Should I baptize?

[adrianalozano]

Hello,
I am confused. Hope you can help. I’ll try to shorten this story.

My friend ask me to baptize her son when he was 1-2. and at a gathering she left without saying a word for unknown reasons (she had mood swings, a lot) and she never spoke to me until sometime after, but never ask about baptizing her son since she was then attending an Evangelist Church. I never brought it up either. Now he is 7 and she asked to baptize. She recently baptize her daughter, because her new husband is Catholic. I do not know how to approach her to know what she believes. I do not know where she stands. She is a good mom, but I do not know if her personality is still the same. I have known her for about 17 years, but the relationship, or trust is not the same because of her mood, (personality). I do not know if she is catholic or evanglist.

Sorry gotta go.

Please help.

 

[scylla]

Some people are sort of in-between, if I understand your question correctly…

Some people are part of evangelical churches yet believe some Catholic views, some waver as they go along. There are many Catholics who go to non-denominational churches who still claim to be Catholic (probably still believe some Catholic beliefs) yet go there because they enjoy the worship\ community better.

I would gently encourage baptizing the child as Jesus asked us to baptize. Encourage her to give the child to God as salvation is a gift from God and we shouldn’t stand in the way. Maybe give the example that baptism is what replaced circumcision for everyone and as Christ was circumcised, so we should baptize.

I used to go to an evangelical church and we dedicated children as born-again Christians we didn’t believe in baptizing babies, but we needed to fill the void so we came up with dedication. The church used the example of them dedicating Jesus as support for this. (This seemed to me sort of old covenant, without the circumcision) But you can justify many things by looking at scripture with your own interpretation.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[tkdnick]

Hey,

I’m confused about what exactly is going on. Let me see if I got this…You friend asked you to baptize her son, but then decided otherwise. Now (5-6 years later) she wants to have her child baptized by you and you don’t understand what the deal is. Is that about right?

I would suggest that either a priest or deacon baptize the child. While it is possible for a layperson to baptize in times of emergency, that is generally something reserved for ordained people.