“I don’t like it when pastors say things like that.”

“Say things like what?”

“That just because someone was baptized as a baby they’re now in heaven.”

“Why don’t you like that?”

“Because it’s not true.”

“What do you mean it’s not true? That’s what I’ve believed my whole life.”

“You may believe it, but it’s not in the Bible, and it’s not true.”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT’S NOT TRUE?

That was pretty much my conversation with my fiancée as a twenty-three year old while driving away from my grandfather’s funeral in 1997.

My soon-to-be wife and I were in Wisconsin snowmobiling that February when we got word that my grandfather had passed away. So we loaded up the sleds and headed home to be with my family.

A few days later my grandfather’s funeral took place at one of the churches in our town, which to be honest, I found a bit odd.

You see, I had spent twenty-three years around my grandfather, either at their farm playing, walking bean fields, or goofing around in the haymow with my cousins, or countless summers at their cabin in Minnesota fishing. I loved my grandfather. But until that dreadful day in 1997, and for twenty-three years of my existence, I had never seen him in a church.  Not once.  Oh don’t get me wrong, he was a great guy. But God and church just weren’t a part of his life. Thankfully though, (or so I thought) his parents had him baptized in a church as an infant. Whew!

So when my fiancée said what she did that day as we drove away from the funeral you can imagine how I felt. That perhaps, baptism doesn’t get you into heaven, was a bit unnerving. That’s what I had always believed.  That’s what I was trusting in for me to get to heaven one day. I was ticked!  “What do you mean that’s not true!?!”

I had grown up going to church where I was taught that my infant baptism (which by the way, I don’t remember. I didn’t tell them to do it.) would get me into heaven. Baptism was the magic ticket, the silver bullet so-to-speak. Me and the “Big Guy in the Sky” were golden. I could then go and live my life anyway I wanted (which I was), and because my parents decided for me to have some water sprinkled on my head as a baby I would get to go to heaven when I died.  Makes perfect sense, right?
The purchase generic levitra first small chamber can be found along with ED drugs online. Thus, men with a physiological viagra price canada cause of lovemaking session might not have morning wood. You can purchaser the medicine through the website in viagra uk cheaper rate. There is one more reason why young people cheapest cialis in canada http://downtownsault.org/did2007.html are becoming the victim of impotence or erectile dysfunction.

I DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING I HAD NEVER DONE BEFORE.

My fiancée’s comments shook me up. She challenged something I had always believed. Baptism can be an extremely emotional issue.  We all have an opinion about baptism regardless if we grew up in church or not. (But an opinion based on what?) So instead of blowing her off as “crazy-town” I decided to do something I had never done before. I found a Bible, blew off the dust, and actually read it, for myself.

I know, I know… it doesn’t make much sense. What was I thinking actually reading the Bible?

And do you know what I found? I found absolutely zero verses talking about infant baptism. Zero, zip, nadda. There are no examples in the New Testament of infants being baptized, no instructions to parents to have their kids splashed with water. Look it up for yourself. I dare you.

In fact, if you look at baptism from a historical perspective, the practice of infant baptism doesn’t show up until the AD 300’s after the Roman Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and it became the state religion. So what exactly were the early church leaders, those who walked and talked with Jesus, doing for 300 years? Not baptizing infants.

Instead, I found something else when I read the Bible. I found throughout the New Testament, especially in the Book of Acts, the phrase: “they believed and were baptized… they believed and were baptized.”  In other words, they personally chose first to believe that Jesus was indeed the Son of God, the sacrifice for their sins; they put their faith in Christ first, and then were baptized. That baptism is actually a public declaration of one’s faith in Jesus. And baptism, without a personal faith in Jesus, means nothing and is useless.

The Apostle Paul, whose life was drastically changed by Jesus, wrote a letter to the Christians in Rome saying, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10).  Another passage I came across said this: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

So after reading those passages, and countless others, I finally realized my fiancée was right. Baptism doesn’t instill salvation, it’s evidence of it.  I was not headed for heaven because I had never personally put my faith in Jesus. Lord knows, I certainly wasn’t living for Him. So two months after that funeral, in April of 1997, I stepped over the faith line and decided to put all my trust in Jesus. Six years later I went public with my decision to follow Jesus and got re-baptized because it was my decision to do so.

Now, many years later, as a pastor I get people asking me all the time if I could baptize their kids. Usually they don’t attend my church, or any church for that matter. But because of this false superstition that baptism is the magic ticket they feel this pressing need to get their kids baptized. And of course they do.  If God and heaven are real (which they are), what parent wouldn’t want their kids to go to heaven. But as a parent you cannot make decisions for your kids, really. Try getting them to eat green beans. So what makes us think we get to decide their eternal destiny?  Every person has to answer for themselves, “What am I going to do with Jesus?”  And honestly, if you think about it, the belief that sprinkling some water on a baby’s head will gain them an eternity in heaven, no matter how they live their lives, is pretty ridiculous. Nothing else in life works that way.

At Cedar Point Church baptism is a BIG deal.  We try to constantly point people to the truth of God’s word.  You will always hear me say, “Don’t ever take my word for granted.  Read the Bible yourself.”  And in just over seven years we have had over 35 people (mostly adults) come to understand the truth about salvation and baptism, put their faith in Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives, and gone public with their faith through the step of baptism.

So if you’re reading this and believe in infant baptism like I did, don’t blow it off. It’s far too important to ignore. Ask yourself ‘why‘ you believe what you do. Discovering the truth about baptism literally saved my life, in more ways than one. I’m certainly glad I decided to read my Bible.

And I hope you do too!

If you would like to know more about baptism check this out.