To think its weird people use siblings as godparents

[Gimmeareason]

I mean, they will already be the kid's uncle or aunt, so whats the point?

To me the most important thing to look for in a Godparent is someone that will pray for your children. I chose my Sister as a Godparent for all 4 of mine!

Well Strauss is coming across as deeply unpleasant.

Agree with strauss actually. Most people on this thread appointing godparents seem to totally misunderstand the role, wrongly believing it gives guardian status when it is a purely religious commitment.

I am technically a catholic and 'lifelong membership' means nothing to me - it neither benefits or disadvantages me in any way. So I don't think it is a big deal that a pp had her dc christened just to make her dh happy. Presumably it has meaning to him and that is good enough.

I am also a godmother to two children. One of them I don't see because I lost touch with his parent and with the other I view my role as being someone they can rely on for help and support if they should ever need it. But I am still close to that child's mum.
I can't support them in the religion specifically because I don't believe, but I would follow the parents wishes in supporting my godchild because that is what they chose me to do, if the worst happened and they were not around.

Traditionally a godparent is responsible of the child's Christian salvation so if the child renounces their faith the godparent is the one held responsible (with the parents I guess) before God. So I guess it's probably better to choose people based on who you think will be best at that very challenging job rather than based on their relationship to you (so if your brother would be best then choose him).

Obviously I realise that isn't why people have godparents now but to be honest I'm not sure why non religious parents have godparents so I can't say what the rules are for choosing

What does "member of the RC church mean"

Didnt you find that out before you married one member and bred a few more?

I have 4 dc.
DH’s sister and BIL and my sister and BIL have godparenting duties for two each of my kids.
We aren’t religious. The only reason dc are baptised was for local good school. And a piss up. Obviously

@Starwhisperer

How so? I haven't meant to be.

@peppapigearworm

I know what some people think it means but in actuality, it means nothing.

You have meant to be, and you know it.

And it does mean something. It means you are a liar with no principles and no respect.

@peppapigearworm

You believe in deo gratius which means your principles are frightening. Truly scary. You believe in stoning of gays, punishment for the victims of rape, parting of seas, rising from the dead, ancestral sin ...

If you can give me any kind of good explanation as to why babies are born with sin and any child who dies before being baptised has their own special hell to go to, I will treat your beliefs with respect.

You won't.

You can't.

You may ignore my question or bypass it but you certainly can't defend the position I argue against.

I suspect that this is the end of your posting on this thread. After all, it's easy online to ignore difficult questions.

Wow Strauss. You really don't sound as clever as you think you are.

You mock your dh beliefs but throw your dc at it. Will they be taking communion too?

I bet there's an Outstanding faith school very near where you live...

I don't believe in anything. How odd of you to assume such a thing. I am not religious.

I just think liars who have no respect for other people are below contempt.

And ouch for you.

StraussN Catholics are baptised not christened.

I'm Catholic but don't really have many Catholic friends, my brother is a priest, the whole point of godparents at a Catholic baptism is to be a good role model and help the child to be a good Catholic, so he was the best person for the job.

DS was baptised as a teen and chose his own godparents - his auntie and granddad. They are the people he looks up to most after us and liked the idea of having that extra bond with them.

sparkly is that true? I was christend in europe a catholic and it was definetly called a christening then.

@HipToBeSquare

No idea if they'll take communion. I hope not.

I can't think of a nice-sounding way to say that they go to an excellent / expensive school. Religion has no bearing. £16k is all it takes.

There's an outstanding faith school near us ...

@SparklyUnicornPoo

I know, I asked,

"If you can give me any kind of good explanation as to why babies are born with sin and any child who dies before being baptised has their own special hell to go to, I will treat your beliefs with respect."

Will you answer?

Martha Definitely true, baptism is the first of the seven sacraments, which claims the child for Christ and the church, a Christening is a naming ceremony, hence in the creed we say 'We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.'

Oh wow cool. Where i am from we always just called them christenings including padres priest

*priest i meant

"forgiveness of sins" - what sins are those?

What would happen to an unbaptised (still born, for example) child @sparklyUnicornPoo

I agree with OP - siblings should have a role in their niece or nephew's life anyway. Godparents are different - a friendly shoulder to cry on outside the family who can provide extra support and guidance in a child's life. I'm a churchgoer and my husband is atheist, so we appointed two godparents and two 'oddparents' to each of our children. My husband didn't attend the christenings, but in each case we had a party after (we did it as first birthday celebrations as well) and appointed the oddparents there. We chose family friends and also SIL's partner. It works for us.

Unbaptised babies don't go to hell, they go to purgatory where they are prepared for heaven, no one goes from purgatory to hell, nor do they stay in purgatory forever, also a child can be baptised after death. We are all born with the taint of original sin, from Adam and Eve, it removed our original pure and holy state and replaced it with human nature.

There is no specific teaching in the Bible about stillborn infants or babies born before they can be baptised.
Modern belief is that this babies will not be punished for although they have "inherited" the original sins of Adam they've not commuted any sin themselves. There's several things in the Bible that imply little babies and children are viewed as innocents in the eyes of God.