A Guest Post by Chris Wooldridge

Hi Mike,
I’ve been looking at the usual places in the Old Testament from where Paedobaptism is normally defended and I think I’m leaning fairly solidly in the credobaptist direction now. Here’s why:

A CASE FOR COVENANTAL ANIMAL BAPTISM

Genesis 1 – God gives animals, birds and fish the same commission as humans – “be fruitful and multiply”. This is the foundation of God’s covenant with mankind, which is recapitulated in a new way in the great commission (Matt 28). Animals are part of the nations, so they should be baptized along with humans, on a household basis of course (as per the household covenant with Abraham). Baptism is a redemption of all creation.

Genesis 6-9 – Noah brings animals with him on the ark. The flood was a baptismal event, as the apostle Peter teaches us (1 Peter 3). On this basis as well, animals (and birds) should be baptized along with humans. Not only that, but the new covenant that God formed with Noah includes the whole of creation, including animals, who have life in their blood (Gen 9:4).

Exodus 10-12 – Animals were needed to serve God and Moses would not leave Egypt without them (Ex 10:24-26). They were included in the crossing of the Red Sea, which was a baptism according to Paul (1 Cor 10), and of course they would also have crossed the Jordan when the nation of Israel entered Canaan, an even greater baptism.

Leviticus – In the sacrifices of Israel, the clean animals were able to mediate for the Israelites as sacrifices ascending to God’s heavenly throne (although in the new covenant, both clean and unclean animals can be mediators for God eg. Acts 10:9-16). As we see in passages like Numbers 22, animals can be mediators on behalf of humans and even exercise a kind of faith in God. Psalm 104, for example, teaches that animals trust in God for their food rather than looking to their own strength (Ps 104:21).

Deuteronomy 28 – If the people of Israel are obedient, their animals will multiply along with them, further evidence that animals are included in the covenant with Moses. This promise to bless both animals and humans is recapitulated in the New Covenant prophesied in the Old Testament (eg. Jer 31:27-28, Ezek 36:9-12). See also Zech 14, where we see a gospel message carried by horses.

Jonah 3-4 – The book of Jonah proves the reality of animal salvation, since everyone in Ninevah repents, including both humans and animals – they are all covered in sackcloth (repentance).

The Gospels – Jesus repeatedly uses sheep as examples of true disciples. Sheep are model kingdom citizens and should therefore be baptized.

Acts 2 – Peter’s promise that God will be God to them and their children (Acts 2:38-39) echoes earlier promises which also include animals along with human children (eg. Jer 31:27-28). Later on in Acts, we discover that whole households were baptized (Acts 10, 16 & 18). Households in the Roman world included animals as well as humans.

1 Corinthians 15 – Animals have a glorious inheritance in Christ, since they will rise again and populate the New Creation (vs 35-39). Why should they be refused a real relationship with God now? In baptism that future justification (resurrection) can be brought into the present.

So when we consider the teaching of the whole bible, not just a few passages from the New Testament, we can start to see things differently. We can build a biblical theology of baptism that includes all creation.

APPENDIX – A SOCIOLOGICAL ARGUMENT

In our modern, post-agricultural and individualistic society, it’s easy for us to forget the crucial role that other creatures play in our lives. And it might seem offensive to a postmodernist to be imposing an identity onto them apart from their own choosing. But don’t we speak to animals? And don’t we even give them a name, apart from their choosing? And don’t we train many of them to be obedient to us? Baptism is just like these things. It’s God speaking to animals in water; it’s the giving of a new name; it’s the beginning of a life of learning.

I hope you enjoyed my feeble attempt at satire,
Chris

_____________________________
For the newbies, Chris is satirizing The Case for Covenantal Infant Baptism, and The Baptized Body.

“So I commended
…..enjoyment,
……….because a man
……….has nothing better
……………under the sun
…..…..than to eat,
…..drink,
and be merry…”
(Eccles. 8:15)

If you love the chiasmi of the Bible, why not arrange a “Covenant” Christmas banquet using the Bible Matrix?*

“…whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:13)

*Based on a structure by Albert Garlando. See also Kindle Your Nostrils for how to smoke a pipe according to the matrix.
**This is the 24 angels carrying out their final Old Covenant tasks in the Revelation and leaving the Holy Place vacated for the saints. The Old Covenant servants leave the house to the New Covenant sons.

