Christenings

[nbcrusader]

Will do.

 

[Liesje]

I have not had my daughter 'done'. I will leave that up to her to decide.

Well, since the thread already got bumped, I might as well sound off.....

...as for baptism, I don't see the logic behind waiting for the child to make the choice. One of the purposes of baptism is for the parents and the church to make a promise to raise the child as a child of God. The choice the child makes later in life is Profession of Faith (Confirmation?).

 

[beli]

Probably. I was raised outside of the church so my understanding was that (infant) baptism is a way of welcoming the child into the church & the community, assisting in the passage to heaven, and presenting a couple of individuals (godparents, guardians) who would look after the child in the event of the death of the parents and also to provide guidance to the child during their lifetime. You can read 'guidance' as spiritual guidance if you are so inclined.

The Procession of Faith is specific to some Christian denominations. In my case, the choice I made later in life would not be considered a Profession of Faith as I profess to have no faith.

All these ceremonies have more to do with the mechanics of the church/religion than God. In my head I see the church and God separetly. If my child decides to believe in God and/or religion shes welcome to and I believe that if she does choose a God that he/she/they will not hold it against her that she didnt worship him/her/them for the first 14 years or so of her life. Maybe Im naive, I just dont think Gods are meant to be nasty.

I dont want her to be like my husband who was raised Catholic and resents it. Hes forever saying that he was baptised Catholic but hes an athiest. (and there aint no bigger athiests then people forced into Catholicism!)

I should point out that I was raised in the outback and the closest church would have been hundreds of kilometres away. My only exposure to religion was via Quaker missionaries who were trying to convert Aboriginals to Christianity. The Aboriginals didnt like them, we didnt like them, and it was always a relief when they moved on to the next town. ie my experience of religion is very negative. It sounds like you have had a positive experience though, which is wonderful.

 

[Liesje]

All these ceremonies have more to do with the mechanics of the church/religion than God.

The intensity of this is also very denomination-specific. For example, I am Christian Reformed and we believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are the only true sacraments because they were the only one's performed by Jesus/God. These I would think have a LOT to do with God simply because their credibility in our church is based on Jesus, as part of the Holy Trinity and one with God, performed them Himself.

But on the other hand, I think some rituals like these are important to the church, even if throughout history they've been twisted and tweaked by different denominations. The mechanics of the church aren't God, but they ARE important. What I mean is, of course you don't have to do either of these to be saved in the end, but they've been a part of the church for over a thousand years and are important metaphorically as well as traditionally significant.

It sounds like you have had a positive experience though, which is wonderful.

 

[beli]

I agree with you about the denomination bit. I originally wrote that and then edited my message. Some people dont like to discuss denominations and can get a bit narky about it if its mentioned. You are obviously not one of those people. Yah!

Hey, by the way, Im a little confused by your smilies. Are you implying that you didnt have a positive experience? Im easily confused.

 

[Liesje]

Hey, by the way, Im a little confused by your smilies. Are you implying that you didnt have a positive experience? Im easily confused.

let's just say the old saying "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" often times applies when it comes to being raised with or without religion. I've been raised Christian Reformed. I am 100% Dutch in ancenstry and all of my relatives were also raised Christian Reformed or Protestant Reformed. I've gone to a Reformed school since I was 4, a VERY old school conservative Reformed church all my life w/ plenty of Catechism and Sunday school class there. Some people call me lucky, but I think whether you were raised with religion or not, there comes a time where you start to question everything and have to essentially relearn everything and how it actually applies to your life, and then make the decision on how to proceed. Since I've been in college, I've learned a lot of things that go against what I was taught when I was young, and a lot of things that confirm it. I've pretty much thrown out everything and started to go over it all piece by piece again so that I actually understand and agree with it, as opposed to being a young kid and going to school and learning it, but not really caring for it or being able to understand the general concepts.