My brother doesn't believe in infant baptism (original sin) (has baby twins). How can I invite him to church??

I would like to invite his family to worship (they're not church attenders) with the rest of our family. The pastor knows my brother believes his twins are too precious to be "sinful" (not the act, but the state of being) and the pastor happens to be baptizing two babies on the afternoon my brother comes to town. Oh brother of course has just offered to stay home and take care of the babies, while the rest of us attend worship/double-baptism. Pastor has said he would love to have a little discussion with brother to answer any questions, etc. I have been praying about this and for the little babies.





What is best???
My brother doesn't believe in infant baptism (original sin) (has baby twins). How can I invite him to church??
Your brother is correct. Christ himself waited to the age of 28 or so to be baptized as an example to us. Not because it was bad, but because we should be spiritually "grown-up" in the belief's we have and be able to support those beliefs. Baptising infants is NOT a biblical doctrine and Christ and the early church never recommended it until after the apostasy set in and money was needed for the church coffers. Do you SERIOUSLY think God holds original sin again someone who dies unbaptised? Please! We're born that way. Its only as adults that we can appreciate God's wisdom and Christs love and then get baptised and THAT'S when it matters.
Reply:And this is up to you because????





This is the responsibility of the parents of any child, and not the responsibility of anyone else.





Unless you want to lose whatever relationship you currently have with your brother and his family, I'd suggest that you back off and let him and his wife decide these things for themselves and their children. Ditto your pastor.





What you ought to be praying for, if you want actually want to hear anyone else's opinion, is the personal wisdom to accept the fact that not everyone agrees with you or has to agree with you.
Reply:Baptism should be a choice. It is good to pray over an infant for guidance and protection. But to assume a baby is to be absolved of sin before the age of accountability doesn't make sense at all. Sorry. Just pray for your brother and his family. Live a good Christian example before him and he will long to find truth.
Reply:Most evangelicals, and many others, don't believe in infant baptism. It is non-biblical. Period. If your brother has a problem with attending a non-biblical ceremony invented by the catholic church, let him stay home with the kids.


I agree with him. Being there would make it seem that he is in agreement with it.
Reply:Not content with forcing your beliefs onto your children, you now want to do the same to your brother's kids.


Leave it alone.


Leave him alone.


Leave his kids alone.


It is this indoctrination of innocent children by supposedly well-meaning adults, who just don't realise how controlling they are, that perpetuates this nonsense.


Giving a free choice to a child is the best gift that you can bestow. Leading them into a life of stupidity is not a good idea.


This god will eventually go the same way as Thor, and Ra and Zeus and, eventually, everyone will see what a complete waste of time religion has been.


I'm at this level now. Why not play the game of life to get yourself up to this level before it's 'Game Over' and the only thing that you have achieved is to send your children along the same laughable path.


God is imaginary. God is a man-made invention. Time to see the light, people!
Reply:well dont you think that a person should serve god because they really truely whant to? i do. and i also belive that baptizum is a sign of whanting to serve god, and a baby that small can not make a decsion that great, after all, did jesus not wait untill his 30's to be baptized in the jordan river by john the baptist? maybe your brother feels pressured. maybe if you set an exaple, instead of trying to pressure him into finding god, he would want to seek god out! try that!
Reply:First of all, Why in the heck would you baptize babies? Do you even know what baptism is? Baptism washes away your sins, and makes it possible for you to repent. It is a sacred ordinance. This really ticks me off because so many people out ther believe that God would send a baby to hell if it wasn't baptized. God would never do that. There are so many people that have lived on the earth and who are going to live on the earth, that shall not have the opportunity to hear about Jesus or get baptized. They are not damned to hell. Why would God put people on the earth, and from no fault of their own, they do not hear about Jesus or get baptized, and then punish them for something they had nothing to do with? Please read in your bible the meaning of baptism. So mant people out there just accept what their preacher tells them without investigating it for themselves. I agree with your brother. His babies are too precious to be sinners. They are not even at the age of accountability. If you want to invite him and his family to church, then do so, but don't have a hidden agenda about it. And most of all, you need to respect his decision regarding his children.
Reply:Your brother is actually right, except I do feel he needs to be a part of the body of Christ. However, that is his decision the same as it is every bodies individual choice. Baptism is for people who are old enough to make the decision themselves based on knowledge of the commitment they are making to Christ by hearing the Word. There is not any place in the Bible that says to baptize infants or young children, no where. Your Pastor should not have to share the word when anyone for you, you should have your own Bible in which to search things out in order to share the Word with others.


