MennoSota
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[/QUOTE]We are told:.... not for a monergist, not for one who holds that JESUS is the Savior, not for one who holds that God is not impotent to save some because of their age or whatever. We're believing, not telling God what He can't do.
I'm often reminded that your theology of Baptism comes hook, line and sinker from the Anabaptists, who invented it in the late 16th Century. They did so for one reason: they were radical synergists and they re-invented Baptism to fit with that. I will never ceased to be amazed with how a Calvinist can also be an Anabaptist; I often wonder if you actually READ your own statements here
You certainly can reject that Baptism is a Means of Grace; I disagree with you but I can understand your denial, but your framing all this in pure echo of the Anabaptists and their radical synergism strikes me a very odd.
When you present the Gospel to dead people, do you "HOPE" (funny word you use!) that God will give faith? Do you forbid yourself from doing so because you don't know if Jesus died for them and desires them to have faith (and might be wasting your time)? Do you forbid yourself from doing it unless they are over the never-disclosed age of X? Do you forbid yourself because to do so some human work would be involved (you telling them)? Where is this idea that God is rendered impotent based on age, based on is ministry is involved? Again, I 'get' your denial of Baptism, it's the REASONS you give (taken from the Anabaptist handbook) that shock and dismay me. What a limited God! I SUSPECT you present the Gospel because God tells us to, because you accept that God can use it, because God gives faith through it (although perhaps not always). Even though they may not have yet celebrated their Xth birthday .... and you can't prove Jesus died for them.... and they may not ALREADY believe and thus you don't need to evangelize them.
Accept that there is no such command. We are told to baptize and teach. We are commanded to celebrate Communion. And there are promises attached to such (forgiveness - which is salvation, "baptism now saves you", etc., etc., etc.). Yeah, as you do in much of your radical Anabaptist and Calvinist views, you like to spin verses 180 degrees so that they mean the exact opposite of what they say, you direct us instead to verses you can't find (such as "Thou canst baptize any under the age of X and you canst baptize any unless they publically prove they are among the unnamed persons for whom Jesus died and first give public proof of their faith in Jesus" and "Baptism does nothing" "And Communion is ONLY a rememberance and NOT for THIS is for the forgiveness of sins").
IF there was a divine command to shoot a canon..... IF the early church placed ENORMOUS emphasis on it (as it did Baptism and Communion), if promises were attached - yeah, I'd probably accept that. I don't limit what God can do or for whom.
Yes, synergists are going to argue that one must come to life and have certain attributes before God is released from His impotence and can bless. And you echo that Anabaptist argument. But consider Lazarus. Stinking to high heaven in that tomb. DEAD. Could Jesus GIVE him life? Seems so..... Why your Anabaptist synergism about how God cannot do anything for the dead? Your contradictions with your monergism is amazing.
No, the water does nothing..... it is but a "tool in the hands of the Carpenter" BUT it's in the hands of the CARPENTER! He can do great things! Yeah, He gave sight to a man with a mudball! Don't be so quick to tell Him what He cannot do. You may say you feel there is insufficent reason to believe He uses Baptism (and AGAIN, I can understand that, although I very much disagree) but your apologetic, your synergist limitations and restrictions and the mandates you put on God, the severe limitations to His sovereignty... well....
Freind, it's the opposite.
You have presented NOTHING from the Bible to show God cannot bless the dead, cannot give life to the dead.... you have presented NOTHING that states we are forbidden to baptize those under the age of X (Anti-Paedobaptism), NOTHING that we are forbidden to administer baptism to one who has not publicly proven he/she is among the unnamed few for whom Jesus died, NOTHING that states we are forbidden to baptize those who do not first give public proof of their faith, NOTHING that states we are forbidden to baptize unless every cell of their body is immersed under water. You have shouting a long list of Anabaptist prohibitions - and not one with any Scripture that remotely states what the Anabaptists and you do
That's my suggestion to you. Stop spinning Scriptures 180 degrees so that they mean the exact opposite of what they say..... stop saying "Scripture says" and then proving you can't find that verse (and we both know why).... stop telling God how small He is, how limited is His sovereigty, stop parroting verbatim the synergistic apologetics of the Anabaptists who invented your dogma. Read. Accept. Believe. End the perfect parroting of the Anabaptist (and conflicting Calvinist) tradition.
Tossing out the phrase "well...God could...if He wished" as your argument is just silly.
Matthew 28:19-20
Go
therefore and
make
disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching
them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Notice...no mention of baptizing the unsaved with the hopes that a baptism will invoke God to graciously save. Not in these verses. Not anywhere in scripture.
But, let's be honest. You don't care about scripture being your guide (no Sola scriptura for you). You care about your church tradition and selecting sentences that you can use to prop up tradition.
Those who show you to be wrong, you just shove into a category in church history and summarily dismiss it. The Bible is entirely secondary to you. No Sola scriptura for you. You make bold claims about the Solas, but when push comes to shove you abandon them all to lean upon your church tradition as your gospel.
Josiah, I wish you had the courage to truly embrace sola scriptura. It would be welcome. Sadly, I don't see you having such courage.