Guest Article… When Should My Children Be Baptized? (2 of 2)

Michael Demory
continued from last week…
My wife and I wrestled with these questions for some time before concluding that our son
and daughter had been manipulated into baptism, rather than it being their personal conviction.
We must admit that the Scriptures speak of “men and women” being baptized, but never children
(Acts 5:14; 8:12; 17:12). What if your eleven-year-old told you he/she wanted to be married, would
you let them? Of course you would not, because you as a parent and mentally mature would know
they were not prepared to make such a commitment. Yet is that not what we do when we make the
choice to obey the Gospel? Are we not marrying Christ, becoming His bride (Rev. 21:2, 9)?
Are children accountable to God for their sins, or are they not? There is no certain age at
which a person becomes accountable for their sins, as everyone is different based upon their
environment, and mental maturity. Society has set the age of 18-21 as “adulthood,” a time when it
believes children have reached the capacity to discern right and wrong (Isa. 7:16). Parents treat
their children differently at the age of 18 when they have graduated from High School and move
on to college. They will tell them, “You are an adult now,” meaning, we believe you have the
mental ability to know how to act in society: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood
as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things (1 Cor. 13:11).
The key for any person being accountable to God and truly obeying the Gospel is (1)
Confession (commitment, conviction, cost counting), (2) Repentance (godly sorrow for a sinful
LIFE); (3) Baptism (washing away a LIFE of sin), (4) Have the eyes of their understanding been
enlightened (Eph. 1:18)? Let us not allow curiosity to be confused with conviction. Just because a
child says they want to be baptized because they are afraid of hell, does not mean they are
convicted. Remember, they have been taught this in Bible Class. There is a timeframe when
children are not accountable to God’s Law, and then when it begins to apply (Rom. 7:23-24). We
should not push anyone into becoming a Christian, particularly our own children.
It should be left up to the individual when they feel the need to obey the Gospel from the
heart (6:17). And then, as adults, we must be willing to accept them as brothers or sisters in Christ
who have the same responsibilities as us. If we are not going to treat them as such, then we really
do not believe they were mentally ready to be married to Christ. Let us stop rejoicing over every
baptism of a child but consider whether they were truly accountable to God for a life of sin.
—The Beacon, July 27, 2026