Don't congratulate me too much yet. I'm a Baptist of more than a half century vintage. Don't bet the farm on a "paradigm shift" before its time. Unfortunately, we all tend to assume many of our childhood beliefs and protect them with cartoonish caricatures of our opponents positions. Listening to the program Steve Kellam recommended was an epiphany for me. Finally (31 years after seminary graduation), I got the logic of the paedo position.
Several issues are nibbling at the corners of my brain . . .
1. The paedo interpretation makes sense of Jesus' baptism (to fulfill all righteousness), the warnings in Heb 6, 10, and meaning of parables (e.g., the Dragnet) better than I had thought possible.
Steve Butts captures the sense when he writes:
Quote:
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For me, a lot of Scripture that I had viewed as disconnected began to interlock, fall into place, and make more sense.
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2. As a Calvinist you have only two viable alternatives: Dispensationalism (e.g., MacArthur) or Amillennialism/Postmillennialism. Once you see a blurring of the distinction between Israel and the Church in the NT and begin to interpret the OT in light of the NT, Amillennialism (or Postmillennialism) becomes almost inevitable. And, if you begin to look at the Bible in terms of continuities rather than discontinuities, infant baptism would seem to be the most logical conclusion.
3. New insights into theology may be correct, however, the burden falls upon the one with the novel view not the one holding the traditional postion. The church followed infant bapism for nearly 1,600 years before those of us Baptists "discovered" credo baptism and regenerate membership. Shouldn't we bear the burden of explaining why our view is more biblical?
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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)
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