On Infant Baptism

With Andrew's birth we've been forced to determine where we stand on infant baptism.  While I was baptized as an infant, Sarah was not.  Our church baptizes infants, but the church we went to in Illinois did not.  In the Reformed Christian community we identify with, there are those who believe in infant baptism and those who don't.  It hasn't been easy to come to a conclusion on this issue, and in fact I've gone back and forth on the issue as I've researched for and written this post.  

What is baptism?  A ceremonial washing that Christ and others prescribe for those in the New Testament church (Matthew 28:19-20).  What does it mean?  I like the description in Romans 6:3-6 "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."  As Wayne Grudem says, these are "truths of momentous and eternal proportion and ought to be an occasion for giving great glory and praise to God"! 


Should infants of believers be baptized?  I have come to believe that infants of believers should be baptized.  However, I think both that both those who think they should be (paedobaptists) and those who instead believe that only professing believers should be baptized (credobaptists) have compelling arguments.


I began questioning infant baptism while at a credobaptist church in Illinois.  Most convincing was the argument from the meaning of baptism: if baptism means that you're united to Christ in death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-6 or Colossians 2:12), and this union only comes through faith, then surely baptism is for those who demonstrate faith.  Another convincing argument was that new covenant membership is based on an internal spiritual reality rather than a physical reality - like many other things that changed from the old to new covenant (physical temple to believers being spiritual temples, physical animal sacrifices to spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5)).


Two main items convinced me that infant baptism is appropriate:

1. The promises made in the old covenant find their fulfillment in Christ (Gal 3) and so are as grand as those in the new covenant, they depend on a circumcision of the heart (Dt. 10:16 and 30:6) and faith (Gal 3:9) only God can provide, and yet infants were clearly to be circumcised as a means of entrance into the covenant community.  There doesn't seem to be any reason that this would be different for the new covenant and baptism, and in fact circumcision and baptism are connected in Col 2:11-12.  It does seem strange to have infants take the sign of entrance into the covenant without the faith element, but that's what God commanded.  Calvin suggests that “[i]t would not be safe to affirm, that the Lord cannot reveal himself in any way so as to make himself known to [infants].”
2. There is evidence in the New Testament that the status of a parent impacts the status of their child before God (1 Corinthians 7:14) and that Christ includes children in his kingdom (Luke 18:15-16).

I like how credobaptism emphasizes the new spiritual realities of the new covenant and don't fully understand why or how God invites infants of believers into the covenant before they can have faith, but ultimately the argument from the continuity between the old and new covenants makes me believe that believers should baptize their infants.


A few important resources: "Systematic Theology" by Wayne Grudem, "Baptism: This Rite Exhibits Union with Christ" by J. I. Packer, "Why Grace Church (and PCA Churches) Baptize Infants" handout, "A Summary of John Calvin's Defense of Paedobaptism" by P. Andrew Sandlin, "To You and Your Children: A Biblical-Theological Defense of Paedobaptism" by David Jones


Thanks to those who advised me on this topic (in chronological order of their contribution): Russ Bloem, Stan Chen, Andrew Field, David Jones, and Jared Wenger.

Fall football games & History in the making

Fall has semi-officially hit Norcal with its chillier (50F) evenings and mornings creeping into the daylight hours. After last weekend, Daylight-Savings-Time is now upon us, stealing away our long summer days. Looking through friends' picture albums on facebook that are full of pictures of hot apple cider, pumpkin carving contests, pie baking, halloween costumes, and turtlenecks really make the season official. Last but not least, college football has been keeping Michael and I busy among other things. Every Saturday is dedicated in part to watching the Michigan Wolverines break yet another record... The sad part is that the records they are breaking were winning records... It wasn't until this season however that I had my very own Wolverine paraphernalia. So I have been proudly wearing my new Michigan t-shirts and old Illinois sweatshirts. I do of course still bust out the Baylor sweatshirts from time to time too, but admit that I do not do a good job of keeping up on the Bears as well as an alum should.

Speaking of football, Michael and I actually spent a Friday night under the lights at the 2008 Woodside High School Homecoming football game! It was quite a blast to the past for me, but Michael's first ever high school homecoming football game. I could hardly believe it! We especially enjoyed the opportunity to see and spend time, out of context, with students that I work with at BUILD. We had a blast running into students, judging the class floats, cheering on Ruben (an offensive lineman for the team), and visiting the PTA-run concessions stand. Here's a couple pictures of me with Whitney, Sharon, and Danielle.





Even though Michael is still sad that Ron Paul didn't win, I can say without a doubt that this is an exciting time to be an American, encouraging our minority and under-resourced youth to dream big, overcome obstacles and oppression, and be active in contributing positively to our country! I'll sign off with this music video that, believe it or not, I just saw for the first time last night after Obama was pronounced our next President of the United States of America.

So Long Sweet Summer

I stumbled upon you and gratefully basked in your rays...

