This past week there was controversy surrounding the newest Braverman baby getting baptized. Crosby's mother-in-law was demanding that her granddaughter get baptized to make sure she was "saved", her " eternity is at stake".
There are so many things going on with this issue that I almost don't know where to begin.
The first, is that the Braverman clan is non-religious. They're not really anti-religious they're simply secular. Crosby and his wife Jasmine, encourage their son with his religious connection through his grandmother. I love the understanding that has developed within that relationship and how their son is portrayed as having an authentic and child-like faith.
The second, is the thing that I struggled with while watching this episode. It's the notion that infant baptism saves. I am what's called a "paedobaptist", this means, I believe baptism ought to be offered to the children of at least on believing parent. It's part of my covenantal understanding of the Scriptures. However, it does not mean that I believe that the baptized child is "saved". Baptism for the infant points to the child being included in the covenant community. It is a sign of the promises of God to this child through her believing parents.
I struggle with the perception that baptism (of any sort) is useful for salvation. It is a sign of the covenant (either before faith, paedobaptism; or after faith believer's baptism). It is nothing more. Salvation comes by grace through faith. This is something that God alone does. He wills to work it in our lives and transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his beloved son. He does all this because he loves us.
It is one of my sincerest wishes that infant baptism or baptism of any sort saved people. But, it doesn't.
[…] week’s Parenthood was filled with amazing stuff to think about. On the one hand there were religious issues that were fascinating and on the other we saw something we rarely see in pop culture, a father […]
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