Why do Mormons think it's OK to baptize a kid who just turned eight but not a kid who is seven?

Question

Do kids who are 8 yrs. and 1 day old have more free will than kids who are 7 years and 364 days old?

Answer 1

For me, the real question is: if they think a child is incapable of understanding such things before the age of eight, why don't they wait until then to begin to *teach* religion? If one is not old enough to understand, it's simply indoctrination.
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Answer 2

Hmm, it's been a while since I studied Piaget and child cognitive development, but from what I recall from college way back in 1988 there have actually been studies done on the average age children internalize moral values and start operating on more of their own internal sense of right and wrong. Piaget determined that the age of 8 was the age children do so. I have a class full of 7-year-olds every week, and based on a small group like this, I would still say there is a huge difference between the ones who are just a month or two from turning 8 and the ones who have another 8 or 9 months to go. Some of it is just a matter of maturation, but one sweet little girl also has a developmental disability. Children are interviewed before baptism the same as grown-up potential converts, by the way, even if the questions for adults include a few more items that children probably have never heard of. It's just a matter of teaching children, and if parents also feel the children are ready, they can be baptized. It's not a question of "free will" but just a matter of accountability. Funny, isn't it, that we think Joseph Smith was told the age of 8 from God, and all these smart child psychologists hadn't been born yet.

Answer 3

Yes the children have to be at leat 8 Years old! Some kids who might be a little slow or whatever are allowed to wait longer.(with persission) But at about the age of 2 to 3 the children sing songs and do crafts about being baptised at 8 and marrying in the TEMPLE, etc.... This church starts the kids young to program this lifestyle into them! This is the only way for them to live and be raised basically!! Very sad!!

Answer 4

I don't know if Mormons have a certain age. Most Christian's baptize when they feel the child is old enough to understand what they are doing. Some children mature and have understanding at different times so we wait until the child requests baptism.

Answer 5

Draw the line anywhere you like and the same question arises. Move the line up to age 56 for example and once again we are entitled to ask why someone aged 56 plus 1 day has more free will than someone aged aged 55 plus 364 days. When you look at it like that, you realise that the question is probably invalid.

Answer 6

Eight is what we call "the age of accountability."

Free-will (the ability to make choices) happens from birth, of course every kid is different, accountability means not only do they know how to make choices, they can understand right, wrong, repentance, and the promises they're making with God.

Does one day really make that big of a difference in a child's understanding? Probably not, but eight is the age God instructed us to baptize at, and there's something to be said for following God's instructions.

Answer 7

10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.

11 And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

12 But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

(Book of Mormon | Moroni 8:10 - 12)

Before rejecting our teachings, please consider the purpose of baptism, also where is it in the Bible that say, you have to be baptized when you are a innocent baby?

Answer 8

Age 8 is considered the "age of accountiblity" by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). At that age, children have the ability to be accountible for their actions and behaviors.

Answer 9

The doctrine isnt build on common sense and sometimes not even on its own doctine!

Don't worry about it, none of it's true anyways.