I think it is awesome that you have your heart in the right place and are thinking of your loved ones.





BTW, the punishment of original sin is that we do not get to live in the Garden of Eden, we do not live forever, women suffer pain in childbirth, man has to toil and work the land, etc.... As for the sins we need to be Baptized for in order to be forgiven of them, cleansed daily and to have eternal salvation is the sins we each commit ourselves.
Reply:And I thought it was bad when you people forced your bullshit on your own children. Why don't you just leave your brother and your nephews alone?
Reply:Don't force, don't invite him to church with a covert intention.





And BTW, you know there are plenty of Christians who don't baptize until adulthood. Both ways of doing things can make good cases from scripture and church history.





Don't be in a hurry to "save" your brother's kids with water. God is taking good care of them, don't you worry.
Reply:A baby doesn't need to be baptized , Im with your brother on this one ,
Reply:Acts 2:38,39 was the 1st gospel preaching after the coming of the Holy Spirit. Peter in those verses makes it clear that baptism was for adults and their children. It aligns with the OT covenant sign of circumcision for a male child on the 8th day, but is inclusive of females too. In the early Christian church, all households were baptized when the parents were believers as it was the responsibility of the adult believers to raise children in their faith in such a manner that they never had to have a so-called conversion experience. That understanding comes from people who have not thoroughly studied their faith through scriptures and church history. Either way, your brother will be a hard person to convince since he obviously wasn't raised in a community of faith, which sadly makes my point concerning infant baptism.
Reply:he is right don't push his buttons or tell pastor to mind his own bussiness
Reply:You can talk to your brother, but in the end it's his decision. They are, afterall, his children.
Reply:Best is to respect your brothers wishes and back off.





I'm sure your pastor would just love to have a little "discussion" with your brother so he can "persuade" him to the "right" course of action.


As your brother and his wife are adults, he and his wife have the right to believe as they wish, whether you like the choice or not.





Perhaps your brother would prefer that his children make their own choice about religion, rather than have it handled for them.
Reply:i was unaware that babies were able to make an informed conscience decision to devote their lives to God. Infant Baptism is unbiblical.
Reply:Water baptism is a minor ritual in the road to eternity. God does not hold it against a child because his parents didn't have him baptised, nor does God give credit to anyone who is baptised without themselves seeking it. I pray that you and your Pastor do a lot of praying about your motives before either of you even think of talking to the twin's father. Keep in mind that the Old Testament is a history book and the two commandments in the New Testament are how we should live our lives. Please don't try to add or take away from what's in the Bible. Good Bless!
Reply:I think that your brother and his wife are capable of making decision for their children. There is nothing wrong for praying for people, but you can not expect that every one will share your beliefs. I think that being a loving sister is the important thing.


You can not control others religious beliefs.
Reply:Just be straight up with him and speak the truth in love. Trickery of any kind will not work. Baptism will profit almost nothing if the kids are not trained by believing parents.
Reply:Lots of religions don't believe in infant baptism. Many believe that children should be baptized when they are old enough to understand the meaning of it. I was raised as a Lutheran and while we believe in it, many of my friends are Baptists who believe in full immersion when the child is older. I don't feel either is right or wrong.
Reply:i believe that babies shouldnt be baptised until they are old enough to understand whats going on.
Reply:It is NOT SCRIPTURAL!





Read Ezekiel 18 for a discussion on the topic.





Original sin is a LIE!





When you realize this, you understand that the doctrines of "immaculate conception" and infant baptism are both meaningless. NO ONE is born with the guilt of sin. Since everyone is born innocent, there is no need to FIGURE OUT some way for Jesus to be born without guilt for Adam's sin. Ezekiel chapter 18 presents a hypothetical family of alternating good and evil fathers and sons to illustrate this point. Here are some excerpts:





Ezekiel 18:1 A message came to me from the LORD. He said, 2 “You people have a proverb about the land of Israel. What do you mean by it? It says, “‘The parents eat sour grapes. But the children have a bitter taste in their mouths.’





