Baby Dedications

Sometime between birth and Bible college, almost every fundamentalist youngster is dragged up before the church congregation and prayed over before they are eaten. Seriously though, the actual practice is that they are prayed over to “dedicate them to the Lord” and as a sign to the congregation that the community of the church has a responsibility to pray for this child to watch for their soul. It’s also a sign that the parents are going to maintain their sacred fundy trust by muting all the TV commercials during the evening news lest the child hear the rock music played therein and desire in his infant heart to dance which is the first step on the road to degradation.

There are a couple of different ways in which the dedication goes down. In larger churches there is often a designated Sunday or two per year where the kids are dressed up and paraded in front of the church to a chorus of “ooohs” and “aaaah” from the crowd. This is affectionately known as the “Baby Parade” and is used as a draw to get Catholic grandmas and reprobate uncles to darken the door of the fundy church in order to watch this totally symbolic action.

In smaller churches, however, baby dedications may be performed as needed on the first possible Sunday after the child is born. Unless, of course, the church has its own midwife station set up behind the church bookstore just for those people who never miss church for any reason. “It’s a boy! Quick, run him on down to the altar!” The father then crosses the goal line, high-fives the pastor, and spikes the baby in the end zone.

It’s worth noting that many paedo-baptist folks will readily recognize that this whole dedication business is in reality a “dry baptism.” There’s even a certificate. Shhhhh. Don’t tell the Baptists.

164 thoughts on “Baby Dedications”

  1. Wooohooooo!!!! I always thought this was so dumb, and a complete waste of a first comment. But now I have seen the light! I will be willing to share this testimony with all I come into contact with and leave tracts of how being first has changed my life.

    That’s all…

    1. What a beautiful testimony sister to the unbridled joy of being first. Glory!

      Now you must wait and see what kind of butt cushion Natalie will make up for you. I think she may take requests. ๐Ÿ˜†

  2. I was very happy to have my children dedicated to the Lord in front of our church. It was a meaningful time to formally introduce them to our faith community. Instead of a “dry baptism”, I like to think of it as the whole congregation being installed as informal godparents to all the children coming along. We are all responsible for nurturing and caring for the next generation, and for encouraging them in their lifelong walk of faith.

    1. “Instead of a รขโ‚ฌล“dry baptismรขโ‚ฌย, I like to think of it as the whole congregation being installed as informal godparents to all the children coming along. We are all responsible for nurturing and caring for the next generation, and for encouraging them in their lifelong walk of faith.”

      You couldn’t have chosen a better set of terms to define presbyterian infant baptism!

    2. Yes, that’s a very good description of what infant baptism means in churches that baptise infants.

    3. What gets me is the whole idea of a community helping to raise the child. Funny … but when Hillary Clinton published “It Takes A Village”, the funnymentalists lambasted her for the “whole village” idea. Yet, deep down, they DO embrace it.

      That is just ONE of the MANY hypocrisies that drive me to distraction.

      1. It does take a village to raise a child, and traditional infant baptism acknowledges this.
        If some Fundy had said “It takes a village,” fundies would love that saying.

        1. I was thinking the exact same thing. The only reason they (fundies) were so angry with Hilary was because she said it first. The fundy chuch people always think it is their job to raise everyone else’s children.

          The pastor is so vehement about telling everyone how to raise their children, and what’s wrong with everyone’s children, and it is usually his kids that are the most disrespectful and get into the most trouble. ๐Ÿ˜

      2. Not really. We want a church community to help- Hillary’s “community” meant the state.

        1. She definitely included faith groups as part of the village. Hillary Clinton is a lifelong churchgoer.

    4. Except that baptism–regardless of your idea of “mode” is strictly for beleivers only.

  3. That’s what a dry baptism is! To quote J.I. Packer…

    “The Christian nurture of baptist and paedobaptist children will be similar: dedicated to God in infancy, either by baptism or by a dedication rite (which some will see as a dry baptism), they will then be brought up to live for the Lord and led to the point of publicly professing faith on their own account in confirmation or baptism (which some will see as a wet confirmation)…The ongoing debate is not about nurture but about Godรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs way of defining the church.”

    http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer/baptism.html

      1. I thought Paedobaptists was the term for the men in the 20/20 interview! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  4. I’ve always thought that the baby dedication is just putting future pressure on the child. In addition to all the fundy rules they will grow up with, there will always be the hammer of “what’s wrong with you Johnny? The church prayed over you. It must be the Wednesday night service you missed last year when you had your tonsils taken out.”

