You're probably right. I would imagine it was "just done" 40+ years ago. I am just north of 40 and I was christened, but my two younger brothers were not.
Both my kids have made their own religious decisions.
Baptism
- Thread starter JLM
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You're probably right. I would imagine it was "just done" 40+ years ago. I am just north of 40 and I was christened, but my two younger brothers were not.
Both my kids have made their own religious decisions.
Quote: Originally Posted by petros
Not one mention of annointing?
Annoiting is part of baptism so it's spot on. If you want salvation you have to earn it.
Born againers take the easy way out. If I remember correctly, baptism is an ancient pagan rite.Quote: Originally Posted by petrosNot one mention of annointing?Annoiting is part of baptism so it's spot on. If you want salvation you have to earn it.
True
I was baptised but none of my kids were. I was even confirmed in the Anglican Church when I was about 13.....................mother's idea!
That is an excellent reason. Actually these thumpers that come to the door every weekend do more to repel religion than to attract it. They should just M.T.O.B.
In other words, Baptism is not valid in your eyes. Why start the thread?
Really, if that's the case, why do you continue to start these threads?
Ummmm...yes it has been established, you just won't believe in it.
and this last one is the most blatant bash.
Just because you stuff a laughing smilie behind everything you post, doesn't make it OK.
There's a few things in life that are particularly heinous where laughing is in poor taste, but I don't happen to think religion is one of them.
There is a difference between baptising someone who understands the rite and agrees with it and baptising someone to whom to it's meaningless.
That's what Confirmation as all about but I guess you were too cranky to pay attention when your mom mentioned why she wanted you to be Confirmed.
Anointment and Baptism came from the Hebrews and was carried on by Christians.
Yes it does, to some. To some people it's a washing away of Original Sin, to others it's the ritual of introduction to a particular religious belief system, to some it's both, and to yet others it's meaningless BS, and no doubt there are many other shades of meaning to it for different people. All churches that practice baptism will readily tell you what they think it's about. I'd have thought this is common knowledge you could easily have discovered with any search engine. Whether it's useful or not depends on what you believe to be true and what you think the ritual means. I don't know why anyone would even need to ask such a question in a place like this, the answers are readily available with a pretty minimal effort, so I don't think that's really the question you meant to ask. I think you're asking what CC members think it means, and you've got a fair sample of disparate responses from people of different belief systems.
And just for the record, I think it's a meaningless ritual that has nothing to do with any version of reality that makes sense to me and everything to do with certain mystical belief systems that have no roots in reality. But that's what any atheist would tell you.
I wouldn't worry about the indoctrination part of it too much. Every one of my brothers and sisters were baptized as infants and none of us are Christians. As a matter of fact only one of us practices any sort of religion. That being said, it is no business of the grandparents what you do with your child - provided you are not into some sort of religious cult like Christianity.
To state it serves a useful purpose in in fact in the eye of the persons affected by the ceremony.
If people receive comfort and assurance by said practice I see no harm in it at all. It is better that
someone feels a sense of peace and assurance within their belief structure. Its better than feeling
insecurity and doubt. Its where the dominion of religion and the message of the sixties converge.
If it feels good do it.
If people receive comfort and assurance by said practice I see no harm in it at all. It is better that
someone feels a sense of peace and assurance within their belief structure. Its better than feeling
insecurity and doubt. Its where the dominion of religion and the message of the sixties converge.
If it feels good do it.
Sadly, outside of the bible there is almost zero historical evidence that Christ ever existed. In fact there is more evidence of the existence of Santa Claus than there is of Christ. He may have existed, but apparently no one other than the early early Christians noticed it; and most of them got their information second hand. As such, it turns out that even the existence of Christ is pretty much based on faith rather than historical documentation.
Neither would I, you can't indoctrinate somebody with no language skills. Indoctrination comes a bit later in life than infancy and really has nothing directly to do with baptism, but it still usually comes too early in a person's life, before they have the intellectual skills to think critically about it and make a reasoned decision about it for themselves. That's not a choice most of us get, we accept parental authority initially and most of us never get to challenging it, it's just accepted as received wisdom and breaking out of it as an adult can be bloody difficult and painful.
Yes it does, to some. To some people it's a washing away of Original Sin, to others it's the ritual of introduction to a particular religious belief system, to some it's both, and to yet others it's meaningless BS, and no doubt there are many other shades of meaning to it for different people. All churches that practice baptism will readily tell you what they think it's about. I'd have thought this is common knowledge you could easily have discovered with any search engine. Whether it's useful or not depends on what you believe to be true and what you think the ritual means. I don't know why anyone would even need to ask such a question in a place like this, the answers are readily available with a pretty minimal effort, so I don't think that's really the question you meant to ask. I think you're asking what CC members think it means, and you've got a fair sample of disparate responses from people of different belief systems.
And just for the record, I think it's a meaningless ritual that has nothing to do with any version of reality that makes sense to me and everything to do with certain mystical belief systems that have no roots in reality. But that's what any atheist would tell you.
We were having a bit of a family discussion about it last night but wasn't getting very far with it. All my sibling's kids are baptised, but since none of them are particularly religious, I don't see the benefit.
Which is why I think introducing anyone under the age of reason to religion is abuse.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]By the time of Jesus purification with water was already an ancient Pagan sacrament. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Purification -- from unclean foods, or acts, or contacts -- is an idea so old it fades into pre-history. Pagans purified themselves with fire, incense, blood sacrifice, they even purified themselves with a winnowing fan or sea onions! But the most used, most widespread tool of pagan purification was...water.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Baptism Pagan Christ
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That's very sad that you've chosen to believe that.
Did Peter, who knew Jesus, did he exist?
What about Paul, who wrote a good portion of the NT, did he exist? What about lesser known persons named in the bible, like the sorcerer Paul told off, Elymas, did he exist?
How about King David? Saul? Jonathan? Ruth? Boaz? Mary? Abraham? Isacc? Joseph? Daniel? How about King Darius who threw Daniel into the lions pit? He never existed either?
It's fascinating that you pick-and-choose who think is real and who isn't, for your own convenience, while criticizing people who believe that they all existed.
I suppose you haven't heard the good news!
You can NEVER earn salvation - because you don't earn gifts. And just to reminder that you have up until your very moment of death to accept the gift of salvation. I hope for you Petros.
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The thing is, some of the characters in the bible were historical figures, some of the events were historical events, and some places were historical places. But like a historical novel, much of the dialogue is fictional. There is extremely little evidence of Jesus of Nazareth having walked the Earth. There were many would be messiahs and many people called Jesus at the time. Which one, if any, he was is the question.
I think what most detractors are concerned about is not what you believe but that you makes statements about Jesus or the bible as if they were fact when there is so little proof. The only proof you really have is that the bible claims to be the word of god and that is not a valid endorsement. The Quran makes the same claim and yet you reject it out of hand without really studying it.