To affirm the Lord's teachings that infants and young children do not need to be baptized, Mormon wrote an epistle to his son, Moroni. In that epistle, which is preserved in chapter 8 in the book of Moroni, Mormon wrote of doctrines that are as applicable today as they were in A.D. 400.
Today, as then, there are those who have perverted the doctrines pertaining to baptism.Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve wrote in Mormon Doctrine: "As with other doctrines and ordinances, apostate substitutes of the real thing are found both among pagans and supposed Christians. Perverted forms of baptism were common among the mystery religions of the Old World."
In Studies in Scripture, Vol. 8 - Alma 30 to Moroni, Monte S. Nyman, in a commentary about Moroni 8, referred to the baptism of little children as "a pernicious doctrine that had been introduced into the Nephite church and seemed always to creep into the church as apostasy began to set in."
In A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, Daniel H. Ludlow noted that those who teach the doctrine of infant baptism "deny that Jesus Christ atoned for original sin, and they the churchesT say that little infants and others who die without baptism cannot be saved in heaven."
Ludlow further wrote: "The Book of Mormon teaches us that Jesus Christ did atone for the original transgression of Adam and Eve, and little children do not need to be baptized until they arrive at the age of accountability and are responsible for their own acts."
In his epistle to Moroni, Mormon said the teachings pertaining to infant baptism "grieveth me exceedingly." (Moro. 8:4.) Mormon counseled his son, "I desire that ye should labor diligently, that this gross error should be removed from among you. . . . For immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter." (Moro. 8:6-7.)
Through the Holy Ghost, Mormon was told:
(BU) Repentance and baptism should be taught "unto those who are capable of committing sin." (Moro. 8:10.)
(BU) Little children "need no repentance, neither baptism" (Moro. 8:11), and . . . "little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world." (Moro. 8:12.)
(BU) ". . . He that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity, for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity." (Moro. 8:14.)
(BU) ". . . He that sayeth that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption." (Moro. 8:20.)
(BU) All little children are without the law, and the "power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law. . . ." (Moro. 8:22.)