An old acquaintance of mine recently posted, and then, sadly, deleted said post, on his religious viewpoints. The only point of posting this seemed to be prodding his Judeo-Christian friends to either offense or offensiveness. The views expressed were along the lines of mystic-spirituality and gnosticism. The biggest point seemed to be that God was pure will, and impersonal, and that by ‘right action’ one might attain god-likeness.

My initial reaction was what I think the piece had been calculated to occur, I was disgusted. But the more I thought about it, the more I was saddened. Yes, the belief system is in direct opposition to the Trinity, and that makes it heresy. But, among heresies, what a way to go! You see, the problem with this ideology is that it is boring. There’s no story. There’s no drama. No beauty. It is a futile attempt to avoid the dark and dreary, and so it avoids also the bright and hopeful. By removing oneself from the personal, interesting persons of the Trinity, one binds himself to uninteresting nothingness. But any separation from the Trinity is an adherence to hell. Yes, I think the word boring is one way to describe hell. God is deeply personal, and we are made in His image. In attempting to lose all personality, we lose all God-likeness. Even the deeply wicked understand who God really is before they try to be Him. They, at least, keep things interesting. But then again, perhaps boringness is evil. Because God is deeply interesting, deep uninterestingness is diametrically opposed to God, Who is pure good and truth, which makes boring spiritualism wicked and false.

I am a father. This is a spiritual reality as well as a physical one. I have fathered a child. That child has an eternal soul. Did I create that soul, no. But I didn’t create the body either. The truth is that a soul has been generated, and I was largely responsible for its generation. It seems then, that this young soul is descended from myself. Myself, who am a member of the covenant body of our Lord Jesus Christ. This covenant has been promised to me and to my children. Baptism is the rite of entry into that covenant. But baptism must be given to those who have faith. And that faith is supposed by many to only be able to be shown when one is able to articulate it. But faith in the Bible is rarely something that is articulated. It is generally something that is acted out. It is something that is closely associated with (get this) little children.

I believe my place in the covenant is one of grace. It is by grace that I am here, it is only by grace that I shall remain here. Even after the resurrection it will be a position of grace. It will be a position that will never change, but it is still one of grace. If my children enter into the covenant it will be because of grace. If they remain in it, it will be because of grace.

Now, I believe through covenant promises that my children will be in the covenant. If this is true, then they will be, already, under grace. Now one of the gifts of grace is faith. It is my understanding that my children are promised faith. If they are promised faith, and are part of the covenant, then they are deserving of baptism, the rite of entry into that covenant and the church.

That is why I plan on baptizing my first child. I understand that apostasy happens. Some fall away. But we serve a gracious God who is faithful to the faithful, and gracious to those who obey His commands and do His will. He is holy and true to His Word. I have faith because He granted me faith, and part of my faith is that He loves His little children, including the ones not yet born.