Anglican Church offers new baptism option

LOL, I think it's probably one of those safe bet, just in case kinda things because I know some people, maybe it's just a Catholic thing, not sure, but if you aren't baptised you can't go to heaven, so maybe they are playing on that - go have the quick dunk, won't kill ya and if things play out like some say, you've got that covered, and if not you can always go hang out with the atheist guy with the hair dryer and take it all back. Everybody wins! Ha ha ha ha ha

I was wondering this very same thing. I guess some people might view it as "just something you are supposed to do", whether or not they have any personal religious beliefs. They probably do just do it out of tradition. In much the same way, I think this is the reason that many people attend church-that's just what you do on sunday morning. It's interesting that you mention there is no theological reason for baptising a child...back in the day I attended a Catholic elementary school for a time, and if I remember correctly, a child that died without being baptised supposedly went to "limbo" or s... [More]

It comes from the days when the Roman Catholics had a very strict idea on "Original Sin" and believed that every There is no theological reason for infant baptisms, and several reasons why it is counter-productive (Chloe's comment that baptising a child as a "safe bet", as if simply being baptised is enough to attain salvation in Christianity - I've met several Catholics who believe they are saved because they were baptised as a child, even though they don't believe anything in the Bible today). as if Jesus could "save" anybody or as if there is anything to be "saved" from! The only thing to b... [More]

I can just see the priest now "come, save your son by allowing us to begin the brainwashing today!"

as if Jesus could "save" anybody or as if there is anything to be "saved" from! The only thing to be saved from is persecution by Christians.I refuse to believe a loving God would act like that. Unbaptized and happy about it, here. You are free to hold your view as to what you may or may not need to be "saved" from. I was simply expressing a different view. And in the context of a discussion about Christian baptism, it makes sense to have a look at the reasons why it may or may not be of value. Good luck with the unbaptised thing, though. Technically I'm not baptised either - I had water "spri... [More]

It comes from the days when the Roman Catholics had a very strict idea on "Original Sin" and believed that every person was born with a "stain" on their souls that separated them from God. As we get older we can choose to follow God, but what about babies who die before they can choose? Do they go to hell? So the Catholics invented limbo (borrowing from Dante's Divine Comedy) and said that babies who died went there. Of course, if they were baptised and washed clean of original sin, then if they died they went straight to heaven. Limbo is not a biblical teaching. It comes out of the Middle Age... [More]

Um, let's clear up the anti-Catholic woo. Yes, PA, I am annoyed. Once upon a time, the burden of looking things up fell upon the party making the claim, not the preson correcting the record. It is doubly a pain in my butt, because I am not even a Catholic. But since I value my prerogative to criticize the Church, I find it necessary to have an accurate narrative of what it is that I might wish to criticize. Since you, too, have been known to criticize the Roman Church, it can only enhance your credibility, and so therefore the credibility of your criticism, to get the basic facts straight. - I... [More]

Every business has to change with the times, or be left behind

The fact remains that a lot of the beliefs of hell, limbo, etc, that exist in our modern world are derived straight from Dante. No doubt, Dante has been influential on other artists and the popular imagination. It is a safe bet that more people have seen or read artworks whose source was Dante than have read Dante's sources. So, it cannot be surprising that in some cases, not only will the dramatization of an idea be rightly attributed to him, but the very idea itself will be misattributed to him. But no Roman Catholic doctrine derives from Dante. No Roman Catholic theological hypothesis deriv... [More]

St Augustine is where they got the idea from. And either the teacher phrased the Church's teaching poorly for the age group being instructed, or perhaps Rock's memory hardened a doctrinal hypothesis into a dogma, or both. But, hey, if even a Protestant knew that Limbo of Infants never was a Roman Catholic teaching, then there is a limit to how many Catholics could have been taught the wrong information. What they learned is a more complicated question, in all domains, not just this one. Peace. Thanks for the info...as to the teacher, she was a nun in her late 80's who seemed a bit senile, so w... [More]