Have you been Baptised?

[IglooDame]

I was raised Catholic until my early teens or so, so yes I was baptized with the sprinkling/pouring of a cup of water style. I am not offended or upset about it, my parents were doing what they thought best for my well-being and frankly I'm grateful to them for it, notwithstanding the fact that I've rejected the Catholic dogma.

 

[classical_hero]

Well then we must disagree - I think infant baptism is a sick tactic.

A mechanism for a desperate church to have a production line of instant members...

.....

I must agree with you on this one Curt.

 

[GenMarshall]

I wonder what the advantages of a belever's baptism would be over an infant baptism . I am just confused right now if I chose the right side or not. One one hand, I see infant baptism as a way for a child to be brought up into the faith while on the other hand the child should wait untill he or she is old enough to make his or her own decisions and go forward with a belevers baptism.

Also, I doubt that I would recive a belevers baptism since my denomination does frown uppon it and states that my infant baptism is the only valid one.

 

[downtown]

I wonder what the advantages of a belever's baptism would be over an infant baptism . I am just confused right now if I chose the right side or not. One one hand, I see infant baptism as a way for a child to be brought up into the faith while on the other hand the child should wait untill he or she is old enough to make his or her own decisions and go forward with a belevers baptism.

Also, I doubt that I would recive a belevers baptism since my denomination does frown uppon it and states that my infant baptism is the only valid one.

I dont see how not baptising an infant makes it impossible to bring a child up in faith. You can certainly teach a child a values system, and help him understand the church and whatnot without dunking him in water. If you find yourself at odds with "your church", maybe its time to check out another one. There are an awful lot of christian churches you know, besides the catholic one

 

[classical_hero]

I wonder what the advantages of a belever's baptism would be over an infant baptism . I am just confused right now if I chose the right side or not. One one hand, I see infant baptism as a way for a child to be brought up into the faith while on the other hand the child should wait untill he or she is old enough to make his or her own decisions and go forward with a belevers baptism.

Also, I doubt that I would recive a belevers baptism since my denomination does frown uppon it and states that my infant baptism is the only valid one.

Believer's Baptism is the Biblical method. You will never se an infant being baptised in the Bible. You will always see those who first believed in the Gospel, then they were baptised. An infant cannot do that.

 

[GenMarshall]

So in a sense, I was baptized against my will as an infant?

 

[The Last Conformist]

I don't think you had a will as an infant, not the sort of will to make a decision like that.

In my local church, we've got something called "child blessing", which is a kind of replacement for infant baptism; expressing the parents wish to bring up the child as a Christian, and asking for God to protect the child, but not an actual baptism.

 

[classical_hero]

So in a sense, I was baptized against my will as an infant?

You can't make such choices as a n infant, because you do not have all the capabilities that an older person has. It is only one you have understadning, that this can be done.

 

[GenMarshall]

You can't make such choices as a n infant, because you do not have all the capabilities that an older person has. It is only one you have understadning, that this can be done.

So for someone like me, who has gone through infant baptism and then fell out of church and became an agnostic. It would be a waste of a sacrement?

Its just now recently I rediscovered God and Jesus and just felt the need to get rebaptized but most of the majority Christian denominations frown on rebaptisms . Right now, I am a self declared Non-Denominational Christian ATM.

I don't think you had a will as an infant, not the sort of will to make a decision like that.

In my local church, we've got something called "child blessing", which is a kind of replacement for infant baptism; expressing the parents wish to bring up the child as a Christian, and asking for God to protect the child, but not an actual baptism.

I wished the Vatican II had done that so that I would not have to worry about my validy of baptism .

 

[puglover]

So for someone like me, who has gone through infant baptism and then fell out of church and became an agnostic. It would be a waste of a sacrement?

In my opinion, if you believe in total depravity of man and predestination, then infant baptism is logical. If God predestined everything in history to act according to his plan, infant baptism is like asking God to plan the infant's future to lead to salvation.

 

[Johann MacLeod]

no, i was raised Quaker and they dont seem to Baptise. or at least the meeting i go to (i only do every couple monthes these days my dad goes more often) doesn't...

 

[CurtSibling]

I must agree with you on this one Curt.

If it is an adult person making a choice to induct into a particular faith, I can hang with that.

 

[CurtSibling]

So in a sense, I was baptized against my will as an infant?

There is not much point in making someone join a religion until they are old
enough to understand the tenets and meaning of the faith they wish to join...

A baby has no ability to know what is going on...

However, an adult can make a choice to follow a spiritual path.

 

[downtown]

So for someone like me, who has gone through infant baptism and then fell out of church and became an agnostic. It would be a waste of a sacrement?

Its just now recently I rediscovered God and Jesus and just felt the need to get rebaptized but most of the majority Christian denominations frown on rebaptisms . Right now, I am a self declared Non-Denominational Christian ATM.

sounds like a waste to me. Why dont you hit up the new testement, and check what Jesus himself had to say on the subject? Maybe it can clear stuff up for you.
I dunno what churches, other than the catholic one, frown on bapitism past infancy. Baptists, Mormons, and i think most Presbterians allow baptisim afterwards.

 

[Hitro]

I wasn't baptised as my mother is (or at least was back then) a Christian and my father an Atheist. They decided that it should be up to "the baby" to decide later on when it can make that decision itself. Rather unusual, as baptising is very common here also for not exactly religious people out of a tradition.

I then later was more or less forced to join confirmation class where I eventually left forever, having been an Atheist for as long as I can think.