I have found on your site when searching that several have asked this question, but I can’t find an answer to this question. A friend, who is a Nazarene, is having their baby dedicated. Is this wrong?<\/p>\n
Thanks.<\/p>\n\t
In the Nazarene Church, a dedication ritual a vow that parents take that they will raise their child in the Christian faith. It is sometimes accompanied by a baptism of the child as well, though the baptism is done by sprinkling or pouring water on the child’s forehead.<\/p>\n
There is no command in the Bible for a dedication ceremony of children. Since Christians parents are already commanded: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Vowing to do something you are already obligated to do is at best worthless. At worst, it is stating that you only obey commands that you agree to keep.<\/p>\n
Christ strictly forbade implementing man-made commands (Matthew 15:1-9) and is repeated by Paul (Colossians 2:20-23). Since this is an unauthorized ritual, it is wrong.<\/p>\n\t
Thanks and God Bless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have found on your site when searching that several have asked this question, but I can’t find an answer to this question. A friend, who is a Nazarene, is having their baby dedicated. Is this wrong? Thanks. Answer: In the Nazarene Church, a dedication ritual a vow that parents take that they will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[439,438,282,440],"class_list":["post-1782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-church-of-the-nazarene","tag-dedication","tag-infant-baptism","tag-rituals"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23787,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-believe-you-can-only-be-saved-by-immersion-in-water-what-about-someone-who-cant-be-immersed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":0},"title":"Do you believe you can only be saved by immersion in water? What about someone who can’t be immersed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How does one get saved who cannot physically be submerged?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t look up your references, but is seems to me (by skimming through your article of why you left the Church of the Nazarene) that the main reason you left is you believe you are saved by baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42577,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-divisive-to-claim-all-denominations-are-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":1},"title":"Isn’t it divisive to claim all denominations are wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2001","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just read the article about why you left the Nazarene denomination. On the latter point of baptism, I will not comment now, but I think your first listed reason is a rational mistake. You said, \"yet the Nazarene Church exists, as does any denomination, because man disregards the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-too-left-the-nazarene-church-but-over-legalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":2},"title":"I too left the Nazarene church, but over legalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading your letter online and, like your \"I left the Nazarene church,\" I left on the other hand because I found the practices to be legalistic. I find your letter to be greatly encouraging. Thank you and God bless you. Answer: I'm glad the article was of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-i-am-not-a-nazarene\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":3},"title":"Why I Am Not a Nazarene","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by J. R. Bronger In June of 1972 my wife, Sue, and I were baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38). Like many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we came out of religious error. Our involvement was with the Church of the Nazarene, headquartered\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25247,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/help-me-understand-more-about-the-flaws-in-the-church-of-the-nazarene\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":4},"title":"Help me understand more about the flaws in the Church of the Nazarene","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a music minister, called preacher and leader. I currently serve with the church of the Nazarene. I am shocked by the truth you revealed. I have been looking for this, but I really need help to understand it more. I have been feeling deeply uncomfortable with some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18226,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-nazarene-church-mean-by-properly-expressed-in-regards-to-sexual-intimacy\/","url_meta":{"origin":1782,"position":5},"title":"What does the Nazarene church mean by “properly expressed” in regards to sexual intimacy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Regarding sexual intimacy between a married couple, what does the Nazarene church mean by the phrase, \"properly expressed?\" \"...We stand firmly on the belief that the biblical concept of marriage, always between one man and one woman in a committed, lifelong relationship, is the only relationship within which the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}