Easy Believism at VBS

I stumbled upon a church who was sharing their excitement about almost 400 children making decisions to make Jesus their Forever Friend at Vacation Bible School (VBS). Almost 60 of these children then went through a baptism class to be baptized. What startles me about telling children to make Jesus their Forever friend is that this language is not found in Scripture. I understand the desire for sinners to be saved. I want children to know Jesus as well; however, we must be sure that they understand the gospel before we treat them like Christians. If we tell children that “Jesus is their forever friend because they accepted Him” and this language is not in the Bible, then we just lied to these children. The sad reality is that Jesus can be your “forever friend” and you still go to hell. If children do not repent and believe in Christ, believing He lived and died to forgive them of their sins and rose from the dead to bring them into right relationship with God, they’re not Christians. Consider the words of Christ, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). Does that sound like a “typical friendship,” especially like the friendships children currently understand? Not in the least.

What is missing from “asking Jesus to be your forever friend?”  Continue at Jared Moore

Should We Baptize Small Children? Yes

The question among Baptists over whether to baptize small children is sensitive, and I’ve gone back and forth on it. There are several pastoral difficulties, and parents face many questions that they don’t often feel equipped to answer. Local churches who take conversion and church membership seriously have often taken a more conservative stance by implementing a certain age (say, 10, 15, or 18) before baptizing a child in order to guard against giving a young child false assurance or baptizing someone who isn’t truly converted.

Trevin Wax recently brought up the question and makes the case that “there is wisdom in delaying baptism for young children” (emphasis mine). He follows the lead of W.A. Criswell, who “encouraged and affirmed childhood decisions for Christ, but postponed baptism until a child was around 10 years of age.” So if your child professes faith at 6, the encouragement would be to wait until 10 to finally baptize him. Some churches wait longer, even until the child is out from under the direct influence and authority of parents. Keep Reading>>>

What is “easy-believism”?