Baptism in Christianity; Sacraments

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Harry White

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Modern Christianity offers a number of different approaches to baptism. But the two main kinds are, infant baptism, where very young children are baptized in a font. And believer’s baptism, where a person, old enough to understand the obligations of baptism are baptised in a shallow pool called a baptistery.

Infant baptism is celebrated by roman Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, Orthodox and United Reform Church. And it is the most popular form of baptism. This may be because parents wanted their children baptized as well, because baptism was seen as a new life and so it seemed appropriate to begin life with baptism. Though these churches do baptise older children and adults, these are only in special cases where a person was not able to be baptised as an infant.

A Roman Catholic service begins with a priest welcoming the child, the parents of the child and the God parents of the child. He then reminds the parents and the godparents of the duties they are accepting and then the priest, the parents and the Godparents make the sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead. This is followed by bible readings and then a homily from the priest and then the baby is anointed with oil to show dedication to God. A prayer is then said for the baby and then the parents and Godparents say they reject satin and then water is poured over the babies head three times. The child is once more anointed with oil and then dressed in white and a candle is lit from the paschal candle and given to the parents.

During an Orthodox ceremony the child is totally immersed in water. After the baptismal ceremony the child is then confirmed and oil is placed on the babies head, eyes, lips, ears, chest, hands and feet.

The churches that celebrate believers baptism include the Baptist church and the Pentecostal churches. In believers baptism a person old enough to make the decision to be baptised is totally immersed in water. The Baptist and the Pentecostal churches are both non liturgical churches, meaning that there is no set order has to how they should conduct services. However believer’s baptism generally follows the same basic order. A minister will stand before the congregation and deliver a sermon on the importance of baptism, how it is an outward sign of a persons expectance of God into there life, and an initiation into a life free from sin. He then asks the congregation to renew their faith in Christ and then calls forward the people who wish to be baptised. These people will be dressed in white or light coloured clothes. They are then asked if they have repented their sins and if they have faith in the lord Jesus Christ, They may also read a passage from the bible that’s significant to them or they may read a testimony, this is a short account explaining how that person came to Christianity. They are then totally immersed in the baptistery water and as they come up out of the water they come up, out of a life of sin and are reborn into a life with god.

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There are however two denominations that do not practice baptism. The Salvation Army and the Quakers. The reason for this is that neither church believes it is necessary to have an outward sign of your devotion to god. They believe that it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

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Baptism is an initiation ceremony, used my many Christian denominations, that inducts someone into the Christian church. It is a sacrament and an outward sign of the beginning of a person’s life with god. In Mathew 28:19 Jesus says to baptize all nations in the name of the trinity. ...

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