The reason why Roman Catholics baptize babies is because they have a false doctrine called
original sin.
Now a lot of people that are Bible believing Christians, Baptists, Evangelicals would say
well original sin is a true doctrine, that's a biblical doctrine.
That's just because you don't really understand what the Catholics mean when they say original
sin.
What the Bible teaches is that because Adam sinned, we all inherited the sin nature, meaning
that because Adam was a sinner and we descend from Adam, we have the tendency to sin.
We all sin.
Naturally, we sin.
That's what we would often mean, and some people use the term original sin to mean that.
But you shouldn't use the term original sin.
That's a Catholic term and that's not what it means.
It means something else.
So of course we know that Adam sinned and because of that we're all sinners.
Of course that's the truth but that is not what the doctrine of original sin teaches.
Now look if you would at the Bible here in Romans chapter 5.
It says in verse 12, "Wherefore is by one man sin entered into the world," talking about
Adam, "and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned."
And that is the key phrase, for that all have sinned.
Now for means because.
So the Bible is saying by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death
passed upon all men.
Now if we just stop there, you'd have the Catholic doctrine of original sin.
What they teach is that we are responsible for the sin that Adam committed.
We're punished.
That sin is held against us.
Now that is false.
God does not hold Adam's sin against me.
I'm not punished for Adam's sin.
And so here it makes it clear that the reason that death passed upon all men is not simply
just because Adam sinned, but it's because all have sinned.
You see that?
Death passed upon all men because all have sinned.
And just because we inherited our sin nature from Adam, we became sinners, but that doesn't
mean we're being punished for what he did.
We would only ever be punished by God for what we ourselves have done, not for what
Adam did thousands of years ago in the Garden of Eden.
Now the reason that this is so important is that the Roman Catholics, this is the reason
why they feel that they have to baptize babies.
Because Catholics will admit the common sense that a newborn baby is not really capable
of sinning.
Because, you know, can a newborn baby commit adultery or murder or steal or take the name
of God in vain or make a graven image?
Obviously, a newborn baby is incapable of committing sin.
But the Catholic Church teaches, well, baptism washes away your sins.
They don't believe in justification by faith alone.
They believe that baptism washes away your sins.
So you'd think to yourself, well, then why baptize a baby then?
They say, well, even though this baby has not sinned on its own, we have to wash away
the original sin.
Does everybody see where they're going with this?
Because Adam sinned, we have to wash away that original sin.
And they say that if that baby dies without being baptized, it's going to go to hell.
Now this is a false doctrine.
There are many scriptures in the Bible that teach that a baby will go to heaven when it
dies.
It's a newborn baby, and it doesn't even understand, and it doesn't even have sin in its life.
It will go to heaven.
That's another sermon.
There's plenty of scripture to teach that before a certain age, obviously, a child is
not held responsible for receiving Christ as Savior before it can even understand any
of these concepts or even commit sin.
But listen to what they say on -- I've got some stuff from the Vatican's website, and
I've got some stuff from Catholic.com, so this is out of the horse's mouth, okay?
Here's from Catholic.com.
The Catholic Church has always understood baptism differently, meaning differently than
people who actually believe the Bible, teaching that it is a sacrament which accomplishes
several things, the first of which is the remission of sin, both original sin and actual
sin -- only original sin in the case of infants and young children, since they are incapable
of actual sin and both original and actual sin in the case of older persons.
So they're coming right out and saying, "Well, the baby hasn't sinned, but yet it needs to
be baptized so we can wash away the original sin, Adam's sin," which is a totally made-up
false doctrine.
Here's from their catechism on the Vatican website, .1250 says, "Born with a fallen
human nature," I agree with that, "and tainted by original sin." That's their false idea
that they put on there.
"Children also have need of the new birth in baptism." So they teach that born again,
oh that's being baptized, false. He says, "They also have need of the new birth in baptism
to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the
children of God to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation
is particularly manifest in infant baptism." No, it's actually particularly manifest when
you teach that salvation is by believing, by faith. Then you see how free it is when
you just confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has
raised him from the dead. "Thou shalt be saved." So they're saying, "Oh, well we believe baptism,
we believe salvation is free. Just look at our teaching on infant baptism." Right, but
they teach that you have to continue and do all the other works also. That not even that's
enough. "The church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming
a child of God were they not to confer baptism shortly after birth." Do you see that? According
to the Catholics, if you don't baptize your baby, which is taught nowhere in the Bible,
you're denying them being a child of God. You're stopping them from being a child of
God. They can't be a child of God. They don't have access to the grace of God. This is from
the Vatican's own website. So according to them, salvation is putting water on a baby's
head. According to the Bible, in what, 20 or 30 verses that we just read, it's based
on whether or not a person believes on Christ. And parents don't have any control over that.
