‘Baptism? Let the Child Choose!’

These days, one particularly modern objection to infant baptism is this: “She should be able to choose her own faith.” And maybe, if we’re particularly “open-minded,” we add a little “or lack thereof.”

This seems to make sense at first. After all, isn’t it true that faith is extremely personal, and for Christians in particular? Don’t we believe the truth of the scriptures—that we have been “called by name” (Isa. 43:1, John 10:3)? That the individual believer is invited to “abide in” Jesus (John 15:4)? That when the Lord Jesus speaks of his easy yoke and light burden (Matt. 11:30), he personally invites each single one of us to come to him?

But the importance of choosing should not be set against the importance of advocating good choices and of setting on the right road.

Put it this way: would you leave your child on her own in the choice of a nourishing diet? Leave it to the eight-year-old to decide whether to go to school? Let the little girl decide treatment for her earache? These are not things we leave to the choice of children, because they are important. Isn’t the question of eternal salvation the most important of all? It is not a question of forcing, but of cultivating. Yes, our children will leave us and will make their own choices in all manner of important areas besides faith. That doesn’t mean we won’t do all we can to raise them to acknowledge and embrace the right kind of decisions.

Perhaps you think eternal salvation is not on the line. God saves everyone, right? But if Christianity is true, then God says something a little different: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). If God is the Christian God, then faith and baptism are required to get to heaven and be with him.

What if you’re not sure? First of all, keep reading, keep learning, and keep praying in order to become sure. But even while you are not, even while you might be entertaining other options, even if you are an atheist, there is no reason not to have your child baptized if you are ready to raise her in the Faith. Whether you are currently a non-Christian theist, or “spiritual but not religious,” or even an atheist, if you are prepared to raise your child in the Faith, then baptism will do her no harm . . . and if Christianity is true, it will be the greatest gift possible.

Let’s return to Jesus’ admonition to his apostles in the Gospel of Mark: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” It is important to restate that baptism should be received only if the parents or guardians of the child are prepared to raise that child in the fulness of the Faith. (See canon 868 of the Code of Canon Law.) It requires agreeing that whatever their personal beliefs or questions, the child will be taught to observe the Church’s teachings on doctrine and morality. In the end, it is not about you and your personal situation regarding God, but about your child and your intentions regarding that child.

This makes perfect sense when we examine the list of things that our parents have done for us, and the things we want to do and have done for our children. While a personal example is part of the whole picture, parents always fail in some ways in giving that example and following through in practicing the good habits they want their children to practice. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that the main responsibility of the parent is to give good things to his children and cultivate his children’s taste for these good things.

Now, this kind of reasoning might take care of objections based purely on human reason and attitudes. However, one more objection needs to be addressed—an objection that claims to be founded in Scripture.

Some Protestants have founded their objections to infant baptism on the admonition from Christ just mentioned: one must not just be baptized, but believe and be baptized, and in that order. They accompany this strict interpretation with the point that infant baptism is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

This kind of thinking doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, however. For one thing, the documents of the New Testament are focused on the conversion of adults, since there were no cradle Christians at the time! Moreover, a strict interpretation of Mark 16:16 doesn’t hold water because it would mean that infants could not be saved (since they cannot be said to “believe”), whereas Christ clearly thought otherwise: “To such [as infants] belongs the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:17).

Finally, history, as in the practice of the early Church within a few hundred years of Christ’s ascension, is on the Church’s side. The Church Father Gregory Nazianzen brings us full circle to where we began: the question of whether baptism is something only for those who can reason and choose based on reason, or a pure, unadulterated opportunity, just like good food, good clothing, parental love. “Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit.”

Baptism is not a medal to be “earned” by faith; it is the door to the life of faith, and the salvation that follows it.