    And just imagine the horror the parents will go through when their adult child starts one of those evil internet blogs. :mrgreen:

    1. I’ve always thought of it as them basically trying to make sure you are going to spank your child often & regularly.

      Also have always been baffled by the question in some baby baptisms & have heard it in Baptist baby dedications “Do you reject Satan” or sometimes a statement to that effect that the parents say they sign on to. I have never understood and don’t understand what it means to “reject Satan”. Baptists probably mean “don’t listen to secular music”, but couching it in a meaningless term is very very odd to me.

      1. Rob, the “reject Satan” line is actually from the Catholic/EO Redemptorist book B (longer version). The parents are asked to reject Satan, and then spit upon him (Satan, not the baby). Since baptism removes original sin in EO theology, the parents must be willing to reject Satan for it to be effective. Baptism is routinely described as an exorcism in EO literature.

        1. Ah, makes more sense in that context. I’ve definitely heard it used in a fundy dedication or two, and thought “1) that sounds Catholic”, and “2) What on earth do they mean”, cause it really makes no sense in fundy dedication theology.

        2. It sounds Catholic, because it is.
          Many other churches also have a similar phrase in the ceremony, though.

  5. Ahh.. the made-up sacraments. Gotta fill the holes that are left by throwing away sacraments.

  6. “Dry baptism” – proving that Baptists like their baby baptisms to be just like their weddings, counties, restaurants, etc.

    1. Love it! I’d never heard of dry baptisms, but after finally witnessing an infant baptism about 10 years ago, it really is the exact same.

  7. What’s this “first” nonsense all about. Is this a strange ex-fundy thing? It ruins what is otherwise a great blog.

    1. Most of us thought it was nonsense at one time, too, but just wait until you see “No Comments” beneath a post . . . one by one, we have all succumbed to the pressure :mrgreen:

    2. Ralph, back when my understanding was darkened, I too thought as you did. But as of today, I have seen the light! Just wait for your opportunity to be first, and you will understand what it all means

  8. I guess I’ve been fortunate in this regard; I’ve not been in a church that insisted on this practice; they would do it if the parents wanted. We didn’t do that with our kids. It was NOT treated as a sacrament.

    The pastor carefully explained that there is Scriptural precedence for dedicating a baby to the Lord (usually using Hannah, but I seem to recall some different parents).

    Baptism is only for those who believe, and is always given AFTER a profession of faith, per Bible example, so it isn’t correct to baptize babies — plus, it is my understanding that many churches believe that the baptism of a baby washes away original sin, or guarantees that the baby will go to heaven should it die young.

    1. I’m not interested in debating this topic, my church does it, but I didn’t have my kids baptized. I think it’s unnecessary. I’ll have to be fair that when my church does it they are very clear that it doesn’t provide salvation, it just marks the child as a “non professing member of our congregation” followed by some stuff about the covenant family etc…

      1. I has a secret… I’ve always wanted to be a Presbyterian when I grow up. But I could never swallow pedo-baptism. ๐Ÿ™ I wish I could repent and be converted.

        1. You can be a Presby without believing in infant baptism. I know this b/c that’s what I am. Resistance is futile: YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED.

          I’m also a Presby that doesn’t buy Calvinism, but that is a WHOLE ‘nother ball of wax. :mrgreen:

        2. We’re PCA and we don’t agree with infant Baptism either. You’ll be fine, our pastor knows we don’t and doesn’t care. We are however, pretty staunch Calvinists ๐Ÿ™‚

        3. I think that you could be a member of the Presbyterian Church, but not a church officer if you don’t believe in the Westminster Confession. However, I looked at the OPC moreso than the PCA.

    2. My IFB pastor father did not like infant dedications, but he did it if pushed on it. I think both paedobaptism and dedication are more for the parents, godparents and other adult church members to remind them to be praying for the parents and the child, and to encourage them to encourage one another. This only happens in church that believe we live in community.

