A few moths ago I made a promise. My husband had a medical problem, a big one, and for a few minutes, I thought he was dying. While I was driving to the hospital, right after the ambulance had left and I had placed my girls with my mother in law, I promised God (strange, since to this day I still don’t know if I should consider myself a believer or not) I would baptise my daughters if he was ok. The outcome was good enough, he needs medication but it’s ok, so… should I baptise them?
When I told my husband he wasn’t so happy. His allegations were: “shouldn’t we wait for at least two years and see if I’m really ok?” and “why didn’t you promise something that implies only you? Why didn’t you promise you’d convert to hinduism or Islam or you’d walk 40 km?” But still… have you ever done something like this? In a way, I’d baptise them. I know my mother and my in-laws would be happy. My father has always believed religion is just a big fairy tale to control people. I can’t help but feel the same way too, at least my rational side…
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9 comments:
I don't believe in baptising a child. I believe the decision to baptise should be left to the individual once they reach an age to make informed decisions.
That said, and I must interject that I am an atheist, you should baptise them. The question of the existence of a deity doesn't enter into it. You made a promise to do something should something else happen. If nothing else you promised yourself.
That's my take on it.
If it was important enough for you at the time (of the accident) then it (I think) should still be that important.
The children can change their minds when they get older.
Nuri, one must be true to one's self, if to no other.
Did you mean that you would baptize your daughters if your husband survived the immediate crisis? Or, were you thinking more long term?
It sounds to me as if you were concerned about the crisis at hand. If so, in order to be true to your commitment, you should baptize your daughters.
It is difficult to make decisions in times of crisis, but we are sometimes bound by our decisions, even so.
If you baptize them and it turns out there is not God, you have not really harmed your daughters. If it turns out that there is a God and you don't baptize them, you have broken an important promise to the Almighty.
How much do you value a promise?
Reverse the situation.....someone promises you something how would you feel if the let you down.
Just a thought,that is all.
Nuri,
You made a commitment based on your faith in that moment, as we all have done. I think you might feel better if you follow through on your commitment. It will not hurt anyone, and it may help.
When your children mature, they can make their own decisions regarding whether or not they want to practice religion... we all do that anyhow.
You may want see my true story posted earlier today.
WM
Nuri, RE: your comments about my link to your site, I don't remember getting a definition.
I have two emails that you can use, and both work: the Observations address - jsobservations@yahoo.com - and another one - james.shott@yahoo.com.
As for the pronunciation, try writing it phonetically, as in:
Observations: Aahb-zer-vay-shuns
Maybe that will do it.
And, by the way, I'm not really mean. :-)
It's sweeter to tell kids about God and a wonderful place called heaven where we all end up (if we've been good) and live happily ever after. Faith. It's a huge antinatural effort... The older you get, though, the more you need to believe!
I would follow my promise, but it will take time to convince my husband... He has a point when he says it's kind of easy to promise something about somebody else. And when I look at the Catholic church... well there's so many things I just don't like, beginning with it being an only male establishment...
Btw, thank you all, I really appreciate it that you take your time to comment on this.
Nuri,
I cannot think of any monotheistic religion that is not a male establishment as they are all "man made". And yes, religion is misused on many occasions, just as government is often used to oppress people, especially women. It's all very difficult in today's world.
WM
Hmm. Tough decision, eh? Sounds like you might want to think about whether you believe in God or not?
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