EVIDENCE: Infant Baptism (Moroni 8:10, 12, 15)

Ed J. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen

The New Testament gives no evidences of infant baptism, a common practice in both Catholic and Protestant churches. Mostly likely, infant baptism evolved from the rejection of the idea of proxy baptism for the dead. In his early days, St. Augustine did not believe in the baptism of infants, and in fact promised the kingdom of heaven to children who had not been baptized. Later, St. Augustine retracted what he had said, but he was not alone among church fathers in rejecting the idea of infant baptism. However, as decades elapsed, the doctrine of original sin became firmly entrenched in church circles, and at a time of high infant mortality rates, most church fathers saw no other solution than to baptize infants soon after birth. Compared with the changing attitudes among early church fathers, Mormon’s clear rejection of infant baptism is all the more striking. (See Echoes, 445–449.) In this context, it is instructive that a document published April 20, 2007, by the International Theological Commission, which acts as an advisory body to the Vatican, took issue with the traditional understanding of the concept of “limbo” as a place for unbaptized children and argued instead “that there was good reason to hope unbaptized babies who die go to heaven” (Catholic News Service, April 25, 2007).

Commentaries and Insights on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 2

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