Should I attend my friend's baptism?

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He is being baptized at The Church of Christ. I am not familiar with their beliefs though and am not sure if I should be supportive of this action. I suppose it’s good he’s finally getting baptized but will this baptism be valid? Do they believe that baptism is necessary for salvation? When he was telling me about it he said “yeah, I’ve never been saved” so that led me to believe that they might. Also, it leads me to believe they are a OSAS church.

Thank you for your comments and advice.
 
If the baptism is valid, you may attend the baptism to be a Christian witness. At a mininum, you can consider this event a “baptism of desire” for your friend. He is wishing to be baptized into God’s grace.

“Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of conscience” (Constitution on the Church, Second Vatican Council).
 
Are they asking you to participate ion anyway, or just attend. If it’s just attend…I’d go and support your friend. At least he is trying to find Christ in someway. If you refuse to go because it’s not Catholic, you will only reinforce the misconception that Catholics are intolerant and mean.
 
is your friend a Catholic affectively leaving the faith? or does he come from a non-religious back-ground or other faith back-ground and is searching?
 
FromTheAshes777 said:
is your friend a Catholic affectively leaving the faith? or does he come from a non-religious back-ground or other faith back-ground and is searching?
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I do not know much about his past or faith, we have not really talked about it but I believe that he was never Catholic. He was never baptized before so maybe from a rather secular home or one that didn’t believe in infant baptism, which means non-Catholic of course.
 
Link0126 said:
I do not know much about his past or faith, we have not really talked about it but I believe that he was never Catholic. He was never baptized before so maybe from a rather secular home or one that didn’t believe in infant baptism, which means non-Catholic of course.
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if your friend has never been baptized before then I personally would attend and encourage his faith in Christ, as far as I know a Church of Christ baptism is a valid one because traditionally they use the proper words of institution and always baptize in water.

I would try to use the opportunity though to initiate discussions about faith topics and lead into Church history with this.

this may be a stepping stone for him to eventually come into full communion with the Church.
 
I investigated the Church of Christ some years ago. Unlike most Protestants, they actually recognize the sacramental nature of baptism (i.e. that water baptism actually affects salvation). I don’t know for certain whether they use the Trinitarian formula.

I think they are anabaptist (re-baptizers) which means they will baptize anyone who has already been validly baptized in another tradition. (if your friend has already been validly baptized, the net result of this experience will be a nice bath).

The Church of Christ has been alleged to engage in controlling behavior but my investigation did not confirm this allegation.
 
Assuming he is not leaving the Catholic Church I would attend and use this as a stepping stone to discuss what he is learning and differences between the faiths.
 
Ok, so I went to the baptism and I’m pretty sure they did not say the trinitarian formula. There was some passages read from the Bible. Namely, Philip and eunuch and the verse where Jesus says whoever believes and is baptized will be saved but those who do not believe will not be saved. Then, the guy asked my friend if he believed that Jesus was the Son of God. After that they went into a back room and then we saw them a few minutes later in a little area above the pulpit. There was a little tub area up there. The preacher said something about my friend’s confession of Christ and then said some more of his own things and then he dunked him in the water. He was only dunked one time, not three times like I was expecting. And I believe they did not say the words “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” although I zoned out briefly and forgot to listen for those exact words, but I am pretty sure they were not said.

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Link0126 said:
He is being baptized at The Church of Christ. Ie.
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you left out the key piece of information. Is he Catholic? if so, then no, definitely not, he is rejecting the Church. If not, there is no issue and you can certainly attend. in this diocese they are recognized as having valid baptism.
 
Link0126 said:
He was only dunked one time, not three times like I was expecting. And I believe they did not say the words “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” although I zoned out briefly and forgot to listen for those exact words, but I am pretty sure they were not said.

So, what do you think, is it all cool?
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It is not required that the person be dunked three times. Once is enough. If the words “in the name of the father, son and holy spirit” weren’t used then it isn’t a valid baptism. Perhaps it might be worth asking your friend if this was said?

I was baptised in a non-Catholic church and IIRC, those words were only said quietly. Most of the congregation wouldn’t have heard them.
 
Alix1912 said:
Are they asking you to participate ion anyway, or just attend. If it’s just attend…I’d go and support your friend. At least he is trying to find Christ in someway. If you refuse to go because it’s not Catholic, you will only reinforce the misconception that Catholics are intolerant and mean.
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In the old days, the Church forbid Catholics to attend non-Catholic worship services, except for some social necessity (weddings, funerals). Even then, Catholics were not permitted to take an active part in the service, but to instead be silent observers. This practice dates back to the fourth century.

Catholics are not intolerant of people but of false doctrines and opinions. This is stated explicitly in the 1949 Baltimore Catechism and Mass, No. 3:

“Catholics are intolerant toward doctrines opposed to the teaching of the Catholic Church; but they are tolerant toward the persons who hold those doctrines. … When we say that Catholics are intolerant towards doctrines opposed to the teaching of the Catholic Church we mean that Catholics regard those doctrines as false. We must do this if we are honest. Since we are convinced that the Catholic religion is true and that it is the one religion established by the Son of God for all mankind, we logically hold that all other religions are erroneous, and that their existence is not in accordance with the will of Christ” (p. 95).
 
Link0126 said:
And I believe they did not say the words “in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit” although I zoned out briefly and forgot to listen for those exact words, but I am pretty sure they were not said.

So, what do you think, is it all cool?
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You might ask your friend since you did not hear clearly, though I advise against suggesting at this time that the non-Trinitarian formula is invalid. Personally, I would consider it doubtful but not necessarily invalid.
 
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