Let us examine the early Christians' departure from the biblical practice of baptism.
Ignatius (A.D. 110):
"It is not permitted to...baptize independently of the Bishop."
So let us get this straight. In order to get baptized, you need to ask the Bishop for permission. Is it not interesting how far this concept deviates from the practice of the New Testament? In the New Testament, once they made a profession of faith, they were immediately baptized.
Justin Martyr (A.D. 150):
"All who accept and believe as true the things taught and said by us, and who would undertake to have the power to live accordingly, are taught to pray and entreat God, fasting, for the forgiveness of their former sins, while we join their prayer and fasting. Then we bring them to a place where there is water, where they are regenerated in the same way we were."
Not only do you need to ask permission from the Bishop in order to get baptized, but now there is even mandatory prayer and fasting. Also, in case you missed it, a person is not born again when they believe on Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, but rather when they are baptized. The New Testament's simplicity of "repent, believe on the Lord Jesus, and be baptized," has been complicated and changed into "believe on the Lord Jesus, repent over a lengthy period of time with prayer and fasting, and then, after receiving permission from the Bishop, be baptized, at which point in time you will be born again."
Tertullian (A.D. 200):
"The unwed should be deferred for temptation is waiting for them as alike in the case of the virgins because of their maturity, as in the case of the widowed because they are without partners. Let them wait until they marry, or until they are strengthened for continence. Those who understand the importance of baptism will rather fear its attainment rather than its delay."
"...there are sins too ruinous, and too serious to receive pardon. Such are murder, idolatry, fraud, denial of Christ, blasphemy, and of course adultery and fornication... Christ will no more intercede for those: he who has been born of God will never commit them: if he has committed them he will not be a son of God."
"All waters, after the invocation of God, attain the sacramental power of sanctification: for the Spirit straightway comes upon them from the heavens and is upon the waters sanctifying them by His own power: and being thus sanctified they are imbued at the same time with the power of sanctifying."
Wow! Now single people cannot get baptized (and therefore born again) unless the Bishop is pleased beyond all doubt that a person is beyond the possibility to commit sexual sin before receiving baptism. Baptism now only covers past sins, but not subsequent sins. This is basically where the idea of sinless perfection began. A "Christian" is apparently "an individual who is beyond serious sin." A person is supposedly born again in baptism because the Holy Spirit turns the water into "holy water," which then cleanses a person from past sins and cause them to become born again and sanctified against the committal of future sins. So the water is imbued with magical powers through the blessing of a priest. This is nothing more than superstition, which the Catholic church is chock full of.
Cyprian (A.D. 250):
"A man is not born by imposition of the hand when he receives the Holy Spirit, but in baptism."
Yet again we see the false idea of baptismal regeneration. Moreover, though someone may have received the Spirit by the laying on of hands, they were not considered born again until they had been baptized. In a matter of 150-200 years, the sacrament of baptism became overly corrupted.