Baptizing Youth against Parental Wishes
Various Authors

Question: Should you baptize a young person (under 18) that has received the Holy Ghost even if their parents are against it?

Donna Eventy
No. You cannot do right by doing wrong. To disobey their parents would be sin. God will keep them until they are of age. That’s my opinion.

Sam Dunn
I think they should because we each are in charge of our own salvation; our parents can’t save so why should we let them stop us. I have a cousin who wanted to be baptized but his parents wouldn’t let him….now he is on drugs, alcohol, and you name it.

Landon Davis
While it is important to honor and obey our earthly parents, obeying our Heavenly Father is of greater priority. When a young person comes to God, there will be conflict with unbelieving parents. Jesus clearly indicated which obligation a Christian must meet. Matthew 10:34-39 (King James Version) 34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Todd H.
I agree totally with Sarah on this one. Why do we feel that we are in charge of a person’s salvation, and if we don’t get our hands or our preacher’s hands on them then God can’t save them? I say that God knows where the young person’s heart is, and that is the true determining factor as to the whether or not this person is saved or not. There is an open can of worms for you!

Sara
Of course not! The young person is to honor there father and mother! That is in the 10 Commandments. If the young person has the Holy Ghost and wants to be baptized, yet the parents say no, God understands. He sees the young person’s desire to live for Him and do what He has commanded. But, He will also want this person to honor their parents; something else God commands.

Dave M
Firstly, Jesus said in Matthew 9:17, “Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.” The PURPOSE of baptism is to wash away sins, thus CLEANSING us so the Holy Ghost can dwell in us. Not before. Resurrection cannot happen before burial. Secondly, God would not call us, chose us, and place the desire in one’s heart to be baptized then have the unbelieving parents get in the way of His work. If we believe He has chosen us to be part of His Church, then we must also believe He will make a way to baptize the young man/woman. Even more so, we must Believe that THROUGH this young man/womans’ salvation that MAYBE the parents will see their need to be saved. Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Tiffany
Yes. Because if a child is mature enough to be saved, and walk with Jesus, and take his cross, the parent should see that the child’s decisions gets him to heaven and he’s making the right one. So absolutely….not the parent’s decision.

Leticia
I think that you should pray to God and ask what you should do; He will answer, if God wants it He will make it happen. I don’t think God would have put the child before you if He did not want them baptized though.

Jeremy
It’s a difficult thing to say for every situation. For one you could give the parents a wrong impression and potentially lose grasp of them. At the same time, if you don’t react, you could lose that person or they could die between then. So if the parents won’t budge and outright refuse to allow it, then DO IT, because Jesus said so. Now what would happen to that kid if he listened to his parents, but died without baptism, do you think he’ll make it? TAKE no chances. If your mom or dad told you, you cannot repent, would you listen to them? Jesus said to repent, and in this case be baptized. If the parents seem to have room for conversion that you see, but they are not sure about Baptism, don’t push the issue, but pray and ask God to open their hearts, maybe their will be a time when they will say yes. But all and all you must be baptized whether it means life or death, because Jesus said that those that lose their life would find it. Pray if you find me in error.

Jesse
Acts 5:29 “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Every person has an obligation to obey the Gospel, and there should be nothing that stops one. Human authority does not supersede God’s ruling. I know one young man who was a teenage Muslim; he got converted and baptized without his parent’s permission. They kicked him out of the house and disowned him at 16 yrs old. He obeyed God, and suffered some persecution, which is possible. Should he have “obeyed” his parents, he could be lost today. There must be balance in all laws and there is an exception to HONOR your parents, and that is service to God. Just as a marriage, a spouse must first obey God even if their spouse disagrees.

Raul Sanchez
As with all very important decisions in a youth’s life; parental consent should be required if under age. I read somewhere in a Pastor’s book that a parent’s permissions should be required even if the young person wants to get baptized. Interesting huh?

Randy Poleson
Absolute not! You do not sin to do right. To go against the parents wishes is to not honor them as this child’s parents. Read the 10 commandments! Or do these only apply to Jews? How can this child ‘honor’ his Mother and Father and disobey their expressed wishes? He should wait until he is 18 and then he can make his own choices.

Lester
Yes, you should. if the young person really want to be a Christian or Christ follower and to be save, then, if he/she decided to be saved then, it is his/her right. Regarding the parents, they do not have the right to stop the young person.

This article “Baptizing Youth against Parental Wishes” by Various Authors was excerpted from: www.ibcperspectives.com website. February 2011. It may be used for study & research purposes only.