"Nehemiah6, posted
Repentance is for the remission of sins as was taught by Christ and the apostles: Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; (Acts 3:19)
2, Water is a metaphor for the Word of God: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word (Eph 5:26)
3. The Gospel (also called "the Word of God" itself is the seed of the New Birth:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. 24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 25 But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.(1 Pet 1:23-25)
I must assert first that I am not attempting to join issues with you either for or against. but you seem not to have commented on the second part of receiving the gift of the holy spirit after the baptism experience?
I think the Catholic Church sees baptism as a transformation process that not only confers to the person being baptized the forgiveness of sins but also the gift of the holy spirit ( as per the spirit of St Peter"s words in Acts 2: 37 -38). This is understandable because the person is being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, while renouncing his sins and professing his faith in the trinity. Hence, baptism involves the element of believe or faith on the part of the person or else he/she would not have come up for baptism or being baptized in the first place. Believing in the trinity means that he also believes in the name of Jesus, in his words and the cross,making him his Lord and savior. The Holy Spirit continues to put him in remembrance of all the Lord has done, comforts and guides him to the Truth.
As regards Infant baptism, I think there are scriptural backings but we may have to look deep to see them. The bible in most cases did not give ages of those being baptized. There are instances where the whole household were baptized. We cannot assume it was only the adults in those households that were baptized because the bible did not say so. Also, it was recorded that the whole of Jerusalem, Judea and all regions of Jordan came out for John"s baptism. I cannot imagine a whole household going out for such tremendous event while leaving their little ones behind. If they could go out to meet Jesus with the children, the chances are they might have gone out with them to be baptised by John.
I think that, just as the parents are nurturers and custodians of the babies as entrusted to them by God himself, at their baptism they stand as surety promising to bring them up in the way of the Lord until they become adults to take responsibility of their faith and actions.