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The Bible says "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? *And Philip said, IF THOU BELIEVEST with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and THEY went down both into the water, BOTH Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." Acts 8:36-38 *Notice that in the Catholic Bible and the NIV this verse is missing altogether. Also notice that the Bible records verse number 36... and then skips right to verse 38. Even the number "37" has been removed. The reason the Catholic church removed this verse from their Bible and was instrumental in having it removed from the NIV is mainly because this verse proves that a person must first BELIEVE that Jesus is the Son of God BEFORE being baptized. An infant cannot make this statement, so rather than change their doctrine, they try and change the Bible to save face. Didn't they know that God's children would sooner or later find out about this? Obviously not. This "bogus doctrine" leads itself to other problems as well. Take for example the UNBiblical doctrine called "confirmation" in the Catholic church. How can Catholic dogma state that people receive the Holy Spirit during confirmation? "Then Peter said unto them, REPENT, and be BAPTIZED every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall RECEIVE the GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST." Acts 2:38 Seems rather plain what the order of events are here. REPENT... be BAPTIZED... and then RECEIVE the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now it is true that all Catholic children are baptized at infancy, this is most definitely before confirmation. However, how is it possible for the Catholic receiving confirmation to ever gone into repentance before baptism? An infant cannot do this, plain and simple. It is impossible to effectively baptize a person without their consent, let alone their knowledge. If you are a Catholic, let me ask you this... "Do you remember being baptized?" I don't remember, nor do I recall repenting before being baptized. So how is it possible for me to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost at confirmation when I didn't follow the method God's Word stipulates as the order of events needed for reception? Baptism is not something to be taken lightly. It is not just some "ritual". It is a VERY graphic public proclamation of a life changing repentative faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour of ones life. To diminish it to some ritual that is "snuck" in without the knowledge of the one receiving is nothing more than a demonic form of "mind control". The infant comes to adulthood and "entertains" the though of baptism later in life because of the simple will of God gently tugging on the heart. However, after "realizing" that this "ritual" took place already, they may walk on without giving it a second thought. Again, baptism is no "minor" ritual to be toyed with and entertained as a "fad" or a "fix all". Some will attempt to approach baptism today as a way to "stop all the problems" in their life, or to remove guilt. This is not new. They see a bleek horizon and feel if they "jump in the water" they will be spared the wrath approaching. John the Baptist dealt with some like this as well. Matthew 3:7,8 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: John wasn't going to allow them to sneak in and be baptized without meeting the necessary conditions God had set up in advance for baptism. WHY SHOULD YOU? After I read the REAL verses # 37 of Acts chapter eight. I realized a person cannot be baptized unless they repented and believe with all their heart, that Jesus Christ is the Lord. This always made me wonder how it was possible for them to baptize me when I was an infant. I couldn't make any decisions for myself at that time. I couldn't even feed myself without help, let alone repent or even make a proclamation of my personal faith in Jesus. The Bible made perfect sense to me here. How can a person be baptized as an infant? Not only is the infant incapable of knowing who Jesus is. The people holding the baby don't know who the infant will grow to become. So how can they make a life changing decision or even speak for this infant as an adult? The church of Rome also goes so far as to add their dogmatic assumptions in the following verses, stating these passages prove babies can be baptized...
They say these passage prove that baptism is a universal command and not restricted to adults. So, my question is this. HOW can an infant know the Lord has CALLED them, and how can an infant ARISE and the CALL UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD? Plain and simple. The Pagan church of old baptized babies, and as prophecy declared, the WHore of Babylon in Rome will do this as well. |
