Peter Leithart believes that baptism is the ground for Christian education. I agree with him. But when it comes to whose baptism, I think it can be demonstrated that he departs from the biblical pattern.
If you are a regular reader, you will have some idea of how I feel about the practice of paedobaptism. But that is only half the story. I have just as much distaste for “baptist” Christianity without a spine. I myself need a Church with a spine, a Church full of grace and light because vows are not only made by baptizands but also understood.
I believe baptists get the “vow” part right, but neglect solid accountability to that vow. Paedobaptists, on the other hand, get the accountability right, but allow the priestly vow to be taken by proxy. This is why I have used the analogy of knighthood to describe New Covenant baptism. Although paedobaptism truncates the New Covenant “boundary,” I’m in agreement with my Federal Vision friends on just about everything else.
So, with that understanding, here is a guest post by a reader, Sarah Culbertson, who, like me, has learned a great deal from the Douglas Wilson camp, where the “front end” of the Christian vow is skewed but the “back end” is right on target.
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“Truly, truly, I say to you, (Transcendence)the Son can do nothing of his own accord, (Hierarchy)but only what he sees the Father doing. (Ethics)For whatever the Father does, (Oath/Sanctions)that the Son does likewise.” (Succession)(John 5:19)
The premise that the entire text of the Bible has a common structure, one which operates at multiple levels, has many implications. Besides the fact that this is clearly a miracle, there is the question of why such a limitation would be placed upon the Words of God.
This post has been slain and resurrected for inclusion in my 2015 book of essays, Inquietude.
Alastair Roberts has some wise things to say about rational public debate on important issues being hampered by the new culture of “tolerance.” Of special interest to me are his observations concerning the nature of the recent spat involving Doug Wilson, Jared Wilson and Rachel Held Evans. I have had similar experiences in online discussions. I’m relying on and presenting facts and somehow the other side is irate that facts are being presented. And the fact-free, vitriolic, ad hominem comebacks would make my hair curl if I had any.
Blogger Kiersten writes:
Good books wound the reader. Great books leave scars that the reader will carry and revisit throughout life, and that is precisely why we have chosen to allow our children to begin to bear these wounds while they are relatively young.
If there is a God, and there is, then atheism did not free our thinking. Atheism has a closed mind concerning anything beyond its own nose. Thus, rather than furthering the cause of science, it is more likely that it has a stranglehold on it.
The gifted minds of the new atheists were gifts from Christianity. As the Spirit of God vacates Western Culture, so does the “Word.” Our children become confused, illiterate, and incapable of logical thought. According to Bojidar Marinov, we are already seeing atheism’s effects in the field of mathematics.
Filmmaker Darren Doane (“Collision” www.collisionmovie.com) reviews Mike Bull’s Bible Matrix: An Introduction to the DNA of the Scriptures, and then lets a 12 year old Veritas Hall student explain the basics for the grownups.
“We have been using your Bible Matrix book during our time of staff training and it has proven to be a huge blessing and is reshaping the way we think as both a staff and school. Thank you.”
Dennis Deutsch
Veritas Hall
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Many atheists think it is their void-given right to make disrespectful, insulting or condescending remarks about religion. One I have heard a number of times is a common atheist response to “Your atheism is a religion”: If religion were a hair colour, then I am bald.
Bible Matrix blog
