Baptism

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Churchman25

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People may disagree with this but I personally think that lots of times people who were outsise of the faith for years (Not baptized) and have come in and gone through the the RCIA program. lots of times have a better understanding of it then people who were baptized into it. Im not saying this is everyone who is is batized when they are a baby, but I think its a good amount. Im also not telling people who were baptized as a baby to leave for say a couple of years and then come back. I do understand that you can’t be unbaptized.
 
I think it’s a matter of taking your faith seriously. If you go through RCIA, you’ve chosen the faith, and it is a very serious, conscious decision that you’ve prayed about and thought about. If you’re baptized into the faith at birth, that decision was made for you as a child, and you don’t necessarily need to put the thought and prayer into it or try to defend your decision. You can still choose (at any time) to care enough about your faith to love it, live it, and learn it to the same extent, but you also have the option to cruise through life apathetic to it or falling away. I think we just happen to stumble upon folks who hold onto their title or heritage as Catholics without ever engaging in their faith and somehow expect them to be as zealous as a convert or devoted cradle Catholic - and we’re surprised when they don’t share the love of the faith we’ve found…they take for granted the treasure we had to seek out.
 
There are also many, many Catholic people who were poorly catechized as children. I include myself in this group. In and of itself this isn’t an obstacle to deepening one’s understanding of the faith, but one would first have to realize their perspective was lacking. They may cling to erroneous faith concepts presented to them in childhood, believing they are valid, and/or perhaps they were given a summary version of Church teaching and think they have already been told all they need to know.
 
Churchman25 said:
People may disagree with this but I personally think that lots of times people who were outsise of the faith for years (Not baptized) and have come in and gone through the the RCIA program. lots of times have a better understanding of it then people who were baptized into it. Im not saying this is everyone who is is batized when they are a baby, but I think its a good amount. Im also not telling people who were baptized as a baby to leave for say a couple of years and then come back. I do understand that you can’t be unbaptized.
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There are thoughts that seem to get stamped into the collective mindset, such as that the day you get married is the most important day of your life. Weddings ARE big days and usually happy ones. Wedding planners make a lot of money on that myth that it’s so important. But we know the spiritual pre-nuptial agreement, that it lasts only until death.

On the contrary, I think the day of Baptism is the greatest day of everybody’s life. Because its effects transcend death and even give greater meaning to our journey towards the eternal marriage of the Lamb.

Married or not, every baptized person can and should be happy about their baptism. Is this or is this not the ‘narrow door’ that Christ said that through which we enter the Kingdom?

Do we not ratify our Baptism when we pray “Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” ?

When I worked in a nursing home years ago, I went into a man’s room to change his position in bed, to prevent bed sores. and as I was finishing up (I wasn’t very good at this job) his tired, almost pained grimace gave way to an expression of joy, and he reminded me " you know I am a happy man, because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior." We Catholics accept Jesus as our personal savior, we accept his Word, on the day of our baptism.
 
I’m not sure that I can agree that it’s always people who were not baptised as babies who are more faithful. I do agree that converts often make wonderful Catholics as they’ve usually studied their faith more as adults, whereas cradle Catholics aren’t always well catechized.

I, for one, was baptised as a baby and didn’t attend Catholic schools so I was not very well catechized, yet I thank God for my faith and my baptism and I feel privileged to be Catholic even though I wasn’t always a very good Catholic. I have always believed in God, even when not practicing my faith. Although many Catholics have fallen away, there are many people who have not been baptised and will never accept God, so I can hardly suppose that to be a better practice.

I’m glad you’re ‘not telling people who were baptized as a baby to leave for say a couple of years and then come back’ because Christ died for all of us, even those that you don’t think make the grade. I’ve noticed that some cradle Catholics, like myself, have previously fallen away and been called back later on. I also think that many non-practicing poorly catechized Catholic adults still believe in God, even though they don’t seem to understand the importance of attending Mass and they’ve put God on the back-burner.
 
