Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Tag Archives: Baptism
Mother’s Day…
Seven years ago, on Mother's Day, my daughter was baptized. Part of my "Ancient History" - we were still in the Nazarene church and it was part of my "former life".
Paedofaith, Rich Lusk
Here are some conclusions/questions...
The author concludes that babies of covenant families are given faith by God. He is "happily agnostic" when it comes to the salvation of babies that die in unbeliving families.
so...
If we are saved by faith, it would follow that babies have some sort of faith. If they do not have faith, then how are they saved?
If babies have faith, but can fall away, what does that do for perseverence?
I'm fairly new to Reformed theology and I know that baptism does not save. However, Lusk seems to say that baptism is more than a symbol, it is more like the (my words) door through which salvation comes.
How does one relate baptism to salvation?
If baptism is a symbol, and not a vehicle, why baptize infants before they understand the symbolism?
Here is a tough one. I spent years outside the church. Looking back, I can pinpoint a moment when my relationship with God became very real. Given it is possible that is the moment I "got saved" - are the babies that I lost before that moment saved or lost?