This is going to be very controversal since its about religion.

Starr - posted on 08/13/2010

@ sandra. I dont believe at all that because of someones beliefs or non beliefs that they are not teaching the children morals. I think that we have to atleast respent others religions. Who am I or anyone else to judge. It up to everyone to find their own path in life and walk it. We can change our minds a hundred times if we want to. But, I am strong in my faith with God and I will only pray that my children will be too. I wont get them babtized because I know that God will accept them into Heaven. They are sin free. When they become of age I hope that they will take that step for themselves. Yes, if they were to be of another religion it may hurt my heart or my spirit. But, they are my children I will love them no less.

Missie - posted on 08/13/2010

My ex husband is Catholic and so is his family it was important to them that our daughter be Baptized, I am not into organized religion so I agreed. They made us take a class that explained it that I found very helpful and this is my understanding. It is done so that we as her partents will guide her to be a moral and upstanding person and theach her the believe system that the catholic church uses. I do not feel that there is anything wrong with that when she is in about 8th grade she can make the chioce to confrim our choice or not,

Mellissa - posted on 08/13/2010

we didnt baptize my baby.. we dedicated her to the Lord. And a promise to her, our church family, and God to raise her in a Godly home and in church so when she is older she will know!!

Becky Jane - posted on 08/13/2010

i myself do not have a religion and i feel religion is the bane of all wrong dpings however we are not gettin my child baptised till she is old enough to make her own choices, if she wants to do it then thats fine by us.

Kayla - posted on 08/13/2010

a babtisim isnt just about religion but a celebration to you childs life

Sana - posted on 08/13/2010

jackie i agree with you on this .it should be the child's choice as to what religion they want to follow

Jana - posted on 08/12/2010

i'm not exactly religious but i go to church every sunday. i love the community of the church (episcopal) and its a chance to see people i love. okay, so a baptism is really just to introduce your child to the congregation. its to say "i'm going to help my child make good choices in life, be moral, and help them learn about religion" the baptism is more for the parents and god parents than it is for the child. later in life they can decide to get confirmed. that's the one that is their decision. baptism really isn't the child committing to anything, but the people around that child committing to be there to support child if they are needed.

Nicole - posted on 08/12/2010

i am a religious person but no one really knows that i am because i keep it inside of me. i hate bible humpers most are quick to toss the good book before getting the full message themself. and some use the bible to be hateful on others too...jesus didnt hate the lepers and jesus talked to the wench at the well when no one else would. keep these things in mind it is said that no matter what religion you are as long as you believe in god and his son and let in the holy spirit you are loved no matter what you do or who you are. for that i am a firm believe...i was confused as a younger teen because i grew up in a methodist church went to catholic scool and attended mass on fridays and would attend a baptist VBS. every summer. even our your troop took field trips to see other religions in action and i think in this every one does need to keep an open mind.



being as christian as i am i dated an atheist for almost 4 years and now im with an agnostic person the father of our daughter. he even attended the baptismal even though he did not stand up and took her to the pastor and made the promise none the less her went to support me. that is what matters. people had told me before i would go to hell for dating a non christan but in the bible it sas that person can be saved if they can be seen in the eyes of the lord through you. you being wiht them does not make you a bad person. nor does it stifle your chances of entering heaven.



but back to topic here. i had my daughter at a month and a half hol d baptized on mother's day. to me that was a swell treat. i say this because going over the baptismal the wording was for infant that we as the parent promise to do our best to bring our child to the lord to bring them up to know the lord and when they are ready to accept the lord as their savior.



to me this meant i will bring her up with my christian values and teach her of god. and if it is her choice when she is older to decide that religion is not for her. then i kept my promise i raised her to the best of my ability with god as my leader.

