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Many churches do not practice infant baptisms, because they believe that in the Bible baptism is taught to be something done after a person chooses to follow Christ.
As an alternative, many of those churches practice "baby
dedications". A baby dedication is not a baptism (there is no water
involved). It's more like a public pledge by the parents to raise their
babies in the Lord.
The most usual passage cited is:
1 Samuel 1:11 (HCSB)
11
Making a vow, she pleaded, “LORD of Hosts, if You will
take notice of Your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me,
and give Your servant a son, I will give him to the LORD all the days of
his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
1 Samuel 1:23-28 (HCSB)
23
Her husband Elkanah replied, “Do what you think is best,
and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May the LORD confirm your word.”
So Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24
When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, as well as a
three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a jar of wine. Though
the boy was still young, she took him to the LORD’s house at Shiloh. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
26
“Please, my lord,” she said, “as sure as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27 I prayed for this boy, and since the LORD gave me what I asked Him for, 28 I now give the boy to the LORD. For as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.” Then he bowed in worship to the LORD there.
Personally, I don't know of anyone who dedicates their child to the
LORD as completely as Hannah did. Another commonly referenced passage
is Luke 2 when Jesus is brought to the temple. Again, the form of the
dedication is not followed since it was following the Jewish
circumcision ritual and the command about the firstborn:
Exodus 13:2 (HCSB)
2
“Consecrate every firstborn male to Me, the firstborn
from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it
is Mine.”
Another example that seems more applicable is:
Mark 10:13-16 (HCSB)
13
Some people were bringing little children to Him so He might touch them, but His disciples rebuked them. 14
When Jesus saw it, He was indignant and said to them, “Let the little
children come to Me. Don’t stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these. 15 I assure you: Whoever does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16 After taking them in His arms, He laid His hands on them and blessed them.
By implication, even infants are part of the kingdom of God if their parents bring them before Jesus.
Historically, the purpose of the dedication is to replace some of the
rituals and ceremonies of baptism when Protestants began to reject the
notion of baptizing infants. In the Evangelical Covenant Church, newborns are either baptized or dedicated depending on the preference and conviction of the parents. The only substantive difference is that water and the names of the
Trinity are required for baptism. Everything else proceeds on the same
lines either way. (I remember one pastor getting to the bit in the
liturgy when the baptism might occur and asking the parent, "So we
aren't baptizing [name of child here] today, are we? Just making sure.
I think we can find some water.")
Dedication turns out to be more about the relationship between the
child, the parents, and the church than between the child and God. The
parents dedicate themselves to raising a Godly child and the church
congregation dedicates itself to assisting the parents in that endeavor.
Summary
There is no specific command to dedicate children in the Bible.
However, Jesus does say that children are part of His kingdom and so
many churches have instituted public ceremonies to introduce newborn
into the body of believers.
CREDIT: christianity.stakexchange.com
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