Matthew 12:24

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste,
No city or house divided against itself will stand.

Infant Baptism

Christianity sometimes experienced conflict within herself. This very often is caused by the emphasis of a passage in the Bible by a dynamic leader.

My advice to Christians is to "agree to disagree" on such issues. Salvation is not dependent on whether the issue is right or wrong. Any one who believed that salvation is by the grace of God through faith in God the Father, God Jesus Christ, and God Holy Spirit should be accepted as a Christian.

Other then this there will always be certain passage in the Bible that speaks louder to one but not to another. Let those who wanted to, practice and even share according to one's conscience. Do not erect walls between yourself. I will use the issue of infant (or child) baptism as an illustration.

Methodism practices infant baptism. The arguments were as follows:

• Genesis 17:9-12. And God said to Abraham, "You shall keep my covenant, you and your descendents after you ......... He that is eight days old among you shall be circumcised ..... Any uncircumcised in the flesh ..... has broken my covenant."
• Colossians 2:11-12. Christianity has looked upon baptism as a New Testament equivalent to circumcision.
• Acts 2:38. Peter called upon the people to repent, "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children..."
• Act 11:14. Peter related what happened at Cornelius' home. How God told Cornelius that, "you will be saved, you and your household."
• Acts 16:25-34. God set Paul free from prison. When the jailer found Paul gone he wanted to kill himself but Paul stopped him and told him, "believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." That night Paul baptised the jailer and his entire household.
• The great theologian Origen (182 AD - 251 AD), who lived about 100 years after the Apostles recorded, "The church has received the tradition from the Apostles to give Baptism to little children." This testimony carried a lot of weight.

As you examine the above, you will see that there is cause for some to believe but not sufficient strength for others to accept. Family was taken to imply that it had children. On the other hand the Bible did not in any way state that this should not be done. So do not get stuck in the mud. Look at the real issue.

Is salvation by baptism? I am sure all Christians can agree that it is not. Baptism is just an outward sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the saving grace of God. As a matter of fact not all adults who step up on their own volition to be baptised, are saved.

Take a lesson from Acts chapter 11. When Peter extended the gospel to the Gentiles, the church at the time could find no basis for doing so. In the Old Testament, only Israelites were the children of Abraham. Of course the Apostles had forgotten about the final exhortation of Jesus in Matthew 28:19. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

Whatever it was they came to a sensible conclusion. They focused on the gospel of salvation. Acts 15:11 & 19. "We believe that all shall be saved through the grace of God ...... All must abstain from the pollutions of idols, unchastity, from what is strangled and from blood."

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