Children in the bible are talked of as innocents. and that no matter what the pregnant and the children will be saved. to me getting her baptized will mean she is recognized before the lord till she does make up her own mind. should something happen to her i would know my angel would be in heaven. its like that extra reassurance.



but if you get technical baptism in infancy is what is called a parental promise . confirmation that is the 8th grade year. when you confirm into the church...when you confirm that is saying you do believe in god and willing to follow his ways . the church confirms your baptism and is the end to the promise you made in their infancy

Krystal - posted on 08/12/2010

As a christian I see the baptism of an infant as a promise of a parent to God that you will raise your child with the morals and beliefs that God says you should have as a human.. As the child get's older it is their choice to be baptized again for them to make the promise to God to be a decent respectful human being.. I think baptizing an infant is really a good idea but that's just my belief as a parent

Sandra - posted on 08/12/2010

I am atheist. I personally believe religion is nothing but evil. It is the reasoning for war throughout history. That being said, for those who choose to baptize their babies good for them, I personally don't think that their "God" truly believes that those babies are born with sin, and if he does, he is not a very loving God, because aren't we supposed to "be born in his image?" Therefore he would be creating sinful babies by choice?.
Also when children are older and have a confirmation is it really their own choice? More than likely it is because they still live under their parents roof and they have no choice.

You mention that all these religions are similar? You are right. Have you ever heard of Attis, Dionysus, Osiris, Mithra, if you have not heard of any of them I suggest you research. The ancient Egyptian God, Horus was born of a virgin, had 12 disciples, walked on water, delivered a 'sermon on the mount', performed miracles, was executed beside two thieves, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.

People like to believe that they are right about everything. They do not like to believe that what they have been taught to believe since they were babies might not be 100% true.

My opinion is to be open to ALL religions. By teaching our children that a certain religion is the ONLY right one, we are teaching them to subconsciously disrespect others viewpoints of who they believe is the savior.

I am an atheist and if I told people that I am teaching my daughter not to believe in religion A LOT of people would think bad thoughts of me, thinking that I am not teaching her moral values. The truth is, I will be teaching her about ALL religions and she will be getting good moral values because she knows it is right, NOT because she is fearful of Hell. If she chooses to follow my footsteps at become an atheist, that will be okay with me. If she becomes a nun, I will love her all the same. (Unfortunately not many people share my beliefs, they would be devastated if their child converted. )

Starr - posted on 08/12/2010

So, this conversation might really get heated now. Ive been reading all these posts from moms saying you are Catholic, southern baptist, Jewish, or whatever reliogion that you have listed. Well, then in your posts you say things like Im want my child to decide their own religon so on and so on. So my issue with this is: If you believe that your religon is the right religon then why would you not want to try to raise your child that way? Like, I am a Christian woman who believes the Bible is the gospel, our written path in life. Anything we need to know we can find in the Bible. This was God's blueprints on how to be a Christian. I know that the only way to Heaven is through Jesus Christ! SO THEREFORE, I want to know that my children will be in Heaven with me one day. I want my children to be good Christians. I will instill my beliefs in them because I know that God's way is the only way. Now, this doesnt mean that further down the road they choose a different path. But believe me atleast I can sleep at night knowing I did everything I could to lead them to Christ.

Meagan - posted on 08/12/2010

I feel the same way but I feel like it is up to families to do what is personally best for them. We had my son dedicated to christ at our church since he is still young, and when he is old enough to understand and make the decision we want to have him baptised.

Ashley - posted on 08/12/2010

I don't view infant baptism so much as a decision to be made or to wash away sin but as an act of consecration. When you have your child baptized, you are consecrating him/her to God with the Holy Spirit. You are offering your child up to God as an act of gratitude. That's how I see it at least.

Ashley - posted on 08/12/2010

Well my child was christened when he was 4 months old but he will be baptised again when he is of age to be held responsible for his sins. But in my opininon, to each his own. U should do what u feel because u have to live with your decision and not anyone else

Kylie - posted on 08/12/2010

i was raiseed catholic, and so was my husband, and that is more or less what we beleive, but we aren't very stricked about it. we decided notto make that choice for our son, we will let him ask questions and find out for himself what he wants to beleive or nothing at all.

Misty - posted on 08/12/2010

i was raised to be babtised when your old enough to make the decision for yourself. i never did and not im not really religious. maybe one day i will find it again.

