I think the idea of pedobaptism, or the baptizing of infants, is an incorrect way to baptize a person. The idea came when the question of where infants go if they die in the early years of their life came up. The idea of baptizing an infant gave security to those who were concerned that their children might not go to Heaven without being baptized. Unfortunately this early tradition led to centuries of rotting tradition and has led to many in the church to believe that they have already been baptized considering they had been baptized at such a young age. I think that the Bible points us in another direction that shows baptism is not for infants, but for confirmed believers whether they be young or old. Romans 2:15 even states that we are not judged on unconscious sin but only sin that we know we are committing so for an infant to be baptized would be meaningless because they are not aware of sins they’ve committed. I would say Jesus is an excellent example of baptism occurring as a confirmed believer. Many say that Jesus was the first Christian and had he chosen to be baptized as a child he would have been. But Christ chose to be baptized as a believing adult. The problem with infant baptism is that baptism is a conscious decision to make public their faith in their Savior and infants are not capable of making such huge decisions because they do not have a full sense of God’s love. So I feel that baptism must be done at an age where a person can make the conscious decision to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior and then they can be baptized in order to make public that decision they made. I think it’s interesting that so many denominations have bought into the idea of infant baptism even though there isn’t a single case in the Bible where someone is baptized as an infant anywhere. It makes me wonder why tradition is so much more important than Biblical truth. I think that the church needs to collectively realize that baptism is something special and should be a decision, not a tradition.