  9. I don’t remember this being done in my church growing up. It seems to have grown in popularity in the last 20 years or so.

    My husband will do a baby dedication if parents want it, but doesn’t insist on it.

  10. Alays thought the dedication was useless but that was reinforced when a year after my son was dedicated we came back to the area for a wedding and the same ifb space cowboy saw us and said”i heard you guys had a baby” to which I replied to him we had him before we moved away and you did his dedication….glad you covered him with prayer. Of course what did i expect this is the same church who didnt have a baby shower for my son because he is adopted!!! Thank God everyday to be out a false religion and now doing more for the cause then before.

  11. Of course my former mog used these as an opportunity to beat up on the Catholics and blabber on about how we were NOT baptising an infant, thereby offending the few Catholic guests we may have had on those days.

    1. Yes, our pastor did the same thing. Because our community has a very high Catholic population, there were always Catholic relatives who attended the dedication services. Of course, “the offense was warranted because the gospel was being preached.” Nothing like winning someone over by ticking them off first.

  12. Hey! You’re messing with the mommies on here who loved having their babies recognized. ๐Ÿ˜•

    Actually, my husband and I took it seriously. But I totally get your humorous take on it. ๐Ÿ˜€

  13. Is this photo really from a fundy church? These gals have rather low necklines on those dresses, don’tcha think? The mom on the right has made an attempt at raising the level, but that white inset seems more like an arrow point. The Neckline Nazi must have been sick that Sunday.

    1. You’re right. She’d be ostracized in the IFBx churches, but there are a lot of IFB churches that give folks a slide on nearly everything as long as 1) they don’t listen to CCM and they 2) isolate themselves from evangelicals.

      I’m amused by the folks in a nearby IFB church that go to movies and let women wear pants (at least during the week, although probably not to church) and the guys have facial hair now, but they still look down on any Christians who enjoy praise and worship music.

    2. but the guys do have there white shirts and ties a fundy staple!!! And they all look so happy to be in church this sunday too ๐Ÿ˜†

    3. I think it’s actually an SBC church. I’d now like to repent in dust and ashes for the attempted deception.

      1. Duh! It was obvious to anyone who knows anything. A real fundamentalist pastor would have insisted that these harlots where more clothes. And that the men whore suit coats.

        1. Wait, they have low necklines for a purpose. It is so the pastor (father?) can get a peek at the chest while ministering from above. There is a reason for everything in the ifb church.

      2. I know I’m late on this (just clicked over from slacktivist and paging through the archives) but if the look of the sanctuary is any indication this church is so ridiculously SBC, I thought it was my old church and about had a panic attack. The communion table is exactly the same and the chairs used to be that color. If I hadn’t noticed the piano was the wrong color I’d probably think it WAS my old church.

    4. Yes, its from a fundie church, because most of the people are overweight. Can you imagine how much worst the problem would be if Chick-Fil-A was opened on Sunday!

      1. there needs to be a ‘Wiping the tears of my face, picking myself up off the floor because I’m laughing so stinkin’ hard’ button :mrgreen:

    5. Yeah, and there are candles on the Communion table! What’s up with that Popish stuff?

    6. you know…only 4 years in it (IFB-land) and I’m already brainwashed at looking at the way the ladies are dressed thinking “they’re showing their arms!!!!!!” aaaakkkkk! someone please shoot me so it doesn’t spread!

  14. Another excellent post Darrel! Brilliant! I especially loved the “dad spikes the baby in the end zone” line….LMBO!!!

  15. Aren’t those babies older-looking? It may be too late for them. They’ve probably already been exposed to CCM, liberal Bible versions and….Calvinism (shutter).

      1. I wonder what Jack would say to those women about not having lost that baby weight yet? I wonder if he would remind them to get it shed asap so their men can do something for God.

        Sorry, that was low hanging and I just couldn’t resist.

  16. The first time I observed a baptism in a Bible Presbyterian church I told my wife that it was no different than all the baby dedications I had seen in Baptist churches except they added water!

    I have never heard it called “dry” baptism but that’s exactly what it is.

