Why Mormons Don’t Perform Infant Baptisms
Filed under: Gospel Principles, Practices & Precepts, The Fall
Mormons don’t baptize children until they are eight years old. This is the age of accountability, when children are considered old enough to know right from wrong and to be able to make choices for themselves. While they are, of course, still subject to parental direction, there are many times when they can make their own choices as to how to behave, and they are accountable for those choices. Their parents are accountable for the decisions they make for their children.
The Book of Mormon teaches that little children can’t sin. Satan has no power to tempt them until they are eight years old. They can make mistakes, but they can’t sin. Mormons teach that we are each punished only for our own sins, and not for Adam’s transgressions. Although we all experience the consequences of the fall, meaning death, God doesn’t punish us for his choice. An infant cannot choose baptism, and to punish an infant for dying without baptism would be cruel and unfair, and God is neither. In addition, an infant can’t repent, so he cannot be held accountable for the things he does. God is always kind and fair, and loves children.
At the age of eight, a child is accountable for what he knows so far and what he has control over. While under direction and control of the parents, the parents are responsible for teaching the child what is right and how to live. They are also responsible if they allow or force a child to sin.
Prior to baptism, children are educated in the gospel. They learn the important truths and what behaviors are expected of children. They learn how to repent, and although they aren’t accountable for their sins, they practice the steps of repentance, so they are comfortable with it when the time comes. They learn how to make choices when faced with a moral decision and how to resist temptation.
These lessons are taught first in the home. Parents are considered to be a child’s primary teacher and responsible for their religious education. There are many ways this is accomplished. One way is through daily family prayer and scripture study. Even small children participate in scripture study at home with their families. Another way is through Family Home Evening. Every Monday evening, the family shuts out the world and spends a few hours together learning about the gospel of Jesus Christ through simple lessons and activities. This allows children to learn about the Savior in a loving environment while building their family relationships.
Children are also taught the gospel at church. Church classes are designed to help the parents, not to replace them. All children, even babies, attend the basic worship service, known as Sacrament Meeting, with their families. Then families split up and attend classes based on age and sometimes on gender. Children attend the nursery at age eighteen months. There, they play, but they also have brief, simple lessons about gospel truths, taught through stories, songs, and activities.
At age three, they begin the regular Primary classes. Primary is for children ages 3-12. Here, they learn the gospel in classes organized by age, and the lessons become increasingly more complex. These lessons prepare children for the time when they are accountable for their choices.
The Book of Mormon teaches that anyone who feels God will punish a small child for not being baptized does not understand the atonement of Christ, which atoned for any responsibility that child might have for actions of his ancestors. The atonement guarantees us the privilege of being punished only for what we knowingly and willingly do wrong. The Savior’s love for us, and God’s love for us, ensures that all dealings we have with them are fair and kind.
Consequences of the Fall
The expulsion from the Garden of Eden was eloquently described in John Milton’s Paradise Lost:
The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide;
They, hand in hand, with wandering steps and slow,
Through Eden took their solitary way. (Milton, Paradise Lost 343
No longer would Adam and Eve enjoy the physical companionship of God, but were separated from Him, suffering a spiritual death. How wrenching that must have been. But it is important to remember, that although Adam and Eve had to now toil by the sweat of their brows, every other method of communication with heaven remained open, as it does today, just not face-to-face any longer.
To be shut out from the presence of God was not to lose all communication with him; that would defeat the plan of salvation. Rather, it was to be cast out from his physical presence leaving all other forms of communication open. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 36)
The Fall, which was required in order for the plan of salvation to move forward, was a painful time for Adam and Eve. No longer did they simply partake of the fruits and vegetables which spontaneously grew in the garden, no longer were they free of noxious weeds, no longer was life carefree and seamless. They no longer had the companionship of Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ. Life, as they knew it, was now over and mankind’s mortal journey in this world began.
Now they faced an uncharted and unfriendly world. Shelter had to be built. Food had to be found, grown, harvested and prepared. All manner of living, every aspect of eking a living out of this uncharted world was undertaken. And through it all, they never stopped praying or following the commandments they’d been given in the Garden of Eden. Tad R. Callister points out in The Infinite Atonement, that Adam and Eve could not blame God for their mortal travails. Two commandments had been given, one time centered and one not. The Lord clearly outlined the consequences of the time centered commandment, “for in the day thou doest eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shouldst surely die. And, as God promised, Adam lived to be six months shy of 1,000 mortal years. It was a choice they made, and as with all choices, consequences had to be met and dealt with.
Because of the Fall, Adam and Eve gave birth to a civilization which culminates in what we have today. Because of the Fall, each of us was given the physical body we’d earned in heaven. Because of the Fall, we are able to learn, grow and progress in mortality that we might avail ourselves of the eternal reward with awaits. Because of the Fall, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world and suffered all the pains of the Atonement and then broke the bands of death upon His resurrection. Because of the Fall, Joseph Smith restored the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety in 1830. Because of the Fall we can be what our Father in Heaven always intended for us to be.
So many people, from Adam and Eve on down, have sacrificed, even their very lives, so that you can hold the truth in your heart today and know of your divine heritage. With that knowledge you have two choices to make, to walk that straight and narrow path back to our Savior and eternal salvation, even eternal and great happiness; or you can choose to walk into the darkness and extinguish that divine spark within you, choosing sorrow and permanent separation from our Savior and our Heavenly Father.
Will you turn to Him? Will you acknowledge the sacrifices of Adam and Eve? Will you acknowledge what Jesus Christ suffered so that you gain “immortality and eternal life (Moses 1:39)?” Will you take that scarred hand which is outstretched toward you and fulfill the full measure of your creation, in other words, and I quote the Marines here, to be all that you were meant to be, eternally?
We still have the ability to communicate with our Father in Heaven today. The only way you will fully understand who God intends you to be and what He intends for you to do on this earth is through the power of prayer. Although regular face-to-face communication with God was lost with the expulsion, prayer remained. And with prayer, we have a two-way communication channel with Heavenly Father.
Oh yes, the Fall brought about mankind and in so doing enabled us to reach our full potential as sons and daughters of God. Do we vilify Adam and Eve for making that decision, or do we offer them eternal heartfelt love and abounding gratitude for giving us this chance? Oh we thank them, we honor them . . . because of them, we’re here. What will you do with this incredible chance we call life?