Christening or no christening?????

inkie

CJ - you will have to check whether the anglican's offer a thanksgiving rather than a baptism - if they don't do it officially, then I am sure that he will be able to accomodate you. We offer thanksgiving as well as 'christening', depending upon the parents beliefs etc..
I am pleased that you found your vicar to be approachable - we are normal people, living in the real world!

Edinburghlass_2

I went to a naming ceremony for a neighbour's baby at a Baptist church which was lovely, was more like introducing the baby to the congregation and welcoming the baby to the church.

In fact my own minister walks round the church with the baby in his arms after the actual baptism to let the congregation see the baby and then the family take the baby through to the Sunday School so as the children can see the baby.

buxtonrabbitgreen

absolutebounder wrote: »

There is a difference between telling or teaching about something in an unbiased way and indoctrinating a helpless mind or baby into a cult ritual by peer pressure and other brainwashing tactics.
You would probably not see Christian education as brainwashing but it is rife in churches youth clubs and schools. The unfortunate thing is that the so called love of god is preserved by the fear of eternal damnation and not getting an afterlife. Hell is something for which we have no evidence what so ever yet is used as a bribe. There is also absolutely no evidence to show god exists tharefore whilst there is no harm in telling children about these things they should not be the subject of rituals.

There is no proof only faith

absolutebounder

buxtonrabbitgreen wrote: »

There is no proof only faith

And what is faith? A Belief. And what is a belief? A belief is something you have not experienced or do not know.
I think we are on a level with fairies and the existence of Santa claus.
Of course one cannot prove god doesnt exist but that does not prove he does. We can give plenty of evidence to show he doesnt.
its interesting to notice how gods have changed over the years as the existence of various greek and Roman gods have been evidenced as false so in time will be the present view of god but no doubt people will continue in being mugged into the belief of a new god.

taggiesgirl

What a sad childhood your kids must have had as it seems you dont believe in anything!!!! or maybe you dont have any kids to be thankfull to god for???

snowmaid

absolutebounder wrote: »

And what is faith? A Belief. And what is a belief? A belief is something you have not experienced or do not know.
I think we are on a level with fairies and the existence of Santa claus.
Of course one cannot prove god doesnt exist but that does not prove he does. We can give plenty of evidence to show he doesnt.
its interesting to notice how gods have changed over the years as the existence of various greek and Roman gods have been evidenced as false so in time will be the present view of god but no doubt people will continue in being mugged into the belief of a new god.

The fact that 'Man' has always believed in a 'God' of some form, through the ages, to me is sufficient 'evidence' that there must be 'something' somewhere. The native americans believe that after death they go to the 'happy hunting grounds in the sky', the native africans call on their ancestors and the Gods etc etc.

As a Christian I do believe that Jesus and God exist. I also do believe that there is life after death. I do believe that we have spirits guiding us, if only we listen to that '6th sense'.

snowmaid

Edinburghlass wrote: »

I went to a naming ceremony for a neighbour's baby at a Baptist church which was lovely, was more like introducing the baby to the congregation and welcoming the baby to the church.

In fact my own minister walks round the church with the baby in his arms after the actual baptism to let the congregation see the baby and then the family take the baby through to the Sunday School so as the children can see the baby.

In our Church we have a baby 'blessing'. Child is baptised at 8.

emmaroids

taggiesgirl wrote: »

What a sad childhood your kids must have had as it seems you dont believe in anything!!!! or maybe you dont have any kids to be thankfull to god for???

lol what a silly post.

i have kids and i dont belive in anything, does that mean my kids have a sad chilhood??

no it doesent, it just means i havent brainwashed my kids into beliving something false.

cazziebo

I wrestled with this, and had DD2 baptised at the age of 5. How can you expect children to make their own decisions regarding religion if they know nothing? At my daughter's baptism I promised I would bring my daughters up as Christians - and I've done my best to do that. Both did have to go to sunday school - they enjoyed it, but they had to go because I went to church and obviously couldn't leave them home alone. Yes they grumbled sometimes, but no more than they grumbled about school, or brownies, or going to visit grandparents. Now older, I feel they have a benchmark to assess their options. Of course I hope they come back to church, but they are now able to make an informed choice. The oldest one has studied buddhism, humanism and Islam. neither attend church regularly, although they have both gone to Baptist and Catholic services at different times.

So maybe I've failed in what I promised at the baptism. I would not have gone for it had I not intended to keep the promise. It's not about a social event, and I would not insult the church congregation by making false promises.

cazziebo

absolutebounder wrote: »

And what is faith? A Belief. And what is a belief? A belief is something you have not experienced or do not know.
I think we are on a level with fairies and the existence of Santa claus.
Of course one cannot prove god doesnt exist but that does not prove he does. We can give plenty of evidence to show he doesnt.
its interesting to notice how gods have changed over the years as the existence of various greek and Roman gods have been evidenced as false so in time will be the present view of god but no doubt people will continue in being mugged into the belief of a new god.

Do you believe your children love you? Why? You can't prove it.

Some things "you just know". My faith has been a tremendous inspiration and strength for me. I wasn't "mugged into" belief. My family weren't (aren't) churchgoers but my DD1 wanted to go to sunday school because her friends did and I went along to sit in the church rather than wander about for an hour. It made sense to me and I learned more and took the decision to be confirmed at the age of 33.