Are Your Children Baptized <---sp - religion

Crystalina wrote: I hate to say that mine are not. I was raised Catholic and went to a Catholic shcool and hubby is Methodist (which is what we were married as). My family is very AGAINST my kids being anything but Catholic and since I don't practice my religion the way I should it really doesn't matter to me. I just want them baptized...and soon.

My DH and his family are not religious fanatatics but they go to church about 75% of the time. The church we go to down the road is Methodist.
Shouldn't I let them be whatever is most practiced. DH's family would prefer them Methodist but it's up to me. My side is whole heartedly for Catholic but none of my family that lives here practices their faith.

I will go to ANY church because the way I look at it God doesn't care but I don't want to change "MY" religion. DH doesn't want to be Catholic because he says it's too much of a workout in church.

I'm surrounded my Methodists, married Methodist and attend a Methodist church so I'm thinking the kids should be Methodist. Any input?

CAMSMOM1 replied: DH & I are both Christians. And we attend church regularly. I was raised Baptist, but we now attend a somewhere between Penecostal, and non-demoniational. Anyways, we really enjoy our church and feel it's the right place for us. And now even my Dad & sister (and her family) attend our church as well. We enjoy it because we got the word of God, but it's still relaxed and we have a cool rock band for worship. Our pastor doesn't have a "speech" written out, he talks as the Holy Spirit leads him, and from what the word of God says. He is very passionate about what he preaches, and he walks the walk. I feel that you should attend the church you are most comfortable in and has the same beliefs as you do. I personally could never go back to a Baptist church. It's not "alive" enough for me, if that makes sense. We went looking for a church for awhile, until we found the one we attend right now. I believe church shouldn't be about "religion" but about a personal relationship with the Lord. Our church logo is "It's not a Religion, It's a Relationship." We come not to do religious rituals, but to grow closer to Jesus and learn and know his Word.

We don't baptize our children as babies. We have a dedication service for babies, which we will take our baby to the pastor, in front of the congregation, and we all pray over the child, and dedicate them to the Lord. And when our son is old enough, to have a personal relationship with the Lord, and wants to be baptized, then we will. I was baptized at 10 yrs old, and it was my decision. Baptizism is a symbolisim of going into the water with your sins, and coming out of the water as a new creature in Christ, as if your sins were buried in the water. And it's a way to publicly annouce that you have accepted Christ.

Just because you were raised Catholic, does not mean you have to raise your children that way. If you attend a Methodist church, and that is what you practice, then I believe your children should attend the same church with you. Even though your family is against your children being Methodist, they should be happy that your children are serving the Lord, no matter what "Denomination" they are.

EDT: To say that we dedicated Cameron to the Lord when he was 3 months old.

luvmykids replied: We're non denominational/Christian, we do "dedications" and later when the child is old enough to understand/make the choice, they are water baptized.

I would say raise your kids the way that has some meaning to both you and DH, don't do it just for the sake of doing it, or whats the meaning in that? If you truly don't have a preference and he feels strongly about Methodist, I'd say thats the way to go. But if you have feelings one way or the other, it's important to compromise. If you're wanting to explore other religions/denominations, why not wait until you find one you feel something about? Just my

C&K*s Mommie replied: could not have said better, than Ann. Actually, if I tried to say what she said it would come out as garble.

Anyhow, to what she said.
But to answer the topic title question, no our kids are not baptized for the reason that Ann stated above, we will dedicate them, but we have not as of yet.

Crystalina replied: I guess that's what the Methodists do also is dedicate. I talked to the Pastor about baptizing and he said that's not what they call it.
I don't feel so bad if your supposed to wait or if people do wait. I'm used to 'the baby HAS to be baptized now' type thing.

aspenblue1 replied: I think it depends on your religion. I grew up methodist but my DH is episcopal so both my daughters were baptised episcopal becuase that is the church we attend.

My3LilMonkeys replied: Neither of my kids are baptized. We are not churchgoers, so we didn't think they should be baptized.

When they are older if they should choose to attend church and be baptized, we will help them however we can.

MyLuvBugs replied: Well, I'm Methodist and DH is Lutheran. We are both baptized in our separate religions, and were married methodist. However, we have more of an agnostic outlook on religion. We're not big fans on organized religion and do not attend church, but are VERY christian in our hearts. We believe in God, heaven and the Almighty, but just not on attending church. Make sense?