  17. I hate how we can look down on Catholics for infant baptisms yet dedications are the same thing, just minus the water.

    Good points.

    nicodemusatnite.com

    1. Catholics do have the thing where they say it’s effective to remove original sin, but I don’t know any Catholics that actually believe that. I don’t know any other denominations that do baptisms that believe it has anything to do with original sin.

      1. Lutherans believe it does. We believe, because of Jesus’s words “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” The original sin of Adam is washed away by water and the Holy Spirit, although the sin from living in this world and in this flesh remains. Which is why we try to baptize our babies as early as possible. For us, a conscious choice is not needed for the Holy Spirit to work belief where God has promised it will.

        1. @ CFW, Just want to learn, but is that saying you only have to be baptised? My understanding is by grace through faith, which in a sense would be a conscious decision on the believers part.

        2. @areyouserious: Lutherans don’t see baptism as a work of man or something we do in response to God. Rather, we see God working in baptism, through which he gives faith and forgiveness by his Holy Spirit. As to a conscious decision, for an adult I can see how it might appear that way, but it is actually God who creates faith in our hearts by the Holy Spirit working through His Word. I hope this helps you understand what Lutherans believe.

      2. The Catholic Church no longer holds to this view, though probably a lot of its laypeople still do. I brought the matter up to a priest friend of mine once, and he said, “I certainly don’t believe in baptismal regeneration. It’s the reason why we have so many Catholics who aren’t really Christians”(!). A person has to have faith in Christ to be saved.”

        I suspect that if I were to share that story with some IFB’s, they’d say it never happened. But it’s right from the horse’s mouth, as it were.

        1. Good to know. Have been to a Catholic baptism, and didn’t really pay that much attention to what the priest was saying. Does anyone at either an infant baptism or dedication?

    1. Yeah, DD, if you haven’t done a post on the recognition of mothers on Mother’s Day, you should. “Here’s a rose for the oldest mother. We won’t say how old she is, but she’s older than Methuselah.” ๐Ÿ˜†

      1. I went to a very extreme baptist cult…er, church where they never celebrated Mother’s Day! They insisted we have all the babies we could, and nearly all of the moms fell for the home schooling guilt trip. And yet, as mothers, we were never given any recognition at all. ๐Ÿ˜• Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Pastor and his wife’s mothers were both dead and they could not have children themselves.

    2. Sniff, sniff. I never got a flower. Just one of those little white New Testaments for the baby.

      One of the IF Bible churches we went to made it almost like a wedding ceremony, with the grandparents joining in. Felt really, really weird. ๐Ÿ˜• ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

    3. At our multi-denominational Protestant chapel on base we do baby dedications, and Chap does a great job of it with 2 roses, a white one represents the purity of the new life and a red one represents Jesus’ blood sacrifice for sin. It’s really more of a parent dedication with a great object lesson.

  18. My vision of child baptism/dedication was forever changed after watching Michael Corleones “renounce Satan” act.

    Take a hard look at those four parents. Would you REALLY trust your kid, or even their own kids to folks that look like that? There is something going on there that we can’t quite see.

    Maybe it is Ruckman -stage right- preparing one of his chalk talks.

    1. Do you mean the four parents in the photo above? What’s wrong with them? They look OK to me.

      1. I think Ricardo is just referencing The Godfather scene. It certainly can change the way you watch any infant baptism/dedication. Chilling, Excellent scene.

        Of course the parents in the above picture look great! But you never know when one of them is having all their business rivals executed in cold blood with this picture as their alibi… ๐Ÿ˜Ž

    2. the best GF scene, and how the organ music spikes up like a bad soap opera after “Satan.” love.

  19. Having had 3 baby dedications (one a double), I didn’t put much stock in the spiritual guardian aspect of it, nor considered the Catholic connection. I always saw it as a bright, shining moment for the mom: “Look! I had a baby!” before she slinks off into obscurity in the nursery, to be forever covered in a fine paste of baby spit and crackers and smell vaguely of sour milk.

