What If a Parent Prohibits their Child's Baptism?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Romans 13

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--what-if-a-parent-prohibits-their-childs-baptism
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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The short answer is I think we need to obtain uh parental consent to baptize a minor. Now there's a conflict of values you might say. On the one hand we do believe baptism is part of salvation and so we're concerned if somebody isn't baptized they're not going to be saved.

On the other hand we do respect the right parents and we respect the government. So let's look at that point first. First of all, we do um respect parental rights. That's clear in the Bible that children should obey their parents. And there's a related principle. Jesus gave us the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So, let's say we're a parent and and let's say uh our child is spending the night with a Hindu friend or a Catholic friend or a Mormon friend or a pagan friend. If we found out they were secretly initiated into a Wiccan right or taken to worship at a Hindu temple and consecrated to a Hindu deity or baptized into the Roman Catholic Church or the Mormon church, would we say, you know, that's the child, that's a child's choice and you know, they think that's what they need to be saved, so who am I?

No, we would say that's wrong. You violated my parental rights. And we might even sue. But logically speaking, if we're going to insist on that, it's a little presumptuous and arrogant to say, "But we don't want any other parent to have that right." I guess the only justification because we're right and they're wrong. But but you could see how problemat problematic that is. That would lead to destruction of all of our rights. And then Romans 13 does say government has a proper role in protecting society and we should obey the government when it's fulfilling its proper role. So the laws of the land would also give parental rights and again if we didn't have those laws of the lands we wouldn't have rights.

So I think on balance the the idea of respecting parental rights which are stated in scripture respecting uh wanting our own rights to be recognized as equally as others and respecting the government governmental authority the law of the land all those should say we need the consent of the parent. Now let's look at the other side. What about that child's salvation? Well, that brings up questions that ultimately leave in the hands of God. But in principle, if somebody wanted to be baptized, if somebody refused to be baptized, it's easy to say, well, you know, you are refusing part of salvation, so your judgment be upon your own head.

But what if somebody says, "I really want to be baptized." And they're prevented from things beyond their means. I don't want to make a doctrine out of it. I don't want to make a doctrine out of exceptions, but the Bible does say God counts those things uh with that are not as though they are. In other words, God can look in the future and see what if and act on that basis. In fact, all the people saved in the Old Testament were saved from the basis of Calvary even though it hadn't happened yet. Uh though God counts those things which are not yet as though they are.

That's what I'm trying to say. U so could it be that God would say the person wanted to be baptized but they're prevented from circumstances beyond their control our account their intention as fulfilled. So for example this is not theoretical it's actual. There was a couple that had received the Holy Spirit. They were being taught a Bible study by a UPCI pastor and they called him to say we're ready to be baptized. And so as they were traveling to the place of baptism, they were killed in a car wreck. Now, could God have treated their intention as fulfilled? I'll leave that in God's hands. I won't make a doctrinal exception to say baptism isn't necessary.

But I think most of us when faced with that kind of question would say we leave that in God's hands. I'll give you another actual example. Uh a UPCI pastor had a small boy uh who had a degenerative disease. I can't remember now. I think it might have been uh muscular distrophy or or but anyway, he was on his deathbed. They prayed with him. He received the Holy Spirit and he died. So, we would probably say even if he hadn't received the spirit, he's probably under the age of accountability. But since he received the Holy Spirit, we know he was capable of it. And and that's another subject, but I would say there is some age of accountability for every person.

They have to be old enough to understand sin, repentance, salvation, etc. And I do believe that a a child raised in an Christian environment might well receive the Holy Spirit even before that age of accountability where they would be held in judgment. So we might say that little child was accepted by God even if he hadn't received the spirit. But by receiving the spirit, we do recognize he had some ability to understand in a positive sense. Uh although I'm not saying that there would be judgment in negative sense. So, are we saying that child is going to hell when when he couldn't be baptized? Or can we leave that in the hands of God?

Again, I'm not willing to make a doctrinal exception that is universal or that would undercut our teaching on baptism, but I'm willing to say in certain cases, we just have to leave that in God's hands. So, the case we're really concerned about is a child who's truly repented of their sins. So, that would be first of all, uh, and then they truly want to be baptized. They're prevented from being baptized. Well, in mo 99% of the cases, they grow to adulthood and if they still want to be baptized, we baptize them. So, that solves the problem. So, what we're really concerned about is maybe the 1,000th of a case where the child dies.

Well, maybe that's more like the examples I gave. I think we could trust the grace of God. So, my practical answer is seek parental sin. If that's absolutely not forthcoming, then you continue to work with that child until they're an adult and you pray for a miracle. We God could change the parents heart. God could remove the obstacle and probably you would only need one parent's consent. So if they're divorced or whatever the case may be, you never know what's going to happen. So we're not trying to make anything happen. But you I think it's more reasonable to say, "Okay, we're going to follow the law.

We're going to uphold parental rights even as we want our rights to be upheld. But we're going to pray for God's grace and God's intervention so that either God does a miracle to change the circumstances so we can baptize the child legally with proper consent or the child grows to adulthood and is able to do so. Um, and then we trust God. If there's going to be the very rare case of the child suddenly dies, we just put them in God's hand and we trust that God's grace uh has a plan for them.