Helen - posted on 08/12/2010

i was brought up catholic and my husband is Methodist as is my son. my son was baptised when he was 5 weeks old and it was us as his parents and godparents that made a promise to raise him guiding him from sin etc. he has not chosen this religious path we decided this for him and we will be quite happy when he is old enough to have his own views about religion and how it effects him etc. choosing a different path if he so wishes. i personally did not want my child to be brought up with out some sort of faith to fall upon if he went through i tough time.

Deonna - posted on 08/12/2010

I should probably also add that we believe in something called the age of accountability. Which simply means that God won't hold a child to the same standards as an adult. In other words, a child cannot make decisions for themselves and if their parents lead them astray it does not affect their chances of getting into heaven. As Nazarenes we don't believe that not baptizing a baby will hurt their chances of getting into heaven. Children don't really know what sin is, so they cannot sin and, therefore, cannot be excluded from heaven.

Deonna - posted on 08/12/2010

We had our baby dedicated. This just means that we pledge that we'll do our best to raise her to know God. We think it should be her decision if she gets baptized. That's a very important and personal decision and my husband and I both believe that she should make that decision for herself.

Ashley - posted on 08/12/2010

My husband and I had this agrument. He believes in dedicating the child to the church, but he believes the child should be old enough to decide when they want to be baptised. I was just brought up that when you have a baby they need to get baptised. Needless to say he won the argument

Melissa - posted on 08/12/2010

Well I was raised Catholic when I was small and I know they believe a baby should be baptised right off so they are touched by the light of god or whatever because if they were unbaptised they were not going to be granted a spot in heaven if they were to die . When I grew up my family went to a methodist church and I know there baptism was a choice for a person to come do and it was a big thing to do it. Also there is the confirmation that I went through in middleschool confirming your faith and the such. After some horrible parts of my life and some non religious upbringing after my parents divorce I'm just not sure where I stand on religion. My husband and I belong to a church but very seldom go. But even after all this I am on the fence about baptism. Part of me freaks out to think my sons are not baptised as babies but also I do believe it should be soley their dicision of what religion they would like to partake in. If they feel like they want to be baptised then they will be on their own time.

Veronique - posted on 08/12/2010

Ok well here i go with my input......I'm a catholic and as a catholic we do baptise are kids in infancy. I understand what you are saying that a child should be of understanding but in the catholic religion we have baptisme,1st communnion and then confermation. To erase the sins ( as you so called it ) that's were confermation comes in. It erases your sins. You also have confession that you can go to anytime in your life. Now i believe in baptizing an infant for the simple reason that if something was to happen to that child before they are of age of understanding they will go to heaven. Now i'm not really religius because i don't go to church but it is a catholic tradition to baptise but all a security for your child god forbis anything happens........

BryLee - posted on 08/12/2010

I THINK CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE BAPTISED UNTIL THEY HAVE REACHED THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY! SO THAT THEY CAN KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON! HOWEVER IN SOME RELIGIONS THEY BAPTISE OR CHRISTEN BABYS VERY YOUNG! SO I GUESS IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOUR RELIGION IS! I ALSO GREW UP IN A SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHURCH!

Amy - posted on 08/12/2010

a lot of churches baptize babies as a symbol... it meanst that they're being baptized in the church, and that the church, community, and family will all do their best to make sure the child grows up in a christian atmosphere...

Courtney - posted on 08/12/2010

My parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and I became baptized as one myself at 30. In our religion we do believe you must be old enough to make the decision to become a dedicated Christian. I plan to raise my children as Christians, but ultimately it will be their choice when they choose, if they choose to be baptized under any particular religion.

