by Fr. John Hainsworth About What Happens to the Child in Baptism IS BAPTISM JUST A SIGN? Everything I have said assumes that baptism is more than just an outward expression of an inward acceptance of Christ. Of course, baptism is an outward expression in that physical hands are laid on a physical person and […]
Will Unbaptized Children Go To Hell if they Die?
September 27, 2015 By
by Fr. John Hainsworth Often on the heart and mind – will unbaptized children go to hell? No. The Orthodox Church does not believe that children are born guilty of Adam’s sin and that unless freed of that guilt through baptism and communion they will die without God’s mercy. Such a notion is pernicious both […]
Baptism: But Children Don’t Understand the Faith!
September 26, 2015 By
by Fr. John Hainsworth Children don’t understand the faith – does that make them ‘second class citizens’ of the Body of Christ – is that a reason not to baptism them into the Church? The assumption behind this objection to infant baptism, one which did not exist in the early Church or in the centuries […]
Infant Baptism in the Orthodox Church
September 24, 2015 By
by Fr. John Hainsworth On Infant Baptism in the Orthodox Church. This excellent extended article will be presented in six installments. Every night my family gathers around the dinner table. We pray, dish out the food, laugh, argue, and ask and answer questions. The scene is sometimes chaotic, sometimes serious, sometimes silly, but this scene […]
