrelevant; and any interpretation of the Bible that supports the Catholic Church is labeled as heresy—deemed heresy by the authority your group has granted itself. So what argument can be made to convince you that you are wrong if you refuse to allow history (reality) to inform your opinions? 

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COC #56: COC Objection to Baptism for Infants: “No Original Sin”

(2) The Protestant Church of Christ objects to a concept of original sin.

The Protestant Church of Christ uses Ezekiel 18:20 as a proof-text, which reads: The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father. Ezekiel was not arguing against the idea of original sin; he was addressing sin in accordance to the Law—it was a legal point. So when balanced with the full corpus of Scripture, the historical (= Catholic) understanding is most reasonable, and your group’s theology is based on one verse that is forced to be incongruous with the remainder of Scripture.

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COC #55: COC Objection to Baptism for Infants: “No Faith”

There are theological obstacles members of the Protestant Church of Christ must hurdle for this chapter to take root—obstacles that are not anchored to the ancient Church, but rather, are merely theories that are relatively modern—some as young as plastic, yet presented by your group as the ancient Faith.

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COC #53: More Irresponsible Arguments Against Valid Baptisms

Before I close this chapter, I think it is important to address a few of the Protestant Church of Christ’s arguments that provide constructive reinforcement for people who have erroneously accepted any of the four false premises as true. My intent is not to show who is right and who is not Catholic; what I wish to show is how your group creates a circular pattern of thinking between your false premises and your conclusions, and, of course, to illustrate how the Catholic Church of Christ remains unscathed by such arguments. 

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COC #52: False Premise #4 Regarding Baptism

False Premise #4: The Christian Church has always believed that immersion is the only acceptable mode for Baptism.

The Protestant Church of Christ’s fourth false premise is a common Protestant trait, which is to label any nonconforming example from history as “not true Christianity,” or not pertaining to the invisible “true Church” that exists within a community’s assumed ancient presence. The strategy always allows for a “true” form of Christianity to elusively exist somewhere within the shadows of history—a form that always adheres to any modern whim. So, for those of you who have considered my review of the last three false premises, and are entertaining the possibility, no matter how slight, that the Catholic Church has a more perfect grasp on the subjects of Baptism and Scripture, then the following should solidify your inkling. 

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COC #51: COC False Premise #3 Regarding Baptism

False Premise #3: Every Baptism in the Bible is by full immersion.

The New Testament does not describe a single example of a proper mode for Baptism. The New Testament, however, does refer to instructions about baptisms (Hebrews 6:2), but no instructions of any kind are found in the New Testament—such instructions are part of the Sacred Tradition of the Church, and you should ask yourself, “Where are the instructions if they are not in the Bible, and who guards them?” But the Protestant sects have divorced themselves from the Sacred Tradition; have chosen to engage in private interpretation of the historical Church’s Scriptures. But even if the modern rules of heresy were reasonable, a “Bible-only” Christian should notice that the Bible only supports the Catholic Church of Christ’s teachings, because the very word baptizo spans a spectrum of meaning that includes the Catholic Church’s spectrum of modal acceptance, as I illustrated by exposing false premise #2.

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COC #50: COC False Premise #2 Regarding Baptism

False Premise #2: The secular and Christian use of the Greek word from which the English word “baptism” is derived always refers to immersion (complete submersion) in a fluid.        

The Protestant Church of Christ’s second false premise is closely related to the first; each relies circularly on the other as support. Your erroneous assumption is that the Greek word from which the English word “baptism” is derived always refers to complete submersion in a fluid. 

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COC #49: COC False Premise #1 Regarding Baptism

False Premise #1: The secular Greek use of the word baptizo is intended to indicate a specific mode for a religious rite. 

True, the Greek word baptizo is the word from which the English word “baptism” is derived, but your group is incorrect when it teaches that the Greek word’s use is intended to communicate a specific mode for a Christian rite. It is a poor assumption to believe that an older word provides the conclusive illuminating exposition of a newer concept.  

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COC #48: The Church of Christ Recognizes Various Modes of Baptism

Non-Catholic Christians,

The Catholic Church of Christ believes the word “Baptism” (capitalized as a sacrament) represents a specific sacrament, and the Protestant Church of Christ believes the word—capitalized or not—represents a specific sacrament (so to speak) as well as a specific mode: immersion, and only immersion. The Catholic Church and the Protestant group agree that Baptism by immersion is valid, but the Catholic Church has always understood that Baptism is not relegated to its alleged pheno-linguistic parameters, but as a sacrament, includes pouring as a proper mode (often referred to as “sprinkling” by non-Catholics, but is in fact a pouring action when performed most properly).1    

It is with great pleasure that the Catholic Church of Christ recognizes the validity of your group’s “first” Baptisms (there are no “re-Baptisms”; cf. Ephesians 4:5), and they are valid because they are still within the scope of the Catholic Church’s teachings (the Church is the foundation and conduit of truth: cf. John 14:16-18,26; 16:13; Ephesians 3:10; 1 Timothy 3:15); with water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and for the forgiveness of sins (regeneration). The difference, however, is that your group has deliberately narrowed its understanding of acceptable modes—an evolution that is tied to a new (= Protestant) belief that infants should not be baptized, which I will address in the next chapter.

In addition to your erroneous assumption that the Bible is intended to provide a thorough exposition of a proper mode (the Scriptures do not, and cannot, claim to be a “sole authority” or thorough expounder of the subject), your group’s confusion seems to largely stem from four false premises. It goes without mentioning, though I must, that not all members of your group accept every false premise as true, but all members do accept some of them in varying degrees. I will show how your group’s premises are false and simultaneously show you how the Catholic Church of Christ’s position is more reasonable. 

      1 “Sprinkling”, as a mode, does not affect validity, only licitness (strict adherence to law). Catechism of the Catholic Church #1239: “Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head.” Code of Canon Law, 854: “Baptism is to be conferred either by immersion or by pouring.”  

Implied Modes of Baptism in Scripture

This is the appendix for the relevant article here.

Every use of “baptism”, “baptisms”, “baptize”, “baptized”, and “baptizing” in the English New Testament (New International Version); with possible contextual modal indications.

NIV chosen because it is an accepted and popular version within the Protestant Church of Christ.

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