My new (possibly heretical) view of water Baptism

Another baptism post from the Moehrings. . . I wrote my defense for not baptizing or dedicating our children here: No Dedication and Nate wrote his defense for being rebaptized here: Rebaptise. Nate’s decision to rebaptize caused quite a stir in our household. Until that point we had agreed on everything that had any shred of importance to us. Now we have agreed to disagree and I have continued to think about this subject, which brings me to this post.

My new train of thought is that water baptism is not necessary at all for children born and raised in a Christian home. The baptism of the holy spirit ( think Pentecost) is a whole different subject and not included in this post.

This is my understanding of water baptism during the time of Jesus.
1) There was the type of baptism that John the Baptist was performing which was a ritual to cleanse you from your sins (necessary because Jesus had not yet died as a sacrifice for you and also used to point people toward the time that Jesus would come). I believe this type of baptism is no longer necessary however, I can see a use for it as symbolic and wouldn’t stand in the way of anyone that wanted to be baptized in this manner.

2) There was also a water baptism ritual performed if you wanted to convert to the Jewish custom and culture. I believe it was a fairly intense “cleansing” ritual similar to the 7 day cleansing period for women after their cycle. Necessary to “shed” your past life and religious activities and prepare for a life of a Jew. However, it is my understanding that Jewish children did not have to undergo this ceremony. If you were born into a Jewish family, you are a Jew unless you decide to defect and follow some other religion. Jewish children participate in other rituals that a strictly Jewish, but not necessary in order to be considered part of the nation.

Now we get to the part where Jesus tells the disciples to go out into the world and baptize the nations . . . Why did he do that? Because everyone in that time was either Jewish or non-Jewish (Gentile), there were no “Christians” yet. Thus, EVERYONE needed to be converted. How better to convert than to use a custom that is already established in the Jewish culture, a water baptism? This is why we have multiple records of “whole households” being baptized (this includes children). As far as I can tell, the disciples were water baptized by John the Baptist, and performed water baptism similar to John the Baptist, but there is no biblical record of them being water baptized in the name of Jesus. Why would they need to be? They had already been “Christians”, Christ’s followers, by being his disciples. There is record of Paul being told to be baptized by Ananias, which I assume he did. Water baptism after Christ’s resurrection was a symbol of “converting” to Christianity and following Christ. In some parts of the world today where Christians are persecuted, people can go to church, attend bible study, and do all sorts of “Christian things”, but the day they get baptized is the day they become persecuted, because it is the symbol of conversion or rejecting your current belief system.

Back to my children, they don’t need to be converted. They are already Christian. They, in fact, are also already “holy” according to this verse: “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” (1 Cor. 7:14).” They will have to make a conscience choice to follow, or not to follow, Jesus someday (hopefully sooner rather than later). If they choose instead to align themselves with some other religion, and then try to come back, then I would ask them to be baptized as an act of cleansing/converting. I’ll stand on this verse to try to avoid that case: “Proverbs 22:6 – Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”