Important information about baptism

As a Catholic I belong to the Church founded by Jesus Christ that has its roots firmly in both the Apostolic tradition and lineage and also in the word as given to the Israelites by God. Growing up I was very surprised that not only were many Christians incorrect in their Biblical understanding and lax in their obedience to the Lord but that they expressed calumny and insults toward Catholics. An example is the subject of infant baptism. Here I will point you to the scripture that specifies that infants were born of the water in ancient Israel in order to distinguish them from the pagans. It is from the ancient Israelite practice of infant baptism that John the Baptist drew in order to do his baptism, which was a renewal of baptism, not a new invention for adults.

Ezechiel 16: 1-5

Thus the word of the Lord came to me: 2. Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations:

[My comment. The Lord is angry at the Israelites and is instructing Ezechiel to basically yell at them on the Lord's behalf. What follows is the words that the Lord puts in the mouth of Ezechiel to say.]

3. Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: By origin and birth you are of the land of Chanaan; your father was an Amorrite and your mother a Hethite.

[My comment. The Lord is basically opening up his statement by insulting the Israelites. He is accusing them of being of pagan parents. The Lord is saying that instead of being Israelites born and bred they might as well think of themselves as having a father from one non-Israelite pagan tribe, the Amorrites, and having a Hethite pagan mother. What he literally means is that the Israelites have absorbed pagan belief and practices from the land they live in and the pagan tribes that they live among. He is now going to cite proof of this accusation.]

4. As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were neither washed with water nor anointed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swaddled in swaddling clothes.

[My comment. Um, *cough.* The first example of how to distinguish an Israelite from a pagan that is cited by God himself is that the pagan has an uncut navel cord, is not washed with water, is not anointed with oil, is not rubbed with salt, and is not swaddled in swaddling clothes. So through this accusation God preserves in the Old Testament a description of what a newborn Israelite should experience. An infant is to have navel cord cut, be washed with water, anointed, rubbed with salt, and swaddled in swaddling clothes (in other words, not redressed in the birth blanket but given new birth clothes). You know, like a christening gown is used today? Um, even without providing a picture you could not have a clearer description from the Lord God himself that Israelite babies were baptized immediately upon birth, and that this "washing" and "anointing" distinguished them from the pagans. No one in their right mind "waited" to do adult baptism.]

5. No one looked on you with pity or compassion to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome the day you were born.

[My comment. Gosh, isn't that clear? God is not saying that it's good hygiene to give a good scrub a dub to a newborn baby. He is stating that if the baby is not cut in navel, "washed, anointed and rubbed" followed by swaddling, then he is treated as if he is garbage and an abomination. In other words, the baby that is not "baptized" is left by negligent parents to be considered garbage and not an Israelite.]

The next three lines of scripture relates how this un-baptized infant would be left weltering in its own blood, living wild in the field, naked until adulthood, at which point the Lord rescues through love the child that has grown outside the community as an adult. This is both a metaphor and literal description. The Lord now describes in theory doing to the adult what should have been done as a newborn Israelite. So here the Lord is not describing a literal "if you missed your birth baptism by your parents you can get an adult baptism from me." The Lord is describing the literal infant "washing, anointing, rubbing and swaddling" that all, even these fallen away, Jewish infants would have received. He is being symbolic in describing what comes next as to how he can claim for his own through an adult washing, anointing and "clothing."

8. Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love. So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness; I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you; you became mine, says the Lord God. 9. Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil. 10. I clothed you with an embroidered gown, put sandals of fine leather on your feet; I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear.

You see, while the Lord God is speaking of how Israel has fallen away as a whole into idolatry, God is using a literal description of the accepted rites of the time. Thus we have definitive proof in the words of the Lord God himself that during the time of Ezechiel (the exile to Babylon with one specific date in Ezechiel identified as being in the year 593 B.C.) the Israelites baptized their babies on birth simultaneously after the cutting of the navel cord. It is not a simple washing up of the baby because the word "anointing" is used, and swaddling clothes are given to the baby after being born of the water, anointed and rubbed with salt. This was a baptism ritual that identified the baby as being an Israelite. Those who "missed the chance" and grew up as a pagan (unbaptized) have a chance to be baptized as an adult by grace (not merit) of God's love for the unbaptized person. This extensive detailed passage, while not intended as a baptismal instruction, could not be clearer.

The Lord God specifies the lack of baptism of the newborn child as the means by which he insults the fallen away audience of Ezechiel's scolding. God does not have Ezechiel rip into them by mentioning their unholy and pagan practices and lapses in adult faith. He used the analogy of the baptism of the newborn baby into the Israelite community as the way to characterize their lack of obedience, saying "You act as though you were never baptized as an Israelite as a baby."

I really don't know how any "Christian" can criticize Catholics for practicing infant baptism since that is clearly the distinguishing ritual of the newborn Israelite baby specifically documented here as early as six hundred years before Christ was born! That's "where St. John the Baptist got the idea from." St. John the Baptist was recognizing that the people had again fallen away, even as they were continuing to baptize infants they were not living as consecrated-to-God Israelites. Hence St. John the Baptist started a ritual of adult baptism to REMIND people of the baptism they had received as the newborn infant and what it meant. St. John the Baptist was NOT "inventing adult baptism." All Jewish babies, including Jesus, would have had their navel cord cut and then immediately be brought into the community (baptized) by being "washed" "anointed" "rubbed" and "swaddled." Remember when Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes? Why do you think that was important enough to mention in the Gospel? The angel appears and declares to the shepherds:

Luke 2: 12

And this shall be a sign to you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

Why would an angel mention the swaddling clothes? Because the swaddling clothes indicated a Jewish newborn infant, not a pagan newborn infant. Mary would have cut his cord, washed, anointed and rubbed him with salt first and then swaddled him. Jesus, in other words, would have been "baptized" by his parents at birth just as all the other Jewish infants were, as God himself states in Ezechiel, for the centuries before to distinguish themselves from the pagans and that they are through, yes, call it what it is, this "sacrament," being "baptized" into the community of Israelites FROM BIRTH.

I really was shocked and discouraged when I realized that there is such poor Biblical scholarship (usually among those who proclaim it loudest) that God's own explicit words on this subject are not noticed.

I hope this helps. Gosh, reading the Bible accurately cannot hurt can it? Only false accusations and ignorance hurt. Folks ought to be grateful to the Catholics; we even keep the swaddling "new clothes" through the christening gown!