  20. I was just thinking about baby dedications yesterday. Since we’ve recently had a baby, I figured I’d ask the pastor when we’d be having dedication, but then I realized the only reason it was important to me to do soon was so that my baby would be small enough and cute enough to still get the oohs and aahs. We don’t need a ceremony to remind us that she’s a gift from God nor to motivate us to raise her for God’s glory, so I’ve decided not to ask.

  21. I saw our Southern Baptist pastor do a baby dedication before he did our son’s. He made the sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead. I told not to do that for our son’s; that it smacked of Catholicism. He said that wasn’t his intention.

    I’m so glad we left that church. I hated it for 7 years.

    1. The sign of the cross predates Roman Catholicism, but it is connected to baptism. Therefore, unless if the Southern Baptist pastor believes in infant baptism, he shouldn’t make the sign of the cross on infants.

  22. paedo-baptist folks will readily recognize that this whole dedication business is in reality a รขโ‚ฌล“dry baptism.รขโ‚ฌย Thereรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs even a certificate. Shhhhh. Donรขโ‚ฌโ„ขt tell the Baptists.

    Perfect! Epic lols. ๐Ÿ˜€

    You forgot the extremely important–nay, perhaps most important–step of baby dedications, which is calling attention to the fact that there is no water involved in the dedication. Stuff fundies like: defining themselves by what they don’t do.

  23. I’ve seen these and enjoyed them. Never thought of them as “dry baptisms,” but it certainly fits. Now I’ll have to fight to keep a straight face when I see one. ๐Ÿ˜€

    This has started my day with a smile. Keep up the good work.

  24. Christmas: Embraced and made “Christian”.

    Easter (Ishtar): Embraced and made “Christian”.

    Catholic/Lutheran/What-have you baby baptism: Embraced and made “Christian”.

    Seeing a pattern here?

  25. Traditions are not necessarily wrong, and that’s all that baby dedications are. There is as much biblical support for baby dedications as there is for infant baptism -NONE- So my take on the whole thing was why bother. I was in a fundie church that did the dedication thing but I never had my son “dedicated” as such, no one ever asked me about it, but I guess they were wondering. Btw I’m glad that even then, 17 years ago, that I was standing on scripture and not on tradition, finally got out of there about 3 years ago.

  26. Unless, of course, the church has its own midwife station set up behind the church bookstore just for those people who never miss church for any reason. รขโ‚ฌล“Itรขโ‚ฌโ„ขs a boy! Quick, run him on down to the altar!รขโ‚ฌย The father then crosses the goal line, high-fives the pastor, and spikes the baby in the end zone.

    SCORE!
    No, wait there’s a flag on the play… seems the dad forgot to wait until the umbilical cord was cut… and the brakes were not locked on the gurney. Mom is charged with Immodest dress at the altar which will result in Church discipline. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ doh!

  27. We did this at our old church….the first Sunday in May. I’m not sure what good it did, but I guess it didn’t hurt anything….to have the kids prayed over, and it gave the new moms and dads a chance to show off their babies.. Our preacher was very clear on making sure people knew this did not “save” the child.

  28. Darrell,
    You forgot the most important thing of all… it “Officially” adds to the tally on the Attendance board. (I realize they started counting that one as present the Sunday it was announced the mom was “with child” but now they can remove the asterisk.)

    1. Wonderful! That certainly applies at our church…but always with a laugh. ๐Ÿ™‚

  29. I’ll never forget one particular baby dedication that happened at my church, Bethel Baptist (Schaumburg, IL), many years ago. The standard dedication things were going on in front of the pulpit, and a lady at the end of my pew was crying. When I asked my mom why she was crying, she explained that it was because her baby was “mixed.” That’s right, they were allowed to join the church and tithe, but not be a part of a baby dedication.

    1. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ They DIDN’T allow a member’s baby to be dedicated because of the baby’s race? And this WASN’T in South Africa? I can’t help saying this: What kind of monsters are they?

    2. Isn’t that the church that used to host Spring Meet. I could see that from there (based on knowing a staff member), but wouldn’t have assumed it. Wowsers.

    3. Ah, a BoJo Bunker?? Jonesy’s teachings on mixed relations are bearing fruit in the field. Sounds like a Preacher boy who learned his lessons well at the BJ of U.

