UPDATED: WHY I SUPPORT THE BAPTISM OF THESE INFANTS

1. The decision to baptize the children originated at the theistic level (with God, not any human). No human being can receive Orthodox Christian baptism without it being a manifestation of divine grace operating in their life. Salvation comes from God. "Salvation is of the Lord." (Jonah 2:9). Ultimately, salvation does not come from human will. (Rom. 9:16). Opposing these baptisms is opposing God. All life, whether physical or spiritual are gifts from God.
We can look at this deductively. In a deductive argument, if the premises are valid, than the conclusion follows logically and inescapably. The two premises below are true, so the conclusion follows.
1. Salvation comes from God.
2. Infants who are baptized are saved.
Conclusion: The baptisms were from God.

2. Making disciples of all nations is a biblical mandate. (Matthew 28:19). Excluding infants from salvation because of imperfection in their environment and who they are associated with (factors completely beyond their control) is unfair to them. God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11), and He is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34).

3. The salvation of souls for whom Christ died is a greater good and far more important than political Church disputes. Christians should always think of the greater good in every situation. The infants are now in possession of salvation and receiving the Holy Eucharist, and recipients of divine grace. Had they died before baptism, they would have been lost. Depriving infants of salvation because of the imperfections in their environment is selfish and against the Gospel. Not baptizing an infant when it is in a bishops capacity to do so would equate to spiritual abortion.

4. We have an "in spite of" God. He saves us in spite of our sins. He saved the children in spite of the sins of their foster parents. The implication of denying these infants baptism is that they must first be in a perfect environment. This attitude is totally unfair to them and totally against the Gospel. God saves us in our imperfections and in spite of our sins and associations.

5. Jesus specifically instructed his disciples to let the children come to him. (Matthew 19:14). Jesus said, ..."Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:16). There is absolutely no valid reason to ever deprive children of baptism and salvation.

6. It is a fallacy to conflate the issues (gay couple and children) and to punish the children for the sin of their foster parents. Guilt by association is a fallacy of reasoning. If the critic took his position to it's logical conclusion, it would mean that the children could never get baptized until they are 18 or on their own. This isn't fair to the children. Scripture teaches that it is wrong to punish children for the sins of the father. "The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father"...(Ezekiel 18:20). Says Isaiah, "Defend the cause of the fatherless." (Is. 1:17).

7. St. Paul's main priority was the salvation of souls. He writes, "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." (1Cor. 9:22). He also writes, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1Timothy 2:3-4). St. Peter: "The Lord...is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).

Conclusion: Only a person who lacks missionary zeal and does not live in what I call the love current (does not love neighbor) would be so selfish to oppose these baptisms. I would argue that it is actually the modernists, or people influenced by modernism who oppose proselytism.

Pro-LGBTQP "Orthodox" Exposed
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/pro-lgbtqp-orthodox-exposed?s=w

My Case Against the Old Calendarists
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/my-case-against-the-old-calendarists

The Ecumenical Patriarchate went on record in 2013 stating that the Patriarch of Constantinople is not affiliated with Masonry
https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/12/ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-not.html

Why The "TOC" is Not True Orthodoxy
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/why-the-toc-is-not-true-orthodoxy

GOC (HOTCA) Doesn't Have It
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/my-case-against-goc-demetrius

If in the event there are "Orthodox" people out there who are Masons, you should know that "Orthodox Christian Masonry" is a contradiction. There is no such thing. See my article on Masonry.
https://apologetics22.substack.com/p/against-freemasonry?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web&s=w

Islam Refuted By Scripture, History and Scholarship
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/a-refutation-of-islam

Islam is Not a Religion of Peace
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/islam-is-not-a-religion-of-peace

Why You Should Be An Orthodox Christian (Evidence and Miracles)
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/why-you-should-be-an-orthodox-christian

A society, growing sicker and sicker, yet ever more powerful, has remade the reality of the world to be the backdrop for its own sickness.—Guy Debord (French Philosopher).