Anywho.....Due to our mothers influence and we had Lorelei baptized Methodist at 7 months even though we do not believe in attending church. It really wasn't for us that we did it, as we believe that all children will go to heaven and that a person should choose how to live their life their own way. However, we did it mainly to shut up both off our mothers. Both my mom and my MIL are DEVOTE to their religions and bugged us NON-STOP about getting Lorelei Baptized. DH and I figured, that there was no harm in it, and Lorelei can choose something else later in life if she wants.

I hope that makes sense.

MyLuvBugs replied:
NOPE! Methodist Baptize. Believe me. They do dedicate the child to the church in a way, but the child is drizzled with water and a prayer is said to I guess "give" the child's sin to God in a way. Unless there is some new-aged Methodist Church out there....it's a baptism. Sorry.

EvesMom replied:
Ann your religion sounds a lot like mine! I also believe that someone decides in their own to be consecrated(sp) or baptised. When Evelynn is old enough she will be able to decide on her own.

CAMSMOM1 replied:

That may be true for some Methodist churches, but my best friend is Methodist, and they do baby dedications. Most Christian churches dedicate, (not all, but most) And Catholics baptize as babies.

But like I said, it depends on the church. That's why I appreciate my church so much, because it's not based on the rituals (even though we believe in taking communion, baptizing, ect) but it's more based on a personal relationship. Like you said, Erika, it doesn't matter if you go to church or not. I know several very strong believers that do not attend church. But they read the Bible, believe in the Lord, ect. Going to church doesn't "buy you a ticket to heaven" sort of speaking, but what you believe in your heart that matters. IMO.

PhiMuMommy replied: i was baptized as an infant and i'm not religous anymore. i'm very apathetic toward religion. i believe in certain things but no organized religion has been able to appease me.
anyways. i feel that baptism should be a decision made by my son when he is older if that is his choice. he has gone to church with his aunt and her family. his father and i do not attend. and his grandmother on that side doesn't really believe in regular religions. soooooo .. it will be his decision on which path to embark on when it comes to this topic.

i dont' discourage or encourage. i think that something as personal as religion should be made by that person without judgement or leading.

holley79 replied: Raise then how you feel they should be raised. When they get older they can make the decision which church they want to attend just as you did.

luvbug00 replied: Mya is not baptized. as we do not believe in orginized religon. I was raised and baptized catholic and should Mya want to explore religon she is 100% supported and free to do so ( and she has been exposed to many religons) .

MyLuvBugs replied:
Well, like I said. Some new-aged Methodists churches may do it differently, but traditional Methodist baptize. We had to do research on it when we were trying to decide between Meth or Lutheran. Methodist & Lutheran are derived from Catholicism, so that maybe why they used to (and in some cases still do) baptize.

CosmetologyMommy replied: Aidan is not baptized. I am baptist christian and dh is catholic but as a baptist we do not baptist as babies. After u are saved and forgiven, u are baptisted. I am saved but am not baptisted. Our church just closed and now I need to find a new one and get dh's but into church! I want Aidan to have a relationship with god.

Edward's Mommy replied:
Same here, except I have to find a church in walking distance since we don't have a car. And I'd be going by myself with the baby.

luvmykids replied:
By new-aged do mean new-fangled? Just from what I know of "New Age" as a religion I can't put the two together in my head. Or is there a newer religion, where denominations are combining their doctrines with New Age?

MyLuvBugs replied:
Some religions are dropping some of the older traditions and disciplines, and are evolving I guess. Not necessarily combining with other religions, but evolving and becoming "modern" with new ideas. Almost becoming a new religion. KWIM?

Traditional Methodists/Weslian's believe in Baptism. However, some of the newer churches out-there may feel that that belief just doesn't fit with them,so they may choose to ignore it or change it. Make sense?

The stance of the UMC on the subject is a bit Vague (as most organized religions are). But here is a link to a UMC site that might help everyone.

UMC - Baptism/Infant Dedication

BTW - I'm no expert by anymeans on religion. I just have done a lot of research on our two religions in the last few years with a wedding and a baptism to plan. Sorry if I differ from anyone elses beliefs or if I offend anyone.

