If a child was baptized as a baby without the parents’ knowledge but raised in a Jewish home, could that child feel the presence of God without knowing it?<\/p>\n\t
There are too many false assumptions in this question.<\/p>\n
One does not need to be baptized to feel God’s presence. God’s presence is known throughout His creation. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse<\/em>” (Romans 1:20). The assumption is that people are born sinful and therefore cannot know or recognize God until they become a Christian. “Behold, I have found only this, that God made men upright, but they have sought out many devices<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). All people, including those of Jewish parentage, start out life without sin. For more on this, see Total Depravity or Total Inability<\/a>.<\/p>\n The baptism of babies also arises from the assumption that people are born sinful because they inherited Adam’s sin. The idea is that an unbaptized baby is lost to Hell — a concept never taught in the Scriptures. Rather, the Bible teaches that sins are\u00a0not<\/em> inherited. “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:20). For more on this, see\u00a0Infant Baptism<\/a>.<\/p>\n The concept that someone else (a child’s parents) must accept on a child’s behalf is a natural outgrowth of infant baptism because the Bible clearly indicates that faith is needed prior to baptism (Mark 16:16), but an infant does not have faith — he doesn’t even have coherent thoughts. Faith is a product of learning God’s teachings. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God<\/em>” (Romans 10:17). To sidestep this problem, the idea was that parents accept on behalf of the child, but the entire premise is false. Each person must have faith (Hebrews 11:6). No one can have faith for you.<\/p>\n The phrase “feel the presence of God” is a way to say that a person feels like they are saved. The problem is that God never states that He uses vague feelings to let people know they are saved. See:\u00a0Is it possible to feel the presence of God when one worships Him?<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Does God Speak Directly to Mankind Today?<\/a><\/p>\n A person learns about God through the Bible. It doesn’t matter where he was raised or who taught him as a child. All that matters is a willingness to learn from God. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because “All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away, But the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you<\/em>” (I Peter 1:22-25).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: If a child was baptized as a baby without the parents’ knowledge but raised in a Jewish home, could that child feel the presence of God without knowing it? Answer: There are too many false assumptions in this question. One does not need to be baptized to feel God’s presence. God’s presence is known…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[546,282,1196,1509],"class_list":["post-46385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-feelings","tag-infant-baptism","tag-inherited-sins","tag-parents"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36282,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-need-to-be-baptized-in-order-to-go-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":0},"title":"Do you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a couple of questions, but I hope I am not bothering you in any way. Do you need to be baptized in order to go to heaven? If so, what other things must you do? Do you need to be baptized to be a Christian? Can\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":41163,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happens-to-people-who-die-without-being-baptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":1},"title":"What happens to people who die without being baptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have been reading about the church of Christ and the issue of baptism. If baptism is required for salvation, what happens to people who die without being baptized? Thank you. Answer: What happens to a person who disobeys God? \"Do not marvel at this; for an hour\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":18290,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-gods-presence-felt-in-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":2},"title":"Is God’s presence felt in hell?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u2019m having some trouble explaining how God\u2019s presence works without conflicting scripture. Some would argue that it\u2019s impossible to be away from God\u2019s presence, understanding He is omnipresence, as taught in Psalms 139:7. However, when you take this verse - \"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction\u00a0from the presence\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":34512,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-be-baptized-but-my-parents-dont-think-it-is-necessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":3},"title":"I want to be baptized, but my parents don’t think it is necessary","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I lost a lot of my faith recently due to the fact that I realized baby baptism doesn't count and nothing that I did concerning God counted. I can't even be baptized again yet because my parents don't think it's necessary after infant baptism, so I don't know what\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":18075,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-baptists-christians-and-where-does-the-bible-speak-against-creeds\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":4},"title":"Are Baptists Christians and where does the Bible speak against creeds?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have discussed with a lady the fact that one has not put on Christ until she has been baptized into Him. She is a Baptist but has been discussing the Bible with an open mind. She said her preacher told the congregation this weekend that they are \"bought\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":95804,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-person-be-rebaptized\/","url_meta":{"origin":46385,"position":5},"title":"Should a person be rebaptized?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear minister, If a Child is baptized without initial conviction, should this person be rebaptized if he is now convinced? God bless you. Answer: If a person has no conviction, then you are saying they had no faith. Baptism without faith is merely an immersion in water. It does\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\/46385","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=46385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}