BAPTISM ONLY FOR BABIES THAT WILL BE INDOCTRINATED AS CATHOLIC
On the human level, baptising a baby into Christianity is committing that child
to Christianity and resolving to correct the child if she or he wanders from the
teachings of the faith. That is true even if there is no God and baptism
is just a sprinkle and nothing special.
On the spiritual level, if there is a God he will perhaps hold the baby and those involved in the baptism to the commitments signified by the rite. If these commitments offend him then they will have to answer for that.
It is said that to give your child a choice between choosing to join your religion or not that makes it 50/50. It makes choosing the religion as important as not choosing it. Catholicism calls that insulting and unfair to the Catholic faith. That is only a problem if you think the religion is true or the best religion in the first place. But put that thought aside for a moment. 50/50 does deny how important the Catholic faith claims to be. But it is still given half a chance against atheism or any ism you can think of. 50% Catholic with the other 50% covering Islam, atheism, Mormonism etcetera etcetera etcetera is still being biased towards Catholicism. The truly liberal parent who will not let herself or himself be allowed to be used by the Church will make sure it really is an equal playing field. Nothing then gets 50%.
The Church is not supposed to baptise babies that will not be raised to
believe the Catholic Church is true. If baptism cures the baby of sin and sinful
inclinations then surely it should be given the baptism. The Catholics retort
that the baby receives the inclination to see that their doctrines are all true
and receives the power to have faith through the grace of the sacrament. Thus if
the baby gets bigger and does not believe he is resisting God and not responding
to the grace within.
Incredibly the priests contradict the teaching that babies must not be baptised
if the chance is unlikely that they will be helped to become true believers.
They contradict it by baptising babies of parents who never go to Mass. The
parents having some weak faith is considered to be enough. Chances are the
parents know very little of the faith. They only have a weak opinion that the
faith is true. But that only refers to what they know of it or think they know
of it. An opinion is not faith.
Most Christians take babies to church to have water poured over them by a
minister or priest who says, "I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit". They are baptised into the name of God which
means the authority of God. They are under the authority of God and therefore
under the authority of the men God has chosen to run his Church. You can't be
baptised and put under the authority of the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy
Spirit unless you believe in them.
Baptism confers the obligation to believe in what God has revealed. For
Protestants, this is whatever the Bible says for it is supposed to have been
inspired by God. For Catholics, it is whatever the Bible and the infallible
Church say.
For example, if a gay couple take their baby for baptism they are obligating
that child to "learn" and believe that homosexuality is dirty and wrong and an
abomination! If an unwed couple take their baby for baptism they are obligating
the child to disapprove of the very act that brought the child into existence!
If Christianity and its Bible have the right to refer to gay sex as abomination
- and they have exercised this "right" - surely people must be given the right
to regard baptism as an abomination? When a couple have a baby and one person is
an unbeliever and who does not want the child baptised, often the believer gets
her or his own way. The rights of the unbeliever are disregarded. They could
agree to let the child decide for herself but they often won't. The believer
won't compromise.
Most Christians believe the rite puts grace into the baptised. Grace is a power
from God that puts belief and the inclination to become a committed Christian
into the babies as if by magic. It is an attempt to use the supernatural to
control the child. This is a reflection of baptism being entry into the Church
and commitment to what the Church believes. That is why vows of commitment to
the teaching of the Church and the life the Church requires of its members are
made on behalf of the baby by the parents and godparents.
BELIEF IS MADE PARAMOUNT
For the religion doing the baptism, the baptism is a big deal. Its main purpose
is to declare that a religious creed and structure comes before the child. When
you believe without proof that your baby needs the Devil's influence and
original sin cast out by the power of baptism that is declaring that the
religion comes first. You need very strong evidence to have the right to look
upon your baby as needing the magic of baptism. The casting out of evil
supposedly makes the baby a member of the Church meaning that the baby is not as
important as a baby but as Catholic baby.
Nobody has the right to ask you to believe anything no matter what it is. Real
belief is caused by the evidence. It is perceiving that based on the evidence
you have, something is probably true. Thus belief is personal. It is your own
business. Yet baptism has parents trying to magically create belief in the
Church in a child. This implies that the parents and the Church have a right to
ask the child to believe. And more than that, they are obligated to! That's even
worse than asking.
Jesus asked for faith and belief. This showed his true colours. It shows what
his Church is really like too.
If belief is not just your own business, then it must be the Church's business.
It is this idea that was and is behind Church campaigns in favour of censorship.
It is in favour of the Church's attempts to condition children which are a form
of censorship. It is in favour of the Church baptising babies into Church
membership. If you have no right to ask anybody to believe, you have even less
right to try and make Catholics of your children.
The more extraordinary a doctrine is the more extraordinary is the evidence you
must be able to present to anyone who you invite to believe in it. Every single
Catholic doctrine is extraordinary in its content and also in its importance.
For example, if you refuse to believe any doctrine or if you refuse to obey you
refuse to obey the most important being there is: God. And you may go to Hell
for all eternity. Catholic doctrine is so serious that nobody should be allowed
to enter the Church as a member without being informed of it. The Church for
example teaches that an accident that destroys the universe is better than a
single little sin. Nearly all Catholics have been manipulated.
MEMBER OF THE CHURCH
When you are baptised, you are declared a member and therefore supporter of the
Christian faith. Even dissident Catholics are responsible for the damage the
papacy does for they support the papacy in the sense that they give it a reason
to exist and a reason to claim to know the mysterious mind of God. It is not
right to impose such a heavy responsibility on a baby. Baptism dedicates the
baby to a specific interpretation of theology and morality. The baby is
considered evil and sinful if he or she grows up to reject the religious system
that initiated her or him. Then he or she will be in danger of suffering in Hell
forever. Even if you don't believe in Hell and there is no Hell, there is no
escaping the fact that if he or she fears Hell he or she is making himself or
herself deserve one when he or she turns away from the Church. People always
lose faith bit by bit and this cannot be done without believing one has
committed a very serious sin against faith that deserves Hell at some point.
When most Church members are really just following what they want to believe
rather than what the Church says they are obligated to believe because of their
baptism, it is simply spiritually dangerous to have your child baptised!
The baby receiving a Catholic baptism does not promise to be a Catholic. But the
Church says that the parents and godparents promise it for him by proxy. So for
the Church it is the same as if the child consented. That is why the child
receives Catholic membership at baptism. Catholic baptism is not the equivalent
of a baby dedication service. Such services promise to bless the baby and
encourage the baby to become a believer when he or she grows older. They do not
confer membership but hope to encourage membership. For the Catholic Church,
baptism confers membership and the obligation to stay a member forever. Despite
what the Church says, nobody else can make your decision for you even if you are
a baby. The parents and godparents consenting to put God's spirit into a baby
from which it is absent cannot count as the baby consenting. The baby is being
demeaned in the name of religion. It is forced conversion.