1lilpeanut2love replied: We are getting Kaylee baptized next Sunday[ March 26th], she will be 11-months old next Saturday. My SO and I are both Catholic. We are not really religious. We go to church, but not as often as we should. We do not practice all of the catholic traditions.

luvmykids replied:
I gotcha! I wasn't offended, just curious! Sorry if I came across that way.

~~*Missi*~~ replied: it was very important to me to have sabrina's baptism very early in life, I guess its because of my religious upbringing. My father is a minister and I felt it very very important for her to be "welcomed" into the chruch thru proper ceremony.

I was raised protestant and my children will be raised in a protestant chruch and LIKE ME given the chance to explore and find the religion and chruch that fits thier liking. I found that my father is most appealing to me, in keeping me as a young adult interested and involving my child(ren) in services. Some chruches frown upon children not in "nursery" during the service so its nice that this (HIS) chruch does involve them.
I want her to feel to be able to make the choice when she gets older on what "religion" or chruch she attends for now we go to Sunday chruch together.....

Nina J replied: Emily is baptized. We go to Church and try to educate Emily about religion, but when she gets older she may want to not practise religion at all. It's up to her, but she is showing an interest and enjoys Church and the Church programs she's involved in.

gr33n3y3z replied: Ed is Catholic and I'm Methodist we were married in a Catholic Church and my children were all baptized Catholic with in 2 months of being born.
Ed and the kids are very active in the church even now that they are alot older.
And it never bothers me one bit.
I have thought many of times to convert but I will know when the time is right to do that.

Crystalina replied:
Yes, this is what my family wants. If the children could have been baptized while I was pushing them out it would not have been soon enough.

I don't know alot about all the ins and outs of the Methodist religion as of yet but this particular church we attend has the "pool" which is why I asked about baptizing. That is when I was told by the Pastor that they do not baptize there but have something similiar they call "a dedication". They used the water but didn't call it baptizing.

CantWait replied: Robbie is, Anthony isn't. I must admit my beliefs have changed a lot in the last few years, and although I would like to get Anthony baptised, I don't want the hassle of it.

3_call_me_mama replied: I was raised Catholic, adn both my children were baptised. The catch, they weren't baptised Catholic. (Most babies that i know of aren't) They were simply baptised Christian. Says it righ on their baptisimal certificate. BUT when Catholics baptize (at least the church we went to) they look at it as welcoming the child into God's family adn the Catholic. We recently have joined and Assembly of God Church and asked about baptism. They told me that they do dedications which basically are paretns stating in front of the church that they intend to raise the child in a christian lifestyle and guide them to maek teh choice of baptism whne they reach the age when they can make that decision. Dedication is not welcoming the child into teh church, everyoen is welcoem there, dedication is not bringing that child into God's family, only that child can seek membership in God's family. (That's what teh pastor told us anyway)
Also I;ve thought a lot abou this in our search to find a religion/church that fit our beliefs and really truly believe (now~ 6 months ago I may have felt differently) that babies are born innnocent and not with sin and are not going to go to hell if they die before they are baptized. Also I think in the Catholic faith confirmation is more the self recognition in the belief on God where as in our current Church Baptism is that self recognition. Just my thoughts on it

luvmykids replied:
The way I see dedication is that it is everything you said, but it is also the parents acting as proxy for the child, basically saying that since the child is young, the parents are acting on their behalf, KWIM?

ITA, it has always been my personal belief (based on things in the Bible) that children are born without sin. They have not yet had the chance to reject God or commit any other sin, therefore are not condemned to hell. Also, JMHO, it is not the ritual of baptism or any other that "saves" someone from hell, it is a personal decision they make in their heart. Baptised or not, if your heart is right with God, you are saved. Not trying to debate, just stating my belief.

kimberley replied: i was born/raised catholic and my kids were all baptised catholic and go to catholic school. they have a confirmation when they are 13yo to reaffirm their devotion to the faith and if they choose not to at that time, i won't force the issue.

i think you need to do whatever feels right for you and your family and not worry about parents or neighbors or whatever it may be. the only right answer is what is best for YOUR family.

redchief replied: As Lisa said, I'm a practicing Roman Catholic. I know the choice we made for our children was right. I believe in the sanctity of the sacraments, including the Sacrament of Baptism. The Church also has rules regarding the baptism of children in the Catholic faith, some of which may not be amenable to couples who were not married in the Catholic Church.