Amanda - posted on 08/12/2010

religion is confusing! if you think about how religions began you realize early man questioned there exsistance; the whys and hows of being alive and the things around them. they gave power to the things around them that had deep effects on there lives, like the sun and rain and weather, things they had no power over themselves. they, in time, made these powers deities and began the rituals and sacrifices still found in todays religions (praying, chanting,singing, fasting, ceremonial bathing, baptizing,etc). man needed answers, security, an understanding of what they were and why they were here. that is why cultures all over the planet have the same root stories, from the egyptian to the indians and mayans. all have a flood story, a falling from grace story, first sin and a virgin birth storie. because these are the fundamental questions to being human and cultures and societies passed these down, through oral traditions, songs and stories. and this is why all of todays religions have these same elements. when judeism took root, it was the first time there was only one all powerful god instead of many gods and as this belief spread and took root it took many of the old religions ceremonies and practices with it so as to be more readily accepted by the people.from this point the various one god religions were born. whether christian, jew or muslim your beleifs were born from that time period , that place and those fundamental higher concepts of mortality and morality, and are saying the exact same thing! such as..there is a higher power than man, there is not always an answer or reason to things that we are aware of but each life has meaning,treat others how you want to be treated, be generous of spirit, etc. where things begin to differ is where man has used God (under whatever name is used) as a way to maintain law and order, to differentiate between kinds and groups of people, to gain and maintain power and in the many ways religion has used god as a way to control people and power for mans own agenda. that is where lifetimes of fighting and opposing has diluted the original messages. so questioning the belief system and structure of organized religion is SO important! and should occur naturally, almost instinctively, because your body and "soul" ( or whatever name used) inatley knows the truth and what is not the truth. not always consciously and sometimes without notice or even flat out ignored and gone against! you should study these beliefs on your own, meditate and look inward for the answers to those questions and feelings. As for baptism, it is a complicated matter.looking at the jewish faith (the monotheistic belief in the days of jesus), there is more ritualistic bathing or cleaning than found in christian beliief where the baptism stands out almost alone. it occurs often in there practice and worship. it is symbolic of cleansing the spirit and beginning new. in that aspect i can see why people would choose to baptise babies, a way of welcoming them to there faith and beliefs, symbolic to the family/people who will raise and protect this new member of there community and in a way asking god too also. when John the Baptist was preaching he wanted to people to rebel' almost, his was a new and radical message and at that tumultuos time there was a death( in a way) of the old beliefs and practices and with jesus came a rebirth of spirituality and the beginning of a movement towards looking inward, for higher level thinking and feeling and a simplifying of religious doctrine and practice that would unify most of the world. therefore if baptism is a way of accepting jesus words and giving your life to practice and spread his gospel..you would want the person to come into this beleif on his own and choose to be baptised. in a way i could see that both times are appropriate and in my mind it does not take away the geniune meaning of either if a person was to hav both.

Beverley - posted on 08/12/2010

i take my son to church every sunday and had him baptised at 2 months old yet if he decides later on he doesnt want to be part of the church i will be fine with that.
i have an aunt and uncle who r deeply religious but neither of their children were christened as they believed it was my cousins choice later in life as it transpires one is very much involved in the church as is her husband and the 2 kids yet her brother wont go near a church apart from weddings etc.
i think there is no right or wrong about having your child baptised and many these days have naming ceremonies instead x

Roxie - posted on 08/11/2010

though not many in my family are really at all religious, (if any at all in the last 3 generations on either side), Baptism/ christening is more or less a tradition. My mom and I were baptized in the same church, which was also the same church my great grandparents (if i remember right) attended. for god knows how many generations on my mom's side, every girl in the family has gotten baptized and were given a cross by a family member at that time and then given another at 16. We have yet to do this with my daughter, but the older she gets, the more i think i would like to do it. If for no other reason, to uphold tradition. Does this mean I'll force feed her the religion? NO! because I know little about it to be honest. over the years i have learned things about a few different religions and have taken something from each. I don't feel that there is any one right answer so why would I force her to accept just one? I would just like to have it done like I said because it has been tradition, and that, is something that is important to me.

Ella - posted on 08/11/2010

I do agree with you on one point. A person getting baptized should definitely be of age to decide that they themselves know and accept Jesus and God as their Lord and Savior. Baptism is a sort of burial of an old sinbound person dying and being resurrected as a free Christ bound person. Now I feel that baby dedications are a different story and is more of the parent saying "Thank you Father for this precious child, a gift like no other and I promise to teach them about you and bring them up as You have ordained."

