I'm an atheist but my first child will be baptized and I don't want to be disrespectful of the church
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The child can still be baptized if they want to enter the Church later. I feel you should point that out. It would be a happy medium. Just because your wife wants it doesn't mean your feelings should be thrown under the bus.
She may not be devout, but she does still hold her beliefs. I want to respect those, which is why I'm going along with it.
Quite frankly it's more important to her that the kid gets baptized than it is to me that the kid doesn't.
You should ask your mother in law and the grandmother to pray for your child , as they sound like the only ones who know God ..... See baptism or dedication to Jesus give God spiritual authority to protect the child , and a must for Heaven bound people
I'm sure the church or priest makes a few bucks on this ritual. Money is always at the root. My god parents have been dead for eons, and I'm a godmother to a couple and we've all lost total contact. People move on and move with their lives.
Do they? In churches which only baptize believers, those as well as dedication of babies is just rolled into a Sunday service. The movie scenes where it is only a Catholic priest and the invited family around may be a little different.
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Originally Posted by kayanne
Have you considered just letting the child choose to baptized later if s/he feels so inclined? That's what I did with all my children, and I was a full-fledged Bible-believing Christian back then.
You don't understand. It is not about the child, it is about the extended family who believes the theology that the child may be in peril if something happens before the child is able to accept or reject the family's faith
Do they? In churches which only baptize believers, those as well as dedication of babies is just rolled into a Sunday service. The movie scenes where it is only a Catholic priest and the invited family around may be a little different.
You don't understand. It is not about the child, it is about the extended family who believes the theology that the child may be in peril if something happens before the child is able to accept or reject the family's faith
OH! Ok, you're right, I did not understand that was the reason for it. Wow, so some people believe that a little baby, or child, who dies without having been baptized, is "in peril"??? And by that, I assume you mean will go to hell? To me, that is such an outrageous belief that I could have nothing to do with it or to perpetuate such nonsense.
I think OP needs to stand up for truth. And I think it's pretty safe to say that the TRUTH does not mean unbaptized babies will go to hell. Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't believe in hell. But how could anyone believe that a god exists who would send babies to hell?!?
"You were baptized as a child" shows to the child the commitment and desires of the parents. Probably not too much harm at all, but that depends on later circumstances.
So here's my question: how can I participate while still being respectful of the church and the pastor? Just because I don't share their beliefs doesn't mean I want to make a mockery of the process.
Why not! Why celebrate wilful ignorance and superstition??
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I'm really trying to be respectful of everyone's beliefs.
Again...why? What makes you think people's 'beliefs' should warrant 'respect'?
OH! Ok, you're right, I did not understand that was the reason for it. Wow, so some people believe that a little baby, or child, who dies without having been baptized, is "in peril"??? And by that, I assume you mean will go to hell? To me, that is such an outrageous belief that I could have nothing to do with it or to perpetuate such nonsense.
I think OP needs to stand up for truth. And I think it's pretty safe to say that the TRUTH does not mean unbaptized babies will go to hell. Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't believe in hell. But how could anyone believe that a god exists who would send babies to hell?!?
Well in the case of the most fundamental grandparents it would be the case. They may even go as far as to baptize the baby themselves when sitting if they can't find a priest willing to go behind the parents back. So you have the official position to baptize even when the priest or bishop knows a child won't be raised in the faith as with unmarried parents or same sex couples but play I see nothing and pretend there is a chance that they will while giving the opposite example at home.
For others of the extended family it is like a wedding ceremony, as opposed to just signing a certificate for the state, the preliminary event to the party given to celebrate the birth. And if that party doesn't happen then the greater community knows they, the grandparents, failed in keeping their children in the faith
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