I was presented with a question that I'd never thought of before.
My Brother, a former Catholic (as am I) has been attending a non-denominational Church.
He decided, a few months ago, to switch and go to a Nazarene Church; which I happen to like.
The pastor there told my Brother, Frank, that he should be baptized again if he wanted to join the "community".
1. He was already baptized as a baby in the Catholic Church.
2. Is that not valid for a Protestant Church?
3 Why would he have to get baptized again?
My personal feeling is that baptism counts whenever a person is baptized.
Jesus' command in Mathew 28:19 is being followed even though a person is an infant.
Any thoughts?
Firstly I will that I don't believe baptism saves.
Secondly I would say that to require someone to be baptised to join the community is wrong.
Thirdly I do not believe in baptismal regeneration.
If a child dies before the age of accountability (whatever that age may be) then they are in heaven whether they are baptised or not.
I would say that the Protestant church would discount infant baptism as legitimate. When I was 16 I was sprinkled in the Anglican Church. I made that public confession and was sprinkled.
When I went to a Baptist Church I was told that wasn't baptism as I wasn't fully emersed. I never fully understood that because I had made a public profession of faith in Jesus (I ended up getting fully emersed in the end)
We find in Acts 16:30-34 that the whole household were baptised. Whether that included infants or not I don't know.
Then we find
Acts 2:38-39
38 Then Peter said to them, “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. 39 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.”
Did that include infants? I don't know that either.
Given that I do not believe baptism saves I would say to your friend "It is between you and God, ask him, you are saved by faith and not baptism"
If I was pushed to answer the question I would then yes as it's symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus and is whom your faith is in.
One thing I do know though and it's this promise God made
Deuteronomy 7:9
9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
To me Gods covenant involves faimly unity (i.e. in this case baptising infants) but it also requires a personal responsibility to come to faith.
I will probably get rebuked for the above but I'm just giving my thoughts.