      1. Just to be fair, that particular university no longer preaches against or forbids interracial dating/marriage. But I grew up under a pastor that had learned that from there, and refused to marry or admit as members any couple of mixed race. I’ve always thought it was crazy. It’s especially crazy to discriminate against a baby that had no choice in the matter!

        1. Then what we may be seeing is lag time. If the pastor was indoctrinated properly while on campus then even if the official BoJo position changes there will be either a lag time for field practices to catch up or even a complete disconnect and the original programming will continue to pay out in various ways.

    4. It was Frank Bumpus, and I believe he was a graduate of Tennessee Temple. And yes, this was a true story about that baby dedication. My mom was his personal secretary for 12 years, and scheduling all those baby dedications was just another item on her long list of duties. She often said, “Sometimes, I wish I didn’t know all the things I know.”

  30. I’ve been through 3 baby dedications–2 IFB, 1 not. Personally I thought it was a lovely gesture–more for me as a parent than for the baby. To me it was a reminder of the influence I have on my child. While I can’t choose Jesus for them, I can try to be a light that points the way.

    You may flog me now for being so sentimental…

  31. I’ve been through 3 baby dedications–2 IFB, 1 not. Personally I thought it was a lovely gesture–more for me as a parent than for the baby. To me it was a reminder of the influence I have on my child. While I can’t choose Jesus for them, I can try to be a light that points the way.

    You may flog me now for being so sentimental…

  32. My husband and I became paedobaptists, when I was pregnant with our first child. We were still at a baptist church, but our pastor respected our transition to paedobaptism. He baptized both of our children at our home amongst other close friends, and then our children were dedicated at church with the other children.

    1. A Baptist pastor baptized your infants at home? I’m really surprised. Many could rightly say, he’s not a Baptist then.

      1. A Baptist that respects Soul Liberty definitely would not fit in the Baptist circles I know of! ๐Ÿ™‚

        1. I know what you mean.

          He and my husband were close friends at Fundy U. They journeyed over to reformed theology together. After college, he became the pastor of a Baptist church (not Fundy), and my husband followed along to help him start a bible institute at the church. My husband and I got married, I got pregnant, and my husband started to study baptism more in depth — all the while sharing his journey with our pastor. Although he wasn’t fully convinced of paedobaptism himself, he recognized the plausibility of it, and therefore agreed to baptize our son. He has since left that church and has become a paedobaptist.

    2. We are currently members of an E-Free church that has both credobaptists and paedobaptists. I am thankful that we can be united nonetheless. I grew up thinking that credobaptism was so obvious, and that everyone else believed in baptismal regeneration. But I have discovered that that is not the case, and that there is a lot more to baptism than I had thought.

        1. just saw tim hawkins a couple weeks back at an E-Free church and he asked the same thing. after a response was given about being non-denominational he said….(in a snobby tone)all non-denominational means is that you’re really baptist but with a much cooler website ๐Ÿ˜‰

  33. In my experiance (four kids and 13 grandkids) baby dedications are a good thing. I was please to see that the mother of my children was recognised and encouraged in the midst of a very stressfull time. I always felt that baby baptisms smacked of regenerational baptism which I don’t buy. If you don’t believe you are just getting wet so why bother.

    1. Yeah, adult baptism just strikes me as Church of Christ style baptismal regeneration. If you don’t believe you’re just getting wet, so why bother?

  34. Except for the fact that the kid doesn’t get poured, sprinkled, or dunked, HOW DOES THIS DIFFER FROM AN INFANT BAPTISM?

    It’s like they’ve turned their back on such Popish things, but still feel the need to commemorate/celebrate a Birth with some non-Popish Birth Ritual.

  35. Right on, Darrell! You know, I’ve always hated baby dedications. “Dry baptism” is a good name for it.

    My dad (fundy missionary), according to the laws of Fundamentalism, would only dedicate babies that fulfilled certain criteria. If they were babies born out of wedlock (no matter if the mother had repented and was living for the Lord for the entire nine months after conception), he would refuse to hold the dedication in church–he’d go to the woman’s home and do it there, in secret and private. Heaping shame. Now, since we were missionaries in a country where NO ONE got married, I only ever witnessed an in-church dedication ONCE, in all the ten years we lived there. ๐Ÿ˜ฏ

  36. I see nothing wrong with baby dedication if it is done right. Even my pastor agrees with me that it serves as little more than an opportunity to invite family who wouldn’t attend any other time. My family is mostly Catholic or Lutheran and finds having a baby in front of the church to be normal for them.