If people read the Bible like they read their cell phones, we would live in a golden age of biblical scholars. (TruthTalks).

Recommended Book: "The New Media Epidemic: The Undermining of Society, Family, and Our Own Soul," By Jean-Claude Larchet.

Take the pledge. It can wait.
https://www.itcanwait.com/

Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and men college students spend nearly eight.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=145864

Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=125458

Baylor Study: Cellphones Can Damage Romantic Relationships, Lead to Depression.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=161554

Why You Should Be An Orthodox Christian
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/why-you-should-be-an-orthodox-christian

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A society, growing sicker and sicker, yet ever more powerful, has remade the reality of the world to be the backdrop for its own sickness.—Guy Debord (French Philosopher).

If people read the Bible like they read their cell phones, we would live in a golden age of biblical scholars. (TruthTalks).

Recommended Book: "The New Media Epidemic: The Undermining of Society, Family, and Our Own Soul," By Jean-Claude Larchet.

Take the pledge. It can wait.
https://www.itcanwait.com/

Women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cellphones and men college students spend nearly eight.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=145864

Cell phone and instant messaging addictions are driven by materialism and impulsiveness and can be compared to consumption pathologies like compulsive buying and credit card misuse, according to a Baylor University study in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=125458

Baylor Study: Cellphones Can Damage Romantic Relationships, Lead to Depression.
https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=161554

Why You Should Be An Orthodox Christian
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/why-you-should-be-an-orthodox-christian

I accept donations here. I pray daily for everyone who has donated, and for their families. Thanks.
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My Case Against Pro-Choice, Abortion and Roe v. Wade
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/my-case-against-pro-choice-and-abortion

Why You Should Be An Orthodox Christian
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/why-you-should-be-an-orthodox-christian

Possible psychological and physical damage resulting from having an abortion:

Death

Perforation of the Uterus

Cancer

Bleeding requiring transfusion (with possible hepatitis or AIDS infection)

Tearing of the cervix

Anesthesia- related accidents, including convulsions, shock and cardiac arrest from toxic reaction to the anesthesia used

Pelvic inflammatory disease and possible associated infertility

Bladder perforation

Bowel perforation

Persistent Bleeding

Anemia

Peritonitis (a serious infection of the membranous coat lining the abdominal cavity)

Minor infections and fever of unknown origin

Pulmonary emboli (obstruction of the pulmonary artery)

Venous thrombophlebitis (inflammation of vein developing before a blood clot)

Depression

Suicide

Psychosis

(For the above, see Debra Evans, Without Moral Limits: Women, Reproduction and The New Medical Technology, pp. 50-61).

Resulting from the survey of the Royal College of Obstetricians: "The incidents of serious, permanent psychiatric aftermath is variously reported as between 9 and 59 percent." (Rearden, ibid., 119).

Abortion can lead to psychosis and schizophrenic reactions, including anxiety and paranoia. (ibid., 130-131).

On March 16, 1989 Congress heard testimony on the psychological dangers of abortion from psychologist Wanda Franz Ph.D., (National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, "Abortion Some Medical Facts," Washington, D.C., NRLETF, 1989, p. 7).

Women who reported horrible after-effects of abortion have reported nightmares of children calling them from trash cans, of body parts and blood. When reminded of the abortion, the women re-experienced it with terrible psychological pain. These women feel worthless and victimized because they failed at the most natural of human activities -the role of being a mother. (ibid., p. 5).