Now, to the religion part. Unfortunately religion has put a damper on what God intended to be worship and its sad. But I know that in the end everything will be back to its perfect state. I know though that there is only one Holy Book (the Bible) and only One Sabbath (the Bible clearly states this as being the 7th day, Saturday to us just as the 1st day, the day Jesus was resurrected is Sunday, hence Easter Sunday) just as I know there is only One TRUE God. Every "religion" cannot be right and the truth is there are no 2 that are the same. Thats why we have to seek the truth for ourselves and pray and ask God for guidance to that truth. I also believe that there is a huge difference between Christianity and Catholism and Islam. So much so that I cannot even begin to get into that.

Raegan - posted on 08/11/2010

I am Jewish and my husband is Lutheran. With our first child we did have a hard time with people (mostly his family and friends) thinking that the baby should be baptized. I held my ground with this and we did not get them baptized. We are both not overly religious though we both do believe in God. I just would rather wait till they are old enough to make their own decision and I will support them in whatever they decide. I do not stop my husband from taking them to Church if he likes I have nothing against them learning about religion I just want them to be able to make their own decision when they are old enough to do so.

Starr - posted on 08/11/2010

I too had a post about Christening/dedicating babies. I am Evangelist and we take our teachings straight from the Bible. There is nowhere in the Bible where a baby needs to be baptized. First you must hear, believe,and understand the Gospel to be babtized. Next you must repent of sins. And lastly, confess God. Babies are not capable of understanding. And they have no sins to confess. God wants us to personally make our decisions. Again, babies can not do. I recommend anyone wanting to lear more to pick up a Bible read a few versus on baptisim such as Romans 10: 9-10, Acts 8: 12-14, Mark 16: 15,16. I have many others if you are interested. With that said: I stated in my post that I was Christened as a young baby and was taught this was the way to do it. I have battles with wether or not to get my children dedicated. One mother responded that it was more for the parents to give their child to God and have a covenent between them, the baby, and God on bringing up their child a Christian. I thought this was a great way to look at it. AND, for those of you who say parents should not choose their childrens religion WELL, If isnt that the point of everyones beliefs. We all think our religon is the right one! So therefore naturally we want to bring our kids into that grand life. Doesnt mean when they are old enough to decide they cant change their minds. But religion is basically morals. Everyone should have a little faith!

Patti - posted on 08/11/2010

I dont believe in any organized religion. I believe a person can choose to live however they feel best as to be happy as long as they arent pushing there beliefs on me.. i dont talk about it with my kids. when they have questions, we will do research with them and they can come up with their own theory as to what they believe.. if they want to get baptized when they are old enough to make that decision, then great for them and ill support em. if not then thats just as good. its whatever with me. to each his/her own.

Sarah - posted on 08/11/2010

I am Assembly of God...we do not baptize our children, we annoint them with oil. We do this as a dedication to the Lord...not to wash away any kind of sin. A baby has not sinned. Dedicating a child acknowledges God's sovereignty not only over the child, but also Mom and Dad. Parents present their child before God and His people asking for grace and wisdom in carrying out their responsibilities.

Ryann - posted on 08/11/2010

I am catholic and had my daughter baptized. I am not very religious but I did it just because thats what you do i guess. My problem was that me and my fiance are not married and when i went to the baptism class the pastor in front of everyone chastised me for not being married and told me it was a sin to be living as man and wife when we are not. we've since had another daughter and are planning on getting married in may but now i'm nervous to have my second daughter to get baptized because i dont want to have to listen to the pastor do that again in front of everyong