Wow. It has truly been a long, sweet summer. The school year has begun again, the students have officially returned to the regular after-school programming that I run for them at BUILD. Things are off to a fantastic start too! Michael will begin his 4th class at Stanford the week of September 23rd. We are joyously anticipating a very special family wedding in Beaver Creek, CO to officially conclude our summer festivities and adventures. Even with that still to come, we thought we'd update everyone on what exactly we've been up to that has left us without time to prioritize to blogging.

Yes, we've both still been working full-time throughout the summer; however, we also tried to make the most of some amazing opportunities to have some fun. Michael wanted to try a consice way of capturing our adventures for you through an interactive map on google maps. We tagged the places we went with a blue balloon, which you can click on to read a brief description and follow a link (in some cases) to the corresponding photo album.


View Larger Map

Article about Me

NASA is having its 50th birthday this year, and they put out a publication to celebrate. My boss's boss recommended me for the "rising stars at NASA" section but sadly I wasn't interesting or impressive enough to make the cut. The good side is that I got a sweet picture taken of me at work and an article written about me, and now I can publish them on this here blog. Mostly still accurate but I've actually only been accepted for another masters, not a PhD. In any event, enjoy...


(Picture by Dominic Hart)

FRESH IDEAS AND PEOPLE ARE MOVING NASA INITIATIVES FORWARD

Although there are many stories to tell and tributes to make about the people who have devoted long careers to the space program, in large measure NASA’s 50th anniversary is about the future and the great opportunities for exploration and discovery that lie ahead. This section recognizes some of NASA’s “new kids on the block” who’ve been inspired by NASA’s pioneers and are fired up with a desire to carry the torch of exploration forward.


AMES RESEARCH CENTER

MICHAEL BLOEM

By Ruth Dasso Marlaire

Air travel has become one of our country’s greatest challenges. It is repeatedly being transformed by information technology, from the automation of air traffic control processes to the online reservation phenomenon and beyond.

As the number of flights increase each year, the demand for a more efficient national transportation system grows urgent. For the last fifteen years, NASA Aeronautics has been working in collaboration with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop software tools for our country’s airspace infrastructure.

“I want to help design the Next Generation air traffic control system,” said Michael Bloem, an aerospace engineer working in NASA Ames’ Automation Concepts Research Branch. “The air traffic control problem,” he says “is what attracted me to NASA.”

As an expert in control theory and optimization, he has applied these tools to air traffic flow management and anticipates studying the economics of safely changing the national airspace configuration. “I am confident that careful modeling, rigorous application of mathematical theory, and insightful consideration of cost tradeoffs and user preferences will bear fruit in air traffic control system design,” he said.

Bloem was born in Southfield, Mich., in 1982. As a young boy, he liked to design and build vehicles or buildings with Lego toy pieces, as commissioned by his two brothers. In high school, his favorite subject was science, and for fun he would enter math competitions.

After graduating with honors from Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Mich., he moved to Nigeria to do community development work. One year later, he was off to Champaign- Urbana, Ill. where he earned another degree in electrical and computer engineering, this time a masters of science degree. He expects to soon begin work on his Ph.D.

“There is no silver bullet solution that will fix this problem,” said Bloem. “I have been impressed and sometimes discouraged by the complexities and difficulties of the air traffic control problem. However, I am hopeful that we will create a new system that meets society’s needs.”

I'm on TV*

*Not really. A few weeks ago I did go to hear Francis Collins speak at Stanford with Paul and Kindel. They filmed it and apparently you can see me in the audience during the Q&A time at the end. Here's a link to the video.

So who is Francis Collins? He led the successful government attempt to decode the human genome and is an outspoken Christian. He travels around and gives talks about how being a Christian is not at odds with studying science and how in fact science has given us some big "pointers" to God's existence.

The talk was excellent and so was the Q&A time, although I wasn't a huge fan of some of his theological perspectives as revealed in his answers to questions. A highlight was when he played a video of his visit to the Colbert Report. Some things that I learned:

- The constants that show up in equations that govern physics are very finely tuned to allow for complexity to arise in the universe.
- Intelligent design is on weaker intellectual footing than I realized. He has an appealing alternative viewpoint called "Theistic Evolution".

Some questions the talk and Q&A opened or re-opened for me:

- If Adam and Eve are representative of humans then why does Paul go on in Romans about us all being fallen sinners because we come from Adam?
- When we communicate with God in prayer is that a miracle?
- Free-will vs God's sovereignty

Okay that's enough of that for a Saturday morning... now off to LA to visit Matt and Kristie!

Apartment Tour

We've been meaning for some time to put up a video showing folks what our little California apartment is like, and now we've finally done it! We added a bit of corniness to it for some entertainment value. Enjoy:

Two Words for the Weekend

I recently heard someone use the word "esoteric". I didn't quite know the meaning of that word, so I looked it up. It means "understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest." Great word. And it has a great antonym, exoteric, which means "suitable for or communicated to the general public." Esoteric and exoteric: good words to know.