The "Report on The Psychological Aftermath of Abortion" (Rue at al., A Report on the Psychological Aftermath of Abortion, p. 8), lists:

guilt, depression, grief, anxiety, sadness, shame, helplessness and hopelessness, lowered-self-esteem, distrust, hostility toward self and others, regret, sleep disorders, recurring dreams, nightmares, anniversary reactions, psychophysiological symptoms, suicidal ideation and behavior, alcohol and/or chemical dependencies, sexual dysfunction, insecurity, numbness, painful re-experiencing of the abortion, relationship disruption, communication impairment and/or restriction, isolation, fetal fantasies, self-condemnation, flashbacks, uncontrollable weeping, eating disorders, preoccupation, confused and/or distorted thinking, a sense of loss and emptiness. (ibid., p. 7).

It is a lie that abortion is always safe. There is good evidence that abortion even affects the siblings of the pre-born child. (see P. Ney, A Consideration of Abortion Survivors, Child Psychology and Human Development, vol. 13, 1982, pp. 168-179).

My Case Against Pro-Choice and Abortion
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/my-case-against-pro-choice-

Islam refuted by Scripture, history and scholarship
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/a-refutation-of-islam

Islam is Not a Religion of Peace
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/islam-is-not-a-religion-of-peace

ALLAH IS A PAGAN LUNAR DEITY

The name “Allah” was known in pre-Islamic Arabia, and it had a feminine form, “Allat.” (Jeffrey, Islam: Muhammad and His Religion, p. 85).

“Allah” is a proper name, applicable only to their [Arabs’) peculiar God.” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings (Edinburgh: T.&T Clark, 1908), I:326).

“Allah” is a pre-Islamic name…corresponding to the Babylonian Bel.” (Encyclopedia of Religion, eds. Paul Meagher, Thomas O’Brian, Consuela Aherne (Washington D.C.: Corpus Pub., 1979), I:117).

“Allah was known to the pre-Islamic Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities” (Encyclopedia of Islam (ed. Gibb), I:406).

“The origin of this (Allah) goes back to pre-Muslim times. Allah is not a common name meaning “God” (or a “god”), and the Muslim must use another word or form if he wishes to indicate any other than his own peculiar deity.” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics (ed. Hastings), 1:326).

One of the names of the moon god in pre-Islamic Arabia, was “Allah.” (see Guillaume, Islam, p. 7).

Allah was married to the sun goddess, and together they had three daughters (Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat). (Morey, The Islamic Invasion, p. 50).

"Historians have said that Allah was actually the chief of the 360 gods being worshiped in Arabia at the time Muhammad rose to prominence. Ibn Al-Kalbi gave 27 names of pre-Islamic deities…Interestingly, not many Muslims want to accept that Allah was already being worshiped at the Ka’ba in Mecca by Arab pagans before Muhammad came. Muslims become angry when they are confronted with this fact. But history is not on their side. Pre-Islamic literature has proved this.” (G.J.O. Moshay, Who Is Allah? (Dorchester House, Bucks, UK, 1994) p. 138.

“The name Allah, as the Qur’an itself witness, was well known in pre-Islamic Arabia. Indeed, both it and its feminine form, Allat, are found not infrequently among the theophorous names in inscriptions from North Africa.” (Arthur Jeffrey, ed., Islam: Muhammad and His Religion, (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1956), p. 85).

“Allah is a pre-Islamic name….” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, I:117).

“Allah is found…in Arabic inscriptions prior to Islam.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, I:643).

“Allah was known to the pre-Islamic Arabs; he was one of the Meccan deities.” (Encyclopedia of Islam, ed. Gibb, I:406).

“Ilah…apears in pre-Islamic poetry…By frequency of usage, al-ilah was contracted to allah, frequently attested to in pre-Islamic poetry.” (Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. Lewis, Menage, Pellat, Schacht (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1971), II: 1093).

Allat: Astral and tutelary goddess. Pre-Islamic…One of three daughters of Allah.” (Encyclopedia of Gods, p. 11).

“Manat: Goddess. Pre-Islamic…One of the so-called daughters of Allah.” (Encyclope

My Case Against Pro-Choice, Abortion and Roe v. Wade
https://truthbetold7.substack.com/p/my-case-against-pro-choice-and-abortion

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