Meg - posted on 08/11/2010

I agree with you that the very basics of Christianity/Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism are similar. In the Catholic Church when an infant is baptized it's kind of a way that the parent of the child is giving the baby back to God and vowing to raise the child to know God. When you are older about the age of 14 or so, you have your confirmation which is when the person decides what they want to be. Being that they go through a ceremony declaring that they accept Jesus. I went through all those stages, baptism, Holy Communion, Confirmation. I did not have my wedding in the Catholic church because I had a problem with the priest. And I believe that God isn't in just one church, and that you don't have to be married in a certain place to be married in the eyes of God. I believe we all have a path and we discover our beliefs through following God's path. I will baptized my daughter, for me it is giving her to God and making a promise to God and to her that I will continue to help my daughter know God. And even though she is baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant, when she is older and has experienced other churches, listened to others beliefs and learned then she can choose her own path and I will support her. I believe that it is just very important to be there to help your child continue to know God.

Tiffany - posted on 08/11/2010

Wow, When I read this i really didn't know what to think. I have been raised as a Christian all my life and would never change for anyone. When I had my daughter I asked my soon to be husband if I could get her baptised and with him not being very religious at all he told me I could do whatever I wanted if it was that important to me. Really this is important to me. At my church I went to ever since I was a baby myself we called it baby dedication. The thought of it is to dedicate your baby to God. my baby is now nine months old and I still want to do this for her. No she is not at the age of accountability but its just for us to know that if something would happen she would always be with GOD!

Pamela - posted on 08/11/2010

both me and my man don't believe in any god and don't fell that its right to push your believes on your kids or anyone else for that matter it should be up to them what they want out of live we just do the best we can to keep them on a safe path

Carissa - posted on 08/11/2010

We are pentecostal and believe that being baptized is a decision someone should make on their own, when they fully understand what they are doing and what it means. We dedicate our babies back to God as a promise to God that we will raise our kids in a Christian home with good morals.

Angie - posted on 08/11/2010

I agree with you 100%. Why Baptist a child into a religion when they do not yet have an understanding of what they are being committed to?

Liza - posted on 08/10/2010

i dont consider my self too to have an exact religion. but i called my self a christian.. my kids and i are attending a christian church and my daughter is in baptist learning center.. i am still finding a church where my kids can have sunday school... about baptism, all i understand about this is, baptism is different from didication.. baptism for accepting our God our savior and the ones you mentioned. and dedication is for the children, which means you dedicate your child to God... i really dont know about this until i attended my friends daugther's dedication(i am a god mother) that dedication and baptism is different according to the explanation of the pastor reading the bible... though my kids was baptised 2 years ago in an anglican church...
and about religion, i have read one of my FB friends wall, that religion can not save us.. only JEsus can....and for me that already explains a lot.
hope it helps...

Tamara - posted on 08/10/2010

I have this thread over and over and I must credit everyone. All have expressed their opinions but have also been sensitive to others' feelings.
I was baptised as an infant. I went to Sunday school before my parents moved the family around due to work when I was about 9.
I was not baptised into the church. I was baptised into faith. Not of any particular religion even though it was in an Anglican church. Baptism is a symbol. It doesn't give us any right into heaven. We are all entered into heaven because we are God's children and like we love our children He loves us.
All of this said I never felt religion was forced on me. As I grew older and became more aware of the world around me and meeting the people in it, I formed my own beliefs.
Religion is subjective but faith isn't. You believe whatever u want.
I was told once that the only difference in religions is our perspective. We could look at religions like this: a man has 5 sons. Each of the 5 sons was asked to describe his gather. Each gave a description with similarities and differences yet all were describing the same man. In this example God is the father and the sons the religion.
Baptism doesn't promise anything. But it is a personal commitment to educate in faith. U can baptise your child as an infant like myself and make a promise in front of God to educate your child. If you choose confirmation or baptism as you get older them u are making the promise to yourself.
One thing that confuses me is the idea of confirmation as a child. I recently went to the confirmation of a child that still also believes in Santa and the tooth fairy. That was a confusing concept for me.
I have rambled on enough I think but I just want to say that although I have my beliefs, I also have alot of respect for those who choose not to baptise their child. It is faith in their Childs ability to make choices. I really admire that also!

