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what do you think of people that have their lo's christened when they are not reallt religous?

146 replies

pregnantbabyelephant · 21/11/2007 19:35

good excuse for a party ? nice to introduce the baby to the extended family ?
better to have a naming service? has anyone actually done this ?

better saved for those that do go to church on a regular basis ?
or ok for those that dont go to church but are just belivers?

is it something people do to please the older people in the families like the gp's?

OP posts:
Howdydoody · 24/11/2007 21:57

Suppose they would actually attend the church?

Hulababy · 24/11/2007 21:59

But to me you don't have to enter a church to be religious.

amytheearwaxbanisher · 24/11/2007 22:00

i think people can be religious without going to church organised religion isnt for everyone dont think we had to pay but a donation could be givin which we of course did

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Howdydoody · 24/11/2007 22:06

Very true Hulababy.

Seems a shame to me that people will walk over hot coals to get their dcs into a good/church school (even actually attend the church )but being christened just doesnt seem to engender the same level of importance.

TinkerbellesMum · 24/11/2007 22:10

I thought John Baptised adults?

Peter said (Acts 3)

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ?Men and brethren, what shall we do??
38 Then Peter said to them, ?Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

He is telling people to make a decision for themselves to have their sins forgiven. A child can not make this decision, they are not capable of repenting.

There is no where in The New Testament that shows instances of children being baptised, every instance if of believers being baptised.

You are right, I know baptism well enough to be able to come against your arguements. There aren't any christening arguements that are based in The Bible.

I have found a link that explains it better than I can.

ArmadilloDaMan · 24/11/2007 22:26

I agree with hatwoman completely on this - whether you are religious is not a simple yes/no question for many.

I haven't had ds christened yet - but I would like to.

Me and dp don't attend church at all nowadays, ds sometimes goes with his gps. I don't know what I believe.

However both me and dp come from quite religious families (dp's mum was recently made a deacon) and church has been a big part of our lives.

Because of this, and because of the place of the Church in the state, certain rites/ceremonies are as large a part of BRitish culture as they are religious. Many people do it although they wouldn't maybe describe themselves as religious because it is a rite of passage, a cultural thing, the way things are done - that isn't hypocritical in my view. IT's as much a belief as christianity.

The schools thing I don't have much of a view on tbh.

Most the vicars I have known would welcome a child's christening, regardless of whether that child or parents were a regular member of the congregation because they would want to welcome them into their faith and share their faith regardless of this.

I don't particularly view it as a christian action to tell people they shouldn't be doing it or that they are hypocrites.

Christ said 'let the little children come to me' not 'unless their parents aren't real believers'. He believed in welcoming all regardless of what they believed.

hatwoman · 24/11/2007 22:38

good use of that quote armadilloDaMan. Jesus talked an awful lot of sense (and I'm not "religious")

Twinklemegan · 24/11/2007 22:45

Well in my case I guess I was hedging my bets. I had it nagging at the back of my mind what I was told at school about the belief that unbaptised babies don't go to Heaven. Now I know that is just a story put about by the Church in medieval times to keep people in line, but I couldn't get it out of my head. Hence DS was christened.

Also, I did have a religious upbringing and I guess I wanted to thank God for finally giving me my son after years of disappointments.

So many reasons really, but I'm afraid I haven't been to church since. Personally I don't think you have to be a churchgoer to believe in God and be a Christian.

Ellbell · 24/11/2007 22:59

Twinklemegan... The Catholic Church 'dropped' the belief in Limbo last year sometime.

Twinklemegan · 24/11/2007 23:25

Thank goodness for that - it's a horrible thought. Having studied archaeology and reading about unbaptised infants being buried on the north (Devil's) side of the church and such like - it's funny how things just play on your mind. And I'm not even a Catholic.

TinkerbellesMum · 24/11/2007 23:33

Not that any of that is based on The Bible anyway. The Catholic church seems to have a lot of ideas that were seemingly plucked out of thin air at some point!

dd666 · 24/11/2007 23:39

we were christened as a child because my sister is terminally ill and she was so we were all done at same time!
we are believers but not in your face about our beliefs and occasionally go to church!

Twinklemegan · 24/11/2007 23:57

As the general population were mostly illiterate I guess they could say what they liked to literally put the fear of God into people. Cynic? Moi?

TinkerbellesMum · 25/11/2007 00:45

That's exactly it. The "church" kept control of the masses by telling them what The Bible said and by keeping it in another language. They also kept themselves higher than the people by being the only ones who understood The Bible (Latin speakers).

No need to be cynical, it's the truth. Today we can read for ourselves and we are finding a lot of these myths that have no Biblical basis. Unfortunately, for a lot of people, centuries of priests being exhaulted have an effect on their lives (see this threads responses) and they will still believe man over God.

I had a verse earlier about that calling God a liar. It's late and I can't think where it was.

TinkerbellesMum · 25/11/2007 00:46

I just saw the double meaning in what I posted!

Masses = population.

Sorry, I'm not "religious" so I didn't see that in it's religious sense until I read it back lol

TinkerbellesMum · 25/11/2007 00:55

And as I've said before, TwinkleMegan, my daughter was pronounced dead at three hours old. The only minister who visited her was my Grandad (can't remember if he came to the hospital whilst she was still in my room even) my other grandad saw her in her coffin. We declined the staff when they offered to call the Chaplin (now know she is a friend of my grandad's best friend and into the SANDS type work so would probably have been a good person to have visit me) because we don't need anyone to go to God for us, that's what Jesus is there for. Mum Dedicated her for us.

You know what? We believe she is waiting in Heaven for us and that she didn't need to be splashed with water to get there! We believe that Jesus took her hand and took her there and that He waited for our permission to take her.

(I had strong beliefs before my daughter was born, I'm not justifying her place in Heaven. I don't need to. Jesus did that when He died on the cross)

amytheearwaxbanisher · 25/11/2007 01:04

just wanted to say tinkerbell that some angels are too good for this world and your baby is one of them she will be looking over and waiting for her mummy in heaven.god,heaven,jesus and religion is not in the paperwork its deeper than that.

TinkerbellesMum · 25/11/2007 01:50

Some things go beyond religion, religion is artificially restrictive.

Thank you for that, my daughter is very special, she did a brave thing that means I have Tink. If she hadn't survived birth they would have called her a miscarriage and then she would have been "one of those things" instead they knew something was wrong with me and could stop it happening to Tink. I believe she knew, my miracle, my angel.

OK, now I'm getting teary! (It's been one of those days weeks um... just one of those...)

amytheearwaxbanisher · 25/11/2007 01:57

well you certainly allowed if not one of those then millions of those moments

Doodledootoo · 25/11/2007 11:59

Message withdrawn

TinkerbellesMum · 25/11/2007 20:23

Doodledootoo, I'm glad that you found that link helpful! I read it and was reading bits out to my dad "Isn't that the verse we were looking at?!" "Isn't that what I said?!"

It's a brilliant page, I don't know anything about the people who wrote it and I've not read anything else there, so I'm not necessarily backing them, just that page. (Thought I'd add a disclaimer lol).

I was having a really bad day yesterday and talking about Lily-Hope set me off a little bit.

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