I suppose many believe because they were in Catholic school or faith formation as a child they know all they need to know to be a good Catholic. But what we (all) need to realize is that faith and knowledge is a process and that we need to take responsibility for our own faith and our own learning of the faith. I probably had ok faith formation as a child, we learned a little about a lot of things. But that is the problem, as a child you only learn so much, and then faith formation ends once you are confirmed, often leaving people with a stunted understanding not only of the faith, but in their faith practice.

I went to a Catholic college and we had a required theology class. It was always the kids that had 12 years Catholic school that were the most clueless and had swallowed the most secular understanding of the Church. From everything to basic Bible stories to Church teaching.

I was lucky (no Catholic school) that my Dad modeled continuous learning and when I was a young teen had a bunch of apologetic and other faith books in the house. So I was able to explore and question the faith without having to experience a doubting stage. I just realized that I could not explain what really common phrases that I heard all my life meant (the one that propelled me into learning was “Jesus died for our sins.” I could not for the life of me explain what that meant or how that worked).
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
I think it’s a matter of taking your faith seriously. If you go through RCIA, you’ve chosen the faith, and it is a very serious, conscious decision that you’ve prayed about and thought about. If you’re baptized into the faith at birth, that decision was made for you as a child, and you don’t necessarily need to put the thought and prayer into it or try to defend your decision.

I have never understood why people sometimes use the word ‘faith’ when it really is ‘religion’ they are talking about. :rolleyes:
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Cor_ad_Cor said:
I think it’s a matter of taking your faith seriously. If you go through RCIA, you’ve chosen the faith, and it is a very serious, conscious decision that you’ve prayed about and thought about. If you’re baptized into the faith at birth, that decision was made for you as a child, and you don’t necessarily need to put the thought and prayer into it or try to defend your decision. You can still choose (at any time) to care enough about your faith to love it, live it, and learn it to the same extent, but you also have the option to cruise through life apathetic to it or falling away. I think we just happen to stumble upon folks who hold onto their title or heritage as Catholics without ever engaging in their faith and somehow expect them to be as zealous as a convert or devoted cradle Catholic - and we’re surprised when they don’t share the love of the faith we’ve found…they take for granted the treasure we had to seek out.
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I have never understood why people sometimes use the word ‘faith’ when they are actually talking about ‘religion’. :rolleyes: There is a BIG difference!
 
SJacob7 said:
I have never understood why people sometimes use the word ‘faith’ when they are actually talking about ‘religion’. :rolleyes: There is a BIG difference!
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faith
fāTH/
noun
noun: faith
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Code: 
1.
complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
"this restores one's faith in politicians"
synonyms:	trust, belief, confidence, conviction; More
optimism, hopefulness, hope
"he justified his boss's faith in him"
antonyms:	mistrust
2.
strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.
synonyms:	religion, church, sect, denomination, (religious) persuasion, (religious) belief, ideology, creed, teaching, doctrine
"she gave her life for her faith"
    a system of religious belief.
    plural noun: faiths
    "the Christian faith"
    a strongly held belief or theory.
    "the faith that life will expand until it fills the universe"
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:rolleyes:
 
Churchman25 said:
People may disagree with this but I personally think that lots of times people who were outsise of the faith for years (Not baptized) and have come in and gone through the the RCIA program. lots of times have a better understanding of it then people who were baptized into it. Im not saying this is everyone who is is batized when they are a baby, but I think its a good amount. Im also not telling people who were baptized as a baby to leave for say a couple of years and then come back. I do understand that you can’t be unbaptized.
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I was a convert from the Methodist Church in 1992 having gone through RCIA and I can tell you (I now live in the Philippines) that it is probably not an exaggeration to say that most Catholics here are ignorant about the Catholic faith. They are very devout Catholics but don’t know much about their faith. Ironically, after each of my RCIA classes I would get home and discuss what I learned with my cradle Catholic wife. She learned more about the Catholic faith that way than throughout her life. Most have never seen a CCC, and I think they were not catechised by their parents.
 
Baptism assures you are incorporated into the fullness of the divine life.
 
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