baptism (rituals, beliefs, creation, church, Holy Spirit)

[Mike182]

should christian wiccans get baptised?

i guess its down to personal preferance, but should i feel guilty if i chose to not be baptised?

ive not decided if i should get baptised or not, so im just looking fo rother peoples thoughts

cheers
mike

[jeffrey]

IMO, baptism is a ritual. There is nothing in the bible that states you cannot baptize yourself. Set some water on your alter, ask God to bless the water, sprinkle yourself with the water, and in your mind, accept Christ and the Holy Spirit.

[Nehustan]

I have a suggestion, how about you and some 'Christian Wiccans' go to a nice quiet river somewhere, lead each other into the waters, and in the name and fellowship of the pentagrammaton IHShVH, and The God beyond creation from which the spirit proceeds, baptise each other as John the baptist did to Jeheshuah himself in the river Jordan...some invocation relating to the Ruach Elohim (The spirit of God) during might be adavantageous.

Ruach Elohim

= 300 =

[Fluffy]

I don't believe you should do anything unless you believe you should. That goes doubly so for rituals such as baptism .

I personally feel that Christ's sacrifice negated any need, assuming there was a need in the first place, for baptism.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Fluffy

I don't believe you should do anything unless you believe you should. That goes doubly so for rituals such as baptism .

I personally feel that Christ's sacrifice negated any need, assuming there was a need in the first place, for baptism.

Baptism isn't even necessary for Christians. I agree though, that if it makes you feel good, the n why not ?

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by Mike182

should christian wiccans get baptised?

i guess its down to personal preferance, but should i feel guilty if i chose to not be baptised?

I wouldn't put it in terms of preference. Even you're finding your own path as you go along, it's more a question of what's meaningful in the context of your practice, isn't it? Baptism is a rite of initiation, so the question is whether such a rite is meaningful to your practice and, if so, whether baptism is the appropriate or most meaningful rite of initiation. If you do decide on baptism, questions to consider are what form the rite should take and whom you will ask to baptize you. Of course, if you see baptism as a ritual cleansing, rather than a rite of initiation, there's no reason you can't baptize yourself.

[Fluffy]

Baptism isn't even necessary for Christians. I agree though, that if it makes you feel good, the n why not ?

That is very true.

Of course, if you see baptism as a ritual cleansing, rather than a rite of initiation, there's no reason you can't baptize yourself.

The problem with using baptism as a rite of initiation, for a CW, is that when a Christian or a Wiccan goes through their respective initiation processes, they are doing it to enter a specific Church or coven. A CW is, for the most part, unable to do that, because of the relatively few organisations which would make such a member feel comfortable given the diversity in their beliefs.

[Evenstar]

I am Baptized but I was a member of a church then.

To me its not so important, and as others are saying its your choice.

I feel churches try to push you into it... their beliefs, but we walk our our path in life.

If it makes you happy then do it.

As our path.... it makes us happy.... so we follow it.

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by Fluffy

The problem with using baptism as a rite of initiation, for a CW, is that when a Christian or a Wiccan goes through their respective initiation processes, they are doing it to enter a specific Church or coven. A CW is, for the most part, unable to do that, because of the relatively few organisations which would make such a member feel comfortable given the diversity in their beliefs.

I anticipated that it might be a problem; that's why I mentioned the question of who would do the baptizing.

In the Quaker tradition, baptism is seen as a spiritual thing, and the external rite is superfluous -- even to Quakers who see themselves as Christians -- so I liked your first response that there is no need for the rite of baptism. I wouldn't want to try to impose a Quaker understanding of the subject on someone who's following a different path, but it was nice to see a similar perspective coming from another Wiccan.