Why Is Infant Baptism Wrong ?
Acts 8:26-40 tells us the story of the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. According to Acts 8:35, “Philip … preached unto him (the Ethiopian) Jesus.” Evidently “preaching Jesus” includes preaching the necessity of baptism, because when “they came unto a certain water … the eunuch said, See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” In our vernacular, verse 36 would read, “what’s keeping me from being baptized?”Notice how Philip replied to the eunuch in verse 37 – “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” Now just going by normal language rules, that would imply that if the eunuch did not believe, Philip was saying he couldn’t be baptized. This illustrates the main reason “infant baptism” is not scriptural – it is required that a person believe first before he is baptized, and infants are not capable of believing.So Acts 8:37 is very clear on this aspect of baptism. Infant baptism then is obviously a commandment of men, and those who teach such are worshipping God in vain (according to Matthew 15:9) and therefore will not go to heaven. Those who believe and practice such are not abiding in the doctrine of Christ and therefore do not have God (II John verse 9), and a person certainly cannot go to heaven without God.Do you see why it is so important that we practice Jesus’ religion Jesus’ way?To listen to a fair and friendly Bible debate on infant baptism, click here: http://98.131.169.180/Debates/Audio/InfantBaptism-StrawbridgeDonahueDebate20090619/index.htm