Just wondering how many of you have had your lo's baptized already, or have a date picked out. If they're already baptized, how old were they when you had it done? If they aren't, how old do you plan to do it at? If you don't baptize, what's your reasoning?
We don't plan to baptize. When LO is old enough to make decisions about religion we will fully support his decision of whether or not to be baptized. I was raised in the church and felt my family forced into being baptized and being confirmed; I even questioned it at the time but was told that I had to be confirmed. Because of that experience I strongly feel our LO should have a say in his religious beliefs.
We baptized our daughter at about ten weeks old. My church only does baptisims every quarter so I am not sure when LO will get the big dip. He should be less than 6 months old for sure.
We're baptizing all 3 of our kids together at the end of the month. Our ds is almost 3, and we never got him baptized. My mil didn't get either one of her kids baptized or took them to church. So dh didn't see the point in it. It's bothered me since he was born, so when the twins get baptized at almost 2 months old, he's getting done with them.
The closest thing we have to a religion in our home is karma and the force. As in 'May the Force Be With You'. And Ka, from the Dark Tower series. We just mishmash ideas from different philosophies together into our own thing. Needless to say, no baptisms here. Will encourage LO to explore ideas and the fundamental tenets of religions, tho (love thy neighbor, give unto others, etc)
I was raised catholic - going to church every Thursday (during school) and Sunday's. My parents aren't preachy on the importance of religion but that's how they were raised. However, (and I mean no disrespect) I don't want to raise my child in a faith that wouldn't allow him to be who he is (I.e. If he was gay that is severely frowned upon.) Not to mention at 32years old I still have Irish catholic guilt whenever I do something slightly wrong! I don't want him to go through life like that. I want to find a more progressive religion that accepts all, where priests can marry and women are more respected. So, my husband (who never grew up with religion) and I are going to church hop and find a place that suits our beliefs and that has a community type atmosphere. Then we will baptize.
We are also baptist & wait for child to decided, but our church does dedications (I think quarterly). So we'll do that.
My DH & I were in ministry for 3 years (youth minister), & I find it immensely interesting the effect a child has on some families who previously didn't consider "religion" who search out answers/churches. {I REALLY hope this doesn't sound "churchy"/judge-y}. I believe people should search for themselves what they believe & find their own church that suits them. This is purely things I've noticed from family & members of our congregation.
But for example, my older cousin, who was raised Church of Christ, hadn't gone to church/wasn't concerned at all about anything religious for a LONG while. Once his son started reading & he read bible stories, he texted/called us to study/ask questions so he could make the most educated decision about educating his son on religious matters. Fascinating that we search that out when we have someone to teach/instruct about the matters. I've considered how/what to incorporate with our culture when our LO is old enough to understand.
We are baptizing Labor Day weekend.. Mostly for MIL, but neither of us are opposed to baptism as we both made it through confirmation as kids, and I'm thinking it might be nice to find a church for the community aspect (haven't really gone in many years) but I certainly want her making her own choices about faith as she gets older.. MIL INSISTS that she be baptized at her church which means a 6 hour drive to buffalo for us, and she is making me invite everyone she's ever met which is certainly not my scene so it should be an interesting event!
Late September. DS will be a little over 3 months. I had DD baptized around 5 months but she was born in October and I wanted to avoid Chicago winter.
Franco Paul born 6/4/15 at 39 weeks. Mila Francesca born 10/19/13 at 37 weeks. Both born via C-Section after 6 years of fertility treatments, disappointments and losses. Love them!!
I've found these interesting. We'll baptize within the next 3 months, we're waiting on available dates from church to see what will work for the families. To be honest, I don't care but DH and both families are much more religious. I'll give both kids free reign to pick a religion, which hasn't been an option for me. Which is why I'm so ambivalent.
My husband doesn't practice his cultural faith or Islam and I don't practice my faith of Catholicism, however, I still wish for our child to experience and be welcomed by a community so we are doing a "Blessing." We have invited our closest family and friends and have asked them each to bring a scripture, prayer, poem, or quote to read of Little One and have asked my Godfather to read a prayer. We have also identifies "Godparents," whom we have asked to serve as spiritual leaders, encouraging our child to explore different faiths and challenge themselves. One of the most positive aspects of religion, in my opion, is the sense of space and community, and hope this blessing will instill that upon our Sweetheart.
I was baptized catholic, boyfriend was baptized catholic, but neither of us are religious. We both grew up in a catholic elementary and middle school, and I truly believe it contributed to driving us away from the church. I would rather not baptize because I believe LO should choose her own faith when she decides what she believes, but it's so important to all of our families that she be baptized. I'm still deciding if we should just go ahead and do it, because ultimately she can decide to be confirmed or not, but I don't know.
@kkdb14 while we didn't go to a catholic school growing up, I was raised going to church every Sunday and attending CCE. DH doesn't have a tie to any religion, we got married in a church, so we'll be baptizing but then kid can decide when older if wants to continue. So same thought process!
Re: Baptism
Neither of us are religious, although we were raised as such, so we want LO to make her own decision when she's old enough.
Needless to say, no baptisms here. Will encourage LO to explore ideas and the fundamental tenets of religions, tho (love thy neighbor, give unto others, etc)
My DH & I were in ministry for 3 years (youth minister), & I find it immensely interesting the effect a child has on some families who previously didn't consider "religion" who search out answers/churches. {I REALLY hope this doesn't sound "churchy"/judge-y}. I believe people should search for themselves what they believe & find their own church that suits them. This is purely things I've noticed from family & members of our congregation.
But for example, my older cousin, who was raised Church of Christ, hadn't gone to church/wasn't concerned at all about anything religious for a LONG while. Once his son started reading & he read bible stories, he texted/called us to study/ask questions so he could make the most educated decision about educating his son on religious matters. Fascinating that we search that out when we have someone to teach/instruct about the matters. I've considered how/what to incorporate with our culture when our LO is old enough to understand.
2nd round exp 8/20/18.
Franco Paul born 6/4/15 at 39 weeks. Mila Francesca born 10/19/13 at 37 weeks. Both born via C-Section after 6 years of fertility treatments, disappointments and losses. Love them!!