I dont know what it is called or if it is anything different for other religions but what are your views on this? I think parents have a right to do this but really they should wait until the child is old enough to decide for themselves if they want to do this! (Why take that right from them just cause the parants want it done??) Doesnt seem fair doing it right @ birth........
It is a religious choice that doesn't hurt anyone. I don't see the point of being baptised at all, but if someone wants to baptize their kid, then it is right for them.
Submitting the child to the rite itself is harmless, what you shouldn't do is indoctrinating children into religion which compromises his/her mind opennes
childhood indoctrination is what fuels religion, without it religion would die out. when we are told something as a child we instinctively believe it, there are important evolutionary reasons why a child should accept what they are told by someone who is older than they are. It's just a shame that some people feel they should take advantage of this and use it against the child simply to get them to join their particular invisible friend club.
I refused to go to my nephew's christening for this very reason. The child should be of an age where they can make their own decision about entry into the Christian church - Baptists are one group of Christians who believe this too.
If a child is baptised it's not for their benefit - it's for their parents' benefit. So it's not fair to read anything much into it. You need to be old enough to make an informed choice about religion. I would say it's an adult (over 18) choice, although there is some leeway on this depending on origin and culture. There are non-religious alternatives to baptism which offer the same benefits of bringing people together and focusing attention on the child. For instance the humanists offer a naming ceremony which serves the same purpose.
then we should start to comply with every doctrine ever put forward, just in case one or more is true
I got babtized as a baby, but then got babtized on my own at age 24. I think that in the bible it says accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and THEN get babtized. Sure, parents mean well but I think babtism needs to be a choice, like I do not want to decide it for my kid, she has to do it for herself and it will be between her and God.
Baptism as a baby mainly means bringing and giving the baby to God. It's like taking the baby into God's hands and providence to protect him/her. But I agree with Blogmaster, it's necessary to do the 'real' baptism when older, after making that decision to accept the Lord. I was baptised as a baby too but then baptised on my own again.
Interesting to think about whether you would have opted to get baptised for a second time if you were not baptised as a child and told from a young age that you were a member of that particular religion. I think whatever way you spin it, being told something when you were a child effected what you think you "chose" to do as an adult.
I seriously do NOT believe that my choice to choose Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior came from anybody but me myself. I have had influences from Christians, Jews, and Atheists my whole life. In a moment when you surrender to God and make it YOUR choice, you take all of your life's influences into consideration, but the choice that you yourself make, is yours.
I was baptised as a catholic close to birth. My beliefs however are not catholic and I just recently got baptised as a different form of christianity. There is nothing wrong with baptism
You may like to think you done it all by yourself and i'm not denying that the decision to get baptised again was your own. What i deny is that being raised by christian parents, being told from a young age that you are a christian and growing up in a predominantly christian country didn't influence your "decision" heavily, To the point where "choosing" any other religion was highly unlikely.
I was baptized as a baby because my grandparents were Christians. When I was 4 years old my parents moved us to Germany and raised us away from my Christian grandparents. My father is a Muslim and has always been. My mom was not a Christian then but just recently converted (around the same time I got baptized as an adult). I was in the island of Borneo then and my mother was in the metropolitan city, Jakarta. I was in the middle of the rainforest in Kalimantan when I decided to get baptized a second time.
well if you baptise your child and you picked the wrong religion you could be theoretically speaking sending your child to hell? you see theres so many religions and you cant pick one based on geography alone...if you were born by chance in the vatican it does not automatically mean that the roman catholic church is your right choice does it?
I chose not to baptize my son. Some of my Catholic friends criticized me for my decision but I feel very strongly that religion is a personal choice. I was baptized as a Catholic. When I was in high school I become a history buff and soon learned about all the atrociites committed all in the name of religion all through the history of man. I am now non-religious who believes in the god-within, the light inside all of us humans,the capacity for human goodness. My son is still feeling his way around -he's a teenager! but he has a solid understanding of good vs evil and he respects, as I do, everyone else's beliefs...
I see it's very important for all parents to baptise their child/s "think about a sudden death to a child without being baptised?" I'm sorry to say that. I think parents must do their part and help their son/daughter to know the Lord Jesus, and if he/she wanted to walk in another way then,this will be his/her choise.
Im happy to say that when i get married my kids will be baptised. As far as catholicism goes you really need to understand why as a catholic im going to have my kids baptised. It is a bit more complex then putting them into gods hands.