Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Christening (meaning at its root "to make Christian") and baptism are the same thing.
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I have to disagree. It's to my understanding (though I do not claim to know everything) that christening was merely the parents' act of dedicating their child to God (which makes it synonymous with "infant dedication") and baptism was one's act of dedicating him/herself to God--making the choice of one's own free will. A dedication differs in that the parents are merely "giving their child to God" (which can be taken in whatever context you will, I know it varies from sect to sect). A baptism is not a remitting of original sin because that (somewhat) occurred at the moment the person accepted Jesus as savior, but a public declaration of that acceptance and acknowledgement that a new life is going to be lived. I grew up Baptist and while I don't claim that denomination anymore, this is this path I followed in childhood and what I was told those things meant.
hijack:
It's because of the definition of baptism that I find it a shame when parents (who do believe in the diff that I stated) force a 5 yo to be baptised--it's supposed to be a personal choice, not like a dedication where it's your parents decision. Most kids that I know are christened as infants and baptised between ages 5-10. My mother was infuriated when I said I wanted to make sure I was old enough to really understand "what I was getting into" so to speak. I refused to be baptised until I was sure it was what I wanted--when I was 15. I think it was my way of telling her I didn't really believe in God, but that's another story...
/hijack
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