Brittany - posted on 08/10/2010

I had my daughter baptized at 4 weeks. It was extremely important to me to get it done as soon as possible. It really upsets me that my sister didn't get her son baptized before he died so he has to spend time in purgatory for his original sins. In the Catholic religion you have confirmation which is where you choose to continue to be Catholic. You are saying yes to the Lord, that you believe the doctrines of the church.

Betty - posted on 08/10/2010

I'm LDS. Anyone 8 years old and up can be baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS church. As a child I remember having a strong desire to be baptized. Still others will say that is way too young as well. Choosing to baptize your child does not force them down a set path, we all grow up and do whatever we want to do. Baptizing babies(or children) is only done with good intentions, no one will be cast to outer darkness for doing it.

Medic - posted on 08/10/2010

I also want to add that not all parents "force their one sided beliefs on their children" I have been raised around many different religions and I took my time to find what worked for me.......that being said I am thankful that my parents gave me something to believe in and something to help guide my moral compass until I was old enough to choose for myself. My parents took me to whatever church I wanted to go to and supported me all the way. That being said I do feel like it is my job to give my children something to believe in and something to move from whether it be forward or sideways. Narrow mindedness yeilds narrow mindedness.....love and acceptance yeilds love and acceptance. It really just boils down to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Some comments have a sharp tounge sound whether that is ment or not.

Amanda - posted on 08/10/2010

I am not very religious. My baby's father say he is, but he's really not. We didn't nor are we planning to get our son baptized. My mom was baptized when she was 14 because she made the decision to. I want to raise my son know about religion and such and make his own decision. It is such a perosn belief and it is something that he should be well aware of prior to doing it. So I'm leaving it up to him for when he is old enough to make the decision.

Medic - posted on 08/10/2010

I personally am Methodist and I had both of my kids baptized as babies and for us it was more of the church and ourselves accepting the "role" of raising our children in god and for the church to come together as one in teaching and guiding our children. Then at 7 they get the gift of thier First Bible in a big ceremony and in high school go threw confirmation and get baptized where they accept choosing to lead a life in christ. But thats just what we do.

Kristen - posted on 08/10/2010

I grew up Baptist, and I happen to agree with your idea that you should know what you are doing when you are baptized. However, my husband and I were recently attending a Methodist church, where baptizing babies was common and encouraged. The explanation given by the pastor was that the infant baptizm was God's preemptive grace upon that child, and a charge to the parents to raise that child as holy and seperate unto the Lord. Though we didn't baptize our daughter as an infant, and we won;t with our soon to be son either, the idea that the Grace of God covers the baby from the get go is a good one.

Brandi - posted on 08/10/2010

Tamara Woolley, I like your post! Your question was probably rhetorical but I'd like to answer it anyway. My SO and I have talked about how we'll raise her when it comes to religion and things of that sort. I want her to be interested and learn about religion. My SO is like I am when it comes to religion. (I'm Agnostic.) However, I won't try to sway her to disbelieve in it or question it. I want her to decide for herself rather she believes in it at all or doesn't or just isn't sure about it all together. I don't think it'd be fair to her to not be allowed to go to church if she wanted to and I'd gladly participate in any conversations she brought up about religion. It's definitely not something I want to keep her away from. If anything, I encourage it.

Jackie - posted on 08/10/2010

Thank you to everybody. You answered my question for alot of different sects of religion. I've often asked friends of mine as to why they're having their children baltised and I always get either because the church said we need to or because its the only way to get to Heaven. I hope nobody felt that I was stepping on their religious views or choices as a parent.
Maria - again I didnt mean to offend you in anyway. I comend you for what you are doing to give your kids the experience of some form of religion.
Thank you all for helping me. I really expected to get hate mail or nasty mean posts about this but I never knocked any other religion or any other choices as a parent. I just wanted to understand the purpose of early baptism. Thanks again.

Jackie - posted on 08/10/2010

Katherine - I wouldnt say that i'm jaded about religion. Confused yes so the purpose of this convo was to have one of my questions answered or at least get the perspective of other religions. It did its purpose.