--%26gt; 3 “You will not use that proverb in Israel anymore,” announces the LORD and King. “And that is just as sure as I am alive. 4 Everyone belongs to me. Father and son alike belong to me.


--%26gt; People will die because of their own sins.





[ God presents a hypothetical family of alternating good and evil fathers to explain this teaching:]





5 “Suppose a godly man does what is fair and right.


...


9 He follows my rules. He is faithful in keeping my laws. He always does what is right. You can be sure he will live,” announces the LORD and King. 10 “But suppose he has a mean son who harms other people. The son commits murder. Or he does some other things that are wrong.


...14 “But suppose that son has a son of his own. And the son sees all of the sins his father commits. He sees them, but he does not do them.


...17 ... He will not die because of his father’s sin. You can be sure he will live. 18 But his father will die because of his own sin. He got rich by cheating others. He robbed his relatives. He also did what was wrong among his people.





--%26gt; 19 “But you still ask, ‘Is the son guilty along with his father?’ No! The son did what was fair and right. He was careful to keep all of my rules. So you can be sure he will live. (NIrV)





Read the whole chapter and you will see I have not lifted the passage out of its context. I just skipped sections that elaborate on what they did or did not do...
Reply:It would be best to respect his wishes. He stated his opinion, respect it.
Reply:Personally, I do agree with your brother's believe that his twins are not sinful. I think infant baptism is not about forgiving original sins because salvation was already done with the blood of Christ Jesus for all. To me infant baptism is important to many parents, it is like choosing a " good school ". Parents would like their children to belong and be welcome into the faith and to form part of the body of Christ. To instill good foundation at a young age is important and it is the parents responsibility, isn't it. If they choose to change faith later on during their teens, 'Yes' it is then their choice. At least the parents have tried their best. In our faith at age 16, a teens will be given a choice to make at "Confirmation". Teens are given a choice to live 'a life as a disciple of Jesus'. So not to worry, parents are not imposing their will on their infants. I guess your brother should understand this so he will be in a better position to make any decisions for his precious twins.
Reply:only one hope for the Christian church company and the Islam organization to continue their feature business , which is to hire more educated people with a science knowledge and train them to mix and match there old book content to modern day science theories. . . Pay them some money , you can do that.
Reply:Infant baptism is not biblical, and does nothing.
Reply:Baptism is just a good symbolic tradition, it is not necessary for salvation. For example the thief on the cross who recognized Jesus was who he said he was, Jesus didn't say "Come down from the cross, get baptized, then you will be with me in paradise". Of course I don't think anything is impure with infant baptism, but if the child isn't doing it willfully, not knowing what it means, it really doesn't mean they are reborn spiritually. It really depends though how his spiritual walk is - if he isn't even a Christian you can hardly impress him into baptizing his infant children. If he is a Christian, then just try to get him to tag along to church, don't pressure him into baptizing his kids. Besides, aren't children supposed to be saved because of ignorance? Remember Jesus said "the kingdom of heaven belongs to ones like these [children]"
Reply:^_^ This is kind of hard to respond when Im sorta an atheist.
Reply:I would stay neutral on this one. Baby baptism is a beautiful gesture by parents of a new child who want to dedicate their lives to raising this child in the ways of God.





Ultimately, the child has to make his or her own peace with God and come to terms and know Jesus on his or her own. By baby baptizing, the parents are making an oath before God to dedicate their child-raising to God, but that doesn't mean the baby is necessarily saved.





It is still up to the child to accept the gift of salvation on his or her own when they understand it and come to Jesus Christ and develop a personal relationship with the Savior. Baby baptism is more for the parents than for the baby.





That is my take on it.
Reply:your doctrine is totally confused, you need to find a different church and leave your brother to make the decision for HIS children.
Reply:Your beliefs are different than your brother's apparently. Your brother seems to be taking the position of most of the other people that have responded to your post -- babies don't sin, so what's the point in even bringing them to church?





If and only if your brother is open to discussion about it, you may want to explain the reasons for infant baptism. I'm sure the pastor would love to talk to your brother, but it's also good that you know the reasons for infant baptism and why it is important. And, if you expect a full-fledged debate, it's probably best to brush up on your apologetics before confronting the issue. Plenty of websites available, but if perchance you belong to the Reformed/Presbyterian faith group, try www.reformed.org.





I wouldn't go about straining family relationships over this. But have an answer ready when he asks "why"!