“If a kid was baptized, educated in the covenant, catechized until his eyes bulged out, and all the rest of that drill, and apostatized in a terrible flame-out as soon as he left home, what does that do to the promises? Nothing! Let God be true, and every man a liar. But notice what saying this necessitates. It requires us to acknowledge that when the words don’t come true, it was the men who were lying, not God. It also requires us to acknowledge that somebody was lying. Nobody goes to a Hell on a misunderstanding” (Against the Church, p. 160).
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Write to the Editor
To help out the Baptist contingent lurking here, it would be a great help if you could identify what specific promises are made when an infant is baptized, by whom, and to whom.
Doug,
Could you give an illustration of something like this happening, i.e. who might be lying, when and how and to whom?
Thanks,
Drew
The man who apostatizes is himself a liar because he has listened to the voice of the ‘Father of Lies’ who is Satan. All men who preach or teach “…another gospel” are liars. One needn’t look far to find them.
Pastor Wilson, Since we are on the subject, could you do a blog post on the following verse: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel (GOOD NEWS) unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Galations 1:8 I only just noticed, though I’ve been quite familiar with this verse for years, that there obviously is another gospel – or another ‘good news’ – of which we should beware. It would appear from this context that the the other ‘gospel’ is very appealing and lines up closely with that which… Read more »
Bro. Steve, I do not speak for anyone except myself, but (drawing on Calvin’s Institutes) I would say that the chief promise involving children at baptism is from God, and is the same one made to adults: a promise to be our God, and to forgive our sins, and to give us life through union with Christ in his death and resurrection. Both children and adults receive these promised things by putting faith in God, and in the redeemer he sent, and by walking in the repentance that new life brings. Baptism is additionally the sign of our own promise… Read more »
When God calls us unto himself and we respond to the call santification then begins and only ends at the death of the flesh. Anything other than that is mans doing and is incapable of changing a life permanently. Thanks be to God for his effectual call.
I second Steve. I’d like to know exactly what the promise of baptism includes.