So I've believed for a while now that the doctrine of paedocommunion is one that we should be upholding. My elders don't agree, and I'm doing some study to attempt to convince them otherwise, so my son can take communion as early as possible. But all the Biblical arguments aside, my old buddy Josh Gibbs has a wonderfully simple explanation for all of this (even though he has no idea I'm reposting this here and probably didn't intend for me to use it as such - sorry) which I am putting here for the benefit of all who read it:
"We assume that knowing means being able to explain, but God differs. Fresh from the womb, infants know how to digest food, how to grow hair. They know what all of their internal organs are and how to govern them on a minute by minute, second by second basis. The infant's inability to explain how the body works does not affect the infant's ability to clot blood at an open wound or discern what elements of digested food need to be expelled or contained. We know far more than we can express- as infants or adults. Hell, I don't know what all my guts do. That is, I do, but I can't explain it.
And if the body may know something and not be able to express it, even as an infant, what about the soul of that infant? The Lord has given knowledge to the infant on how to stay alive on a purely biological level. And what about a spiritual level?"
Great stuff.
I love it. I wish that would work here...Gabriel is very eager to take communion, but the way things are here it will be another 5 years.
Posted by: Rachel at August 15, 2007 10:51 AM