While reading David Engelsma's The Covenant of God and the Children of Believers, I have come across a number of quotes along these lines:
and
He is making the claim that this is was the prevailing view view within Reformed and Presbyterian churches in 2005. Can anyone speak as to whether this is currently the prevailing view in Reformed and Presbyterian churches in the US?
Some Reformed churches state this view of the little children of godly parents forthrightly: "All children are unregenerated and unsaved until they experience conversion, usually much later in life." A recent book on infant baptism, The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, makes plain that this grim view of baptiezd children is the majority opinion in Reformed and Presbyterian churches. The contributors represent a wide spectrum of Reformed and Presbyterian churches. Almost all of the writers teach that the baptized infants of godly parents are merely outwardly in the covenant. They are not saved, are not to be viewed as saved, and are not to be reared as saved. The covenant promise of God and the covenant sign and seal merely put them in a favorable position to be saved by their own act of conversion at a later time.
and
The prevailing view forbids believing parents to view their children as regenerated... Often, the prevailing view denies that eternal election determines the salvation of the children of believing parents in the covenant. The prevailing doctrine strongly objects to the parents' allowing election to form their view of, and approach to, their children.
He is making the claim that this is was the prevailing view view within Reformed and Presbyterian churches in 2005. Can anyone speak as to whether this is currently the prevailing view in Reformed and Presbyterian churches in the US?