Baptism before death

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ajpirc

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Why do we baptize usually when someone is an infant? Why not before right before death? If someone is baptized right before they die, they will go right to Heaven, because it washes away original sin, personal sin, and temporal punishment due for those sins.

It would probably be the easiest way to get people to Heaven. I think Emperor Constantine waited until his death to be baptized. Would this be cheating God?
 
Great question. I would venture to guess the answer is that you could die suddenly. In this situation you would be in trouble. Gambling with your salvation probably isn’t to smart.
 
ajpirc said:
Why do we baptize usually when someone is an infant? Why not before right before death? If someone is baptized right before they die, they will go right to Heaven, because it washes away original sin, personal sin, and temporal punishment due for those sins.

It would probably be the easiest way to get people to Heaven. I think Emperor Constantine waited until his death to be baptized. Would this be cheating God?
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That’s not practical. How would you know when a person is going to die?
 
ajpirc said:
They’re in the hospital?
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But they could also be in a car accident, be shot, or have a massive heart attack. Why leave baptism until the last minute when we don’t know when that last minute will be? Plus, without baptism, there is no First Communion, and I certainly wouldn’t like to go though life in this world not receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!
 
IgnatiusDaughtr said:
But they could also be in a car accident, be shot, or have a massive heart attack. Why leave baptism until the last minute when we don’t know when that last minute will be? Plus, without baptism, there is no First Communion, and I certainly wouldn’t like to go though life in this world not receiving Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament!
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Ok. I see. Stupid question. :doh2:
 
ajpirc said:
Ok. I see. Stupid question. :doh2:
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The only stupid questions are the one’s left unasked! It was something you were wondering about - it was a concern that you had about salvation. I absolutely consider our salvation something worthy of asking about. 👍

God Bless!
 
Also, baptism is not just about the removal of sins. As St John Chrysostom sais, “You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ’s] members” (Baptismal Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian 1:6:21 [A.D. 388]).

So we baptize even infants so that we can more easily walk the way God wants us to.
 
ajpirc said:
Why do we baptize usually when someone is an infant? Why not before right before death? If someone is baptized right before they die, they will go right to Heaven, because it washes away original sin, personal sin, and temporal punishment due for those sins.

It would probably be the easiest way to get people to Heaven. I think Emperor Constantine waited until his death to be baptized. Would this be cheating God?
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Wouldn’t the intention of baptism right before death count for something? In other words, if an adult person were baptized expressly for the purpose of washing away original sin and personal sins and asked to undergo the Sacrament of Baptism before death just so they might be saved and go to Heaven, but were not sincere about repentance for the mortal sins they had committed during their lives, would the Sacrament in and of itself guarantee salvation? When an infant is baptized, it washes away their original sin; but they will surely commit many other venial and mortal sins during their life which they must repent for (the mortal sins at least) in the Sacrament of Confession. They might also have received the Sacrament of the Eucharist during their lifetime. But a person who receives baptism on his deathbed may not have ever confessed their mortal sins or received the Eucharist, and may not even be sincere in receiving Baptism. Wouldn’t this make a difference?
 
meltzerboy said:
Wouldn’t the intention of baptism right before death count for something? In other words, if an adult person were baptized expressly for the purpose of washing away original sin and personal sins and asked to undergo the Sacrament of Baptism before death just so they might be saved and go to Heaven, but were not sincere about repentance for the mortal sins they had committed during their lives, would the Sacrament in and of itself guarantee salvation? When an infant is baptized, it washes away their original sin; but they will surely commit many other venial and mortal sins during their life which they must repent for (the mortal sins at least) in the Sacrament of Confession. They might also have received the Sacrament of the Eucharist during their lifetime.

But a person who receives baptism on his deathbed may not have ever confessed their mortal sins or received the Eucharist,

With Confession, when a person is gravely ill, a priest will got to the hospital/home to hear confession and bring Eucharist. So for example in a case where maybe a patient is truly repentant and decides that he/she wants to be baptised, they could do all 3 in one day, Baptism, Confession and receive the Eucharist.
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and may not even be sincere** in receiving Baptism. Wouldn’t this make a difference?

Definitely if the baptism was insincere, just because you knew your time was up and you wanted to hedge your bets, then you are only fooling yourself and God knows what is written on every human heart.
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LOCO:
Thank you for the information.
 
Baptism is not “fire insurance”. I was baptized when I was young. I would rather struggle with the problems of becoming what I am supposed to be than to miss the mark completely and miss out on Heaven. I just wish I had become Catholic sooner in life so I could have done more for the Kingdom and my Lord.
 
ajpirc said:
Why do we baptize usually when someone is an infant? Why not before right before death? If someone is baptized right before they die, they will go right to Heaven, because it washes away original sin, personal sin, and temporal punishment due for those sins.

It would probably be the easiest way to get people to Heaven. I think Emperor Constantine waited until his death to be baptized. Would this be cheating God?
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I’m surprised no one has pointed out that this was, in fact, practiced at various times and places in the past for exactly the reason you mention.

However, it is obviously a bad idea because you are gambling with your soul that you will die in a predictable way.

Also, this would prevent you from having any chance to merit greater rewards in Heaven.
 
ajpirc said:
Why do we baptize usually when someone is an infant? Why not before right before death? If someone is baptized right before they die, they will go right to Heaven, because it washes away original sin, personal sin, and temporal punishment due for those sins.

It would probably be the easiest way to get people to Heaven. I think Emperor Constantine waited until his death to be baptized. Would this be cheating God?
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as you note some people made this gamble in the early days. do you know for sure when you are going to die?
 
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