Posts tagged “Infant Baptism”

Carelessness, disrespect, and frivolity in Baptism

Posted on February 7th, 2013

Comments on a recent post on Baptism brought to mind Luther’s letter attached to his revision of the rite. Of particular note is the importance of ongoing prayer and catechesis for children who are baptized. Martin Luther to all Christian Readers: Grace and Peace in Christ our Lord.   I daily see the carelessness and disrespect—not to say frivolity—with which the high, holy, and comforting sacrament of Baptism is being administered to little children.…   In all Christian earnestness, I would ask all those who administer Baptism, who hold the children, or witness it, to take this wonderful work to heart in all its seriousness.  For here, in the words of these prayers, you hear how meekly and earnestly the Christian Church concerns itself…

Categories: Theology

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Peter’s words on Baptism, corrected

Posted on January 31st, 2013

Here’s how Peter concludes his sermon in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost:   Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. [NKJ]   The problem is this passage is so confusing. Those terrible baby-baptizers try to use this passage to defend their godless traditions. What is needed is a new Bible translation that doesn’t just give us the Apostle’s words, but what they clearly mean. So here’s the correct translation of Acts 2:38-39, with the…

Categories: Theology

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Sermo Dei: Trinity 5, 2012

Posted on July 10th, 2012

Drawn out of the water, one becomes a disciple. Drawn out of the water, one is saved alive. Moses was drawn out of the water. Indeed, that is what Moses means: “drawn out.” Doomed to death by hard-hearted Pharaoh’s decree of sex-selection infanticide, Moses acquired his name from the princess who rescued him from the river. Water kills, but to be drawn out of the water is salvation. The floodwaters drowned the people of the ancient world. But buoyed up on the ark of salvation was Noah and his family, eight souls in all. St. Peter likens Holy Baptism to this great event, saying that “Baptism now saves you.” This is why faithful parents bring their children to Baptism. For in these waters is…

Categories: Sermons

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Baptism: the beginning of a life

Posted on April 6th, 2012

The assurance that [the death of Christ] really is for my salvation I have in my baptism. There I was baptized unto the death of Christ and there I became a partaker of all that he has won through his death. Therefore baptism is not confined to one act in my infancy. It is the beginning to a life which is to be lived in fellowship with the crucified Christ. To live as a baptized Christian is to live “by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” –Bo Giertz, Preaching from the Whole Bible

Categories: Theology

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Advent reading, day 1: “You have made us for yourself”

Posted on November 28th, 2011

Today’s reading from Augustine’s Confessions: Book I, i (1) through I, xiii (22)  [[pp3-17]] (click here for schedule). Here are some of my observations: The first paragraph of the Confessions contains one of its most famous quotes: “You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Man was created to “rest” in his Creator, and a theme of Augustine’s life as it will unfold throughout the Confessions is how many ways he sought rest, satisfaction, pleasure outside of God, yet nothing availed. In the first few chapters of Book I, Augustine dwells on the mystery of prayer and praise, and the relationship between man and God revealed…

Categories: Books, Theology

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