(#14,548): Dr. Eckleburg: "[I]nfant baptizers do not say "I know my child is a member of God's family." We say "I trust God that my child is a member of His family."
(#14,766): A8: When they say, "I trust God that my child is a member of His family", that really means only, "I hope that my child is a member of His family."
(#14,775): Dr. Eckleburg: Thanks for the rewrite, A8, but the word is "trust," not "hope." The distinction is vital, and I'm sorry you missed it.
(#14,778): A8: "Trusting that X" reduces to "hoping that X" when there is no ground for believing X more likely than ~X.
(#14,786): Dr. Eckleburg: LOL. I have plenty of ground for believing X over ~X.
(#14,789): A8: Just two weeks ago, my nephew was born. Now, tell me what ground I have for believing that he is elect and not reprobate?
(#14,800): Dr. Eckleburg: I don't know that you do, A8.
(#14,801): A8: Then it is not the case that you "have plenty of ground for believing X over ~X." Therefore, since as I pointed out in #14,778: "Trusting that X" reduces to "hoping that X" when there is no ground for believing X more likely than ~X", your "trusting that X" reduces to "hoping that X".
In other words, when infant baptizing Calvinists say, "I trust God that my child is a member of His family", that really means only, "I hope that my child is a member of His family", exactly as I originally pointed out in #14,766.
-A8
LOL. Well, those are other words, but they're not my words.
Calvinists, both infant baptizers and adult baptizers, "trust" their children to be among the elect because God has given us this assurance in Scripture...
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them." -- Psalm 103:17-18"But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
The promise of the covenant is to believers and their children, and we keep his covenant by the will of God (Philippians 2:13), especially in light of the knowledge that it was God who gave us our children in the first place.
I don't know about RC infant baptizers because I'm not sure how accurately the covenant is kept by men who believe a lie and rashly kneel to the stock of a tree; who falsely believe there are other mediators between men and God but Christ Jesus; who incorrectly presume baptism has some intrinsic magical power to save the infant; and who mistakenly believe they are justified by something in themselves, and not solely by the shed blood of Christ whose righteousness and obedience cover us completely.
"She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet." -- Proverbs 31:21