.
“This book is a gem. Through letters of advice from A.F. Christian, an enthusiastic convert to the cause of the new atheists, Mary Eberstadt deftly exposes the flaws in their views. Using the lingo of pop culture to hilarious effect, she offers a scathing satire of their question-begging arguments and shows with great wit that they are not just wrongheaded but downright laughable. Yet this spirited defense of Christian faith is also a poignant commentary on what it means to be human.”

– Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, Professor of Moral Theology, Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary

From the foreword:

An open letter to those spokesmen for the new Atheism who have labored mightily these last few years to sweep aside religion’s paralytic webs of superstition and prejudice, and to liberate the rest of our Species via Science and Enlightenment:

Dear Sirs,

Speaking just for this Atheist convert, congratulations, guys — You really did it! Thanks to all Your hard work, the rest of us know once and for all that the so-called “God”, that Loser, is everything You say he is: the biggest fraud of all time, cosmic zero, ultimate no-show — and after all those centuries and promises too. It’s like throwing the biggest rave ever, only to cancel at the last minute after everyone’d already bought tickets and drugs for it. What kind of deity does that, anyway? If this were Facebook, no one would be friending him now.

But You have to admit: that same Loser sure has been great for the book business — including and especially all those books on the new Atheism, I’m happy to say. Almost a million volumes sold in twelve months’ time; covers in every major newspaper and magazine; publicity on all the best talk shows and Web sites and campuses; national and international book awards up the wazoo — talk about knowing how to make “something” ($$$) out of “nothing” (Loser)!

It really is marvelous — sorry; I almost said “miraculous” there (I’m new to the Atheist party and hope You’ll pardon any slips) — how Your ideas have taken so much of the Western media by storm. You’d almost think Atheism had friends in some pretty high places! Whatever, You probably think we Atheists have earned the right to sit back and chill. I mean, it’s pretty clear we’ve won by now — isn’t it?

Except, well, maybe not — and that’s why I’m writing You this letter. Because there’s one thing that’s still missing from Atheism’s final victory, and it’s something that just can’t be sugarcoated. Ahem: apart from me, where is the testimony of anyone Your writings have actually convinced? After all, as one of You said somewhere and all of us want to believe, “If this book works as I intend, religious readers will be Atheists when they put it down.” So where are the rest of them, I’m starting to wonder — these other converts (like me!) to the new godlessness?…”

Here’s another snippet…

“Please understand that I’m not criticizing here! Cheering for pornography and omnivorous sex and, by extension, broken homes and abused and screwed-up kids and all the rest of the Sexual Revolution’s fallout may not be everyone’s thing; but most of You new Atheist guys have definitely made it Yours. I respect all that! I’m just saying for now that we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that the believers’ sexual codes are an unmitigated bad on them and a plus for us, when most evidence suggests it’s quite the other way around.”

The Loser Letters website here.

“Usually, writers will do anything to avoid writing. For instance, the previous sentence was written at one o’clock this afternoon. It is now a quarter to four. I have spent the past two hours and forty-five minutes sorting my neckties by width, looking up the word “paisly” in three dictionaries, attempting to find the town of that name onThe New York Times Atlas of the World map of Scotland, sorting my reference books by width, trying to get the bookcase to stop wobbling by stuffing a matchbook cover under its corner, dialing the telephone number on the matchbook cover to see if I should take computer courses at night, looking at the computer ads in the newspaper and deciding to buy a computer because writing seems to be so difficult on my old Remington, reading an interesting article on sorghum farming in Uruguay that was in the newspaper next to the computer ads, cutting that and other interesting articles out of the newspaper, sorting—by width—all the interesting articles I’ve cut out of newspapers recently, fastening them neatly together with paper clips and making a very attractive paper clip necklace and bracelet set, which I will present to my girlfriend as soon as she comes home from the three-hour low-impact aerobic workout that I made her go to so I could have some time alone to write.”

— P. J. O’Rourke