Infant Baptism
The Roman Catholic Church is a false religion and a false church. Another reason for this is their practice of infant baptism — something you are never going to find in the Bible. You will never see one baby or one infant baptised in the Bible. The reason the Catholic Church does this is because they believe that babies are born guilty with original sin and need to have that sin washed away, which is itself also a false concept. But there are a few reasons that clearly show infant baptism is not scriptural.
One reason is that the Bible is clear that you must first believe on Christ before you get baptised. We have the story in Acts chapter 8 where Philip gives the gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch. It says in verse 36: "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" And Philip said in verse 37: "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest."
Here is the question — can a baby believe with all their heart on Jesus Christ? As a father of four young children, I can tell you that several of my children are not old enough to believe on Christ. How could a newborn baby believe on Christ for salvation? They simply do not understand these things.
And then verse 38 says: "And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him." What you are also seeing here is another reason why infant baptism is false — the Catholic Church sprinkles water on the top of the baby's head. But the Bible says they went down into the water. Why? Because baptism is actually by immersion. It comes from the Greek word baptizo, which means to immerse. This is why even the Greek Orthodox Church — although they are wrong and also practise infant baptism — actually dunks or immerses those babies, because they at least understand that is what the word means.
But the reason you immerse is because you are picturing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible compares it to planting — when you plant something, you put it fully under the ground, you do not just rest it on top. Romans 6 also mentions burial: "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death." When you do a burial, the entire body goes under the ground. So what baptism by immersion is showing is that it is done after believing on Christ for salvation, and it is done by full immersion, because the whole purpose is to picture the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And this does not save you. What you are doing is showing the world — I do believe on Christ for my salvation. You are publicly declaring your faith through an outward picture of what Christ did.
Infant baptism is not a biblical concept. A baby cannot believe on Christ. Sprinkling is not immersion. And immersion is the picture of death, burial, and resurrection — not the washing away of original sin. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church, in practising and teaching infant baptism, is a false religion and a false church.
Pastor Matthew Stucky
