The prophets expose the deception of carnal circumcision without circumcision of the heart (= formal, water baptism without Acquisition of the Holy Spirit), without which the former is only a formal sign, form-empty without content! Whoever has ears to hear, let them understand that the Holy Spirit testifies about the state of the churches!
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Let us say a few more words about Marriage as the essence of baptism, Parish-Eucharist, and Happiness – the Kingdom of God. Only in the context of understanding baptism as Marriage with Christ (free joining to the Body of Freedom) can the relativity of the time of baptism be understood: in childhood or adulthood! The Church has established no terms and times for Marriage with Christ – Love is the sphere of freedom, not the mechanics of necessity-law. Forcing someone to marry – those who do not want to be together in marriage (or one of the couple does not want the other, marriage with them) – is a crime. God always loves us, gives Himself to us, wants to be with us in Marriage! The problem is in us, in our desire for God. There is no alternative for a person with whom to enter Marriage – only with Christ-Truth; Happiness – is to be Christ’s, a Christian! Therefore, Christians, desiring Happiness for their children, – marry (baptize) them with Christ in childhood! Of course, in such a case there is a danger in adulthood of the child renouncing fidelity to Christ and committing adultery («it would have been better not to know than, knowing, to fall away», the difference between a divorced person and an unmarried one – see above). Therefore, the Church baptizes (marries to Christ – receives into its Body-Parish-Eucharist) only those children whose parents are members of the same Parish-Eucharist, then the risk for the baptized to fall away from the Church is minimal. Ideally, it is desirable that they enter into Marriage in adulthood, consciously making the choice to be Christ’s, and consciously entrusting-trusting themselves to Him-the Church. For if the sacrament were magic, and if the essence were simply in therapy (forgiveness of sins), when the sooner you start treating the disease, the better, – the Church would prescribe to baptize immediately after birth, as soon as the head of the baby appears from the womb, or at least after the umbilical cord is tied! But the matter is precisely that the Church is a hypostatic personal reality of love and freedom (and responsibility). God is Love and Freedom – therefore union with Him is possible only in Freedom and conscious responsible Gratitude. Therefore, there is no mechanics-magic in the Church! Everything that could be done without our free will, without our conscious: «Yes! I am the servant of the Lord, let it be done to me according to God’s will,» God, Who is Love, has long done (even before the creation of the world!)! Now for our Happiness, only one thing is needed – our conscious free hypostatic response to God’s declaration of Love to me (and every created hypostatic being – person)! Therefore, baptized-betrothed to Christ children must be protected like the apple of the eye, so that there is no adultery-fornication with this godless world, until they themselves consciously renew the Marriage, baptismal vows! The Kingdom of God has come, hell is destroyed, death is killed-conquered, the devil is abolished (powerless)! Now we need to slowly, responsibly accept the given Happiness, the Kingdom of God (= the Holy Spirit); in Marriage with Christ acquire Christ, partake of the Eucharist of the Holy Spirit, «become a partaker of the Divine nature». Therefore, there is no magic-mechanics in the Church, and the Sacraments are not pills-medicines that act subconsciously, unconsciously, that is, without my free conscious consent. «Son, give me your heart – yourself – your freedom and love.»
All sins are already forgiven! Everything is already healed, deified, resurrected! Therefore, the time of baptism does not matter anymore! What matters is the readiness to follow Christ, to be Christ’s, that is, the state of announcement – preparation for the sacrament (a humble and contrite heart in catholic consciousness, available to the announced) – communion of the Holy Spirit, communion of Marital Trinitarian Life in the Unity of Divine perichoresis-communication! Therefore, the time of baptism does not matter anymore (it is no longer possible to be late for baptism – the Kingdom of God is given to everyone forever, and the task before each free being is to become capable of growing up to possess the Gift, that is, to share with God His Life, to become a Son of God in Christ); what matters is preparation for the Sacrament of eternal life – Eucharist! Therefore, the main care of those who baptize and those who are baptized is not how to baptize, but how to properly prepare for the sacrament, so that it is for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life, and not for judgment and condemnation! And if the main thing were to baptize, not preparation-announcement, then the question of time: when to baptize (at what time, in how many days, months, years, etc.) would make sense – and the answer would be unequivocal: the sooner, the better! But we see from the Theology and practice of the Church – that time no longer matters! What matters is one thing – proper preparation for the sacrament, that is, announcement-teaching! Children will still have to renew the vows of baptism (Marriage – love and faithfulness to Christ) in adulthood! Christians (faithful to Christ, Christ’s) do not become in baptism, but in faithful, free following of the Bridegroom to Golgotha, to the Cross-Resurrection; unconscious children by definition cannot do this! To not speak much about when exactly a person becomes a Christian (it is clear that certainly not in the rite of baptism), read the «oasis» again (see pp. 128-130) and carefully reflect on everything said above.