    1. It’s a tradition, not a sacrament or commandment. As long s everyone realizes that it is *just* a tradition, it’s really hard to see anything wrong with it.

  37. Ralph, back when my understanding was darkened, I too thought as you did. But as of today, I have seen the light! Just wait for your opportunity to be first, and you will understand what it all means.

    1. NOOOOO!!! That was supposed to go to Ralph’s comment. My first experience with George… ๐Ÿ™

  38. of course then you get those churches that ride a fine line near fundy-ism – the denomination I was brought up in supports both infant baptism, and waiting until they are old enough to make a decision themselves – its up to the individual church/pastor/parents…but a lot of them have moved rather away from it – whether its due to the effect of the majority of the south being Baptist on everyone else around, or whatever…

    It also didn’t promote baptism heavily anyway – I joined at least one church as a teen before ever being baptisized (I thought) because it wasn’t a requirement. (I never even saw anyone baptized til I was like 12)

    So I was saved at age 4, baptized at age 16 (mostly because we were joining another church again and I was sick of answering the baptism question – not for particularly spiritual reasons because I never felt the spirit convict me for it) – thought that was that…

    Until my parents and I are having some discussion later (age 28)about things and the fact that there was water involved at my “baby dedication” – and I’m like “What?!?!? you never told me that! If you’d remembered that when I was younger the question of baptism wouldn’t have even come up!” To which my parents said “we didn’t think that counted as baptism” – I’m like “what are you Baptists?!?!?”

    Anyway – I now have good reason for why I never felt the need to be baptized. Obviously the spirit wasn’t convicting me to be baptized because I had been.

    Now wish I’d stuck to my “I don’t feel the need” long enough to find out I’d actually been baptized as a baby…

  39. My fundy church doesn’t do this, but I’ve been to many that do, and even some non-fundy Baptist churches that do it. I never saw it’s purpose.

    1. A little like how there is no purpose for the apostrophe in the word “its” above? ๐Ÿ˜‰

      For me, a baby dedication ceremony is not necessary, but it seems a gracious way to recognize children and our love and appreciation as a church for them and their parents.

  40. I thought in fundy churches, gals aren’t supposed to have too much skin exposed. Well, the girl in the blue dress in this picture looks like she is breaking the rules, and it’s too bad, because for the sake of my lunch, fat girls shouldn’t break this rule.

      1. Good one! I wish I did. Actually, I was told the other day I look like Zeus, seriously. But, I just believe in dressing appropriately according to one’s body shape.

  41. Weird to see this post here. This was never done in my fundy church growing up – probably would have reminded them too much of “infant baptism” – but it’s been done in both post-fundy churches I’ve been in (1 being John Piper’s). I never really got it and didn’t have my twins dedicated 14 months ago (maybe partly because we were still in Piper’s church and just weren’t comfortable doing it there for whatever reason).

    However, a month and a half ago we lost our baby girl to stillbirth at 22 weeks. Our pastor came and asked if he could dedicate her there in the hospital. That was a pretty emotional and very meaningful moment and it changed my perspective. I’ll probably dedicate the twins now at some point as well.

    In any event, I don’t get why people here are mocking it. Some people sprinkle the kids, others dedicate them, and others do nothing. To each their own.

    1. I’m sorry for your loss. I’m glad the pastor dedicated your baby.

      I know whether babies are formally dedicated or not, Jesus loves the little children and tells us that we must become like a little child to enter the kingdom.

      1. I’m just so glad I serve a God Who cares for and considers the very littlest, the least powerful, the weakest, and knows them and loves them!

    2. I appreciate your sadness. My wife and I lost a total of 4 children all at around 22 weeks. We were always treated as though it was no big deal. I can say that after more that 20 years it is still a source of sadness in our lives. I hope for the best for you and your wife.

  42. Yep, I must admit that the first time I posted first it was a bigger thrill than I thought it would be.

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