Baptism

Marlin Jeschke, (Believers' Baptism for Children of the Church (Scottdale,
1983) explains this position of the Credo-baptists thus: "The New Testament
pattern for the baptism of adult converts entering the messianic community
from a fallen world cannot be applied in the same way to the children of the
church, who should be expected to grow up under the nurture and influence of
the Christian community and should not be expected to have the radical
conversion of their first-generation ancestors. Their experience will rather be
one of appropriation and ownership of the faith in which they have been
raised." Jeschke argued for a new perspective on this issue to redefine baptism
as an act to " move children from [their childhood] innocence to the Christian
way in adolescence" and to baptize them at this point in their lives " as a sign
of their crossing-over from innocence into an owned faith"
Thus we see that the actual believer’s baptism is nothing but a confirmation of
the spiritual experience of the child. which corresponds to Barmitzvah of the
Jews. But Barmitzvah ritual was not necessary for the person to be a full
communicant of the Judaic Community. "A child may have many significant
religious experiences before the age of accountability, such as finding security
by trust in Christ, experiencing a sense of forgiveness for his wrong acts, and
enjoying private, family, and church worship and prayer." The Nurture and
Evangelism of Children (Mennonite Church, 1955 a CMEO Source
Document, The Nurture and Evangelism of Children A Statement Adopted by
Mennonite General Conference, August 26, 1955).
""By its very nature, the voluntaristic character of a believers church is valid
only for one generation and must be repeatedly renewed as the faith is
transmitted to the next generation. The problem is that the fervency and
diligence of the first generation is seldom equaled by the succeeding
generations. In order to bring the children of the voluntary members of any
given generation into conformity with the normative vision, they are usually
programmed by an educational process to make their own commitments
preparatory to baptism. Communal and peer-group pressures to conform set in,
and the corresponding parental or congregational obligations to guide them
through the "rite of passage" seem to be most applicable at the lowest possible
age of discretion." (Marlin Jeschke, Believers' Baptism for Children of the
Church , Scottdale, 1983)
Thus we see that believer’s baptism is not the biblical baptism as defined in
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