The church doesn't have any control over that. That's a personal decision made in your own
heart. Here's what they say in point 1263, "By baptism all sins are forgiven, original
sin and all personal sins as well as all punishment for sin. In those who have been reborn, nothing
remains that would impede their entry into the kingdom of God. Neither Adam's sin nor
personal sin nor the consequences of sin, the gravest of which is separation from God."
So we see very clearly that when they say original sin, they don't mean what you thought
that they meant. If you say, "Well, that's a biblical doctrine." No, no, no. They're
not saying that you have a sin nature. They're saying you are held responsible for Adam's
sin. And we've got to get rid of that through baby baptism. It's garbage. Let's look at
it in Romans 5 and see how it falls apart. This doctrine of original sin, it's a false
doctrine. Look at verse 12, "Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and
death by sin. And so death passed upon all men." Why? "For that all have sinned." That's
why. That's the part they're not getting. Verse 13, "For until the law, sin was in the
world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam
to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,
who is the figure of him that was to come." Now, verse 14 is often misunderstood, saying,
"Well, these people didn't sin. It wasn't imputed unto them, but death still reigned."
No, no, no. It says they didn't sin after the similitude of Adam's transgression. They
still sinned. They committed other sins. They just didn't sin in the same way that Adam
sinned. Verse 15, "But not as the offense, so also as the free gift. For if through the
offense of one, Adam, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which
is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned,
so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation. But the free gift is of many
offenses unto justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more
they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life
by one Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification
of life. You say, well no, it was just by one man's offense, you know, that death came
upon all men. But keep reading, look at verse 19. For as by one man's disobedience, watch
this, this is the key, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous. So clearly the reason why death comes upon us based on Adam's sin is that
we were made sinners. For that all have sinned. That's why death passed upon all men. Not
death upon us because of what Adam did, even if we don't sin, even if we're a newborn baby.
I mean, it's a weird doctrine, but I'll prove it to you further from the book of Romans.
Go to chapter seven. Look what Romans seven teaches beginning in verse number seven. What
shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. "Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.
For I had not known lust, except the law had said thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence." Watch this.
"For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once. But when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was ordained to
life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and
by it slew me." Now notice what he clearly says in verse 9 here. "I was alive without
the law once. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Is he saying, "I
was born into this world, completely dead in trespasses and sins." Is that what he's
saying? No. Before he was old enough to know what lust even was. Before he was old enough
to even know thou shalt not covet, to even know what sin was, when he was born into this
world he was alive, spiritually. Then once he sinned, then once he understood the law
of God and that he was breaking God's law and sinning, then the Bible says that's when
he died spiritually. And then obviously when he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, he was
quickened and made alive in Christ. You see, Adam was told in the Garden of Eden that in
the day he ate of that forbidden fruit that he would surely die. And if you remember when
Adam took that fruit in the Garden of Eden, did he die physically that day? No. But spiritually
he died. His spirit died. And it's the same thing with us. When we commit sin, personally,
ourselves, our spirit dies. When we get to the age where we're capable of understanding
that and willfully committing a sin and doing something against God's law, at that point
our spirit dies. Then when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that spirit is quickened.
That spirit is made alive in Christ. We who were dead in trespasses and sins. This makes
perfect sense when you understand the biblical doctrine that's taught in many other places
that those who die in their mother's womb go straight to heaven. And those who are a
young child newborn baby go to heaven as well. It makes sense because they're alive spiritually.
It makes sense that they're names in the book of life. It makes sense that they are one
who is under grace. And really, they haven't done anything wrong at that point. They're
a baby. They're a newborn. They're an infant. But not according to the Roman Catholic Church.
They teach this doctrine of original sin that, "Hey, you better baptize that baby in our
pagan shrine or else that baby is in danger of eternal damnation because you didn't sprinkle
holy water on its head from the priest." Where does the New Testament tell us about priests
and monks and nuns and monasteries and cathedrals and archbishops and cardinals and the pope
and holy water? None of these things are mentioned anywhere in the New Testament. They're all
made up. It's all just completely made up junk that's not even in the Bible. But if
you don't participate in their made up weird ritual of sprinkling a baby's head with their
so-called holy water, you're supposedly can't even be a child of God. Look, the first ten
minutes of the sermon was just a litany of verse after verse saying that it's through
believing that we're saved, not through getting water put on your head. And how do they make
this holy water anyway? What makes it so holy? Where is that concept? The best definition
I've ever heard of how they make holy water was someone said they boil the hell out of
it.