Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JJ on February 24, 2010 at 6:55pm

I think most people's lives take a turn towards the better once they start taking responsibility for their actions, and stop depend on magic prayers to solve a problem. Like you, no matter how hard I would pray, nothing would change. I would cry praying so hard sometimes, but eventually I realized all that was doing was making me depressed.

Permalink Reply by Charlotte on February 24, 2010 at 1:41pm

I was baptized once (Church of Christ), when I was 13. I'd never thought a thing about it beforehand. I'm not sure if I even knew what it was..., but my 15yr cousin told me that if I wasn't baptized I would go to hell when I died. That scared me to no end. So, of course I wanted to be baptized & a couple of days later I was. I was so nervous.

I really didn't feel any different & thought I was supposed to, but no one talked to me about it.

Funny follow up story: It turns out the minister who baptized me was having an affair with the church secretary. He left his wife for the secretary & finally left the Church of Christ to become Baptist because they were more "forgiving." Good times. :-)

Permalink Reply by JJ on February 24, 2010 at 6:44pm

One of the preachers I had during my times as a Baptist was caught stealing money from the church, they let him keep his job though. I'm sure the devil got a lot of blame during those conversations.

Permalink Reply by James on February 24, 2010 at 8:16pm

Only once for me (Catholic). But I have a nice notation next to my name in the baptismal record though. I officially defected from the church and am not longed 'eligible for the sacraments'. So they basically say that they take back my baptism (like it meant anything to begin with). Also, should I die before my patents, they can't give me a Catholic burial (against my will) because the church won't let me have that 'honor' anymore. lol

Permalink Reply by Joe Burke on February 27, 2010 at 1:49am

I was only baptized once but I was a baby. Apparently, the Catholic Church wants to "get 'em early" before they can form an opinion of their own.

Permalink Reply by faith the atheist on April 23, 2010 at 10:56am

Never!My mother doesn't know I'm Atheist.I give her hints all the time and say I don't want to go to church but she makes me.I think she kinda know but is trying to stop it.I became Agnostic when I was eight because all the people pressuring me to get baptized,All the stupid stories in the bible and the fact that no Christians that I met understood evolution.I became Atheist when I was about ten.Now I'm 13 and my mother makes me go to a different church now my mother is telling me to get baptized so every day is a battle.

Permalink Reply by Joe Burke on May 12, 2010 at 8:18pm

were you excommunicated?

James said:

Only once for me (Catholic). But I have a nice notation next to my name in the baptismal record though. I officially defected from the church and am not longed 'eligible for the sacraments'. So they basically say that they take back my baptism (like it meant anything to begin with). Also, should I die before my patents, they can't give me a Catholic burial (against my will) because the church won't let me have that 'honor' anymore. lol

Permalink Reply by Randy Turner on May 13, 2010 at 1:48am

Once, i cant believe i was so naive.

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Miller on January 1, 2011 at 5:04am

Never been baptised

Permalink Reply by Jonel Burge on January 1, 2011 at 10:58am

Once, after a week at vacation Bible Camp, along with like 20-30 other kids in a small, 50-person church(lots of other churches had sent kids).

I wouldn't be surprised if some kids went from VBS, to VBS, just getting saved and baptized everytime.

I remember after it, we were promised candy and we were supposed to go out to eat.

The water in the tank was disgusting.

Permalink Reply by Seth B Rollings on January 1, 2011 at 8:23pm

I was never baptized! I was rebellious from birth (:

Permalink Reply by Ken Hughes on March 16, 2011 at 10:04am

Once, unfortunately. I think I was about ten or so at the time, and obviously very impressionable.  I don’t remember but perhaps someone I knew had passed, or I was worrying might.  In any case the Baptist minister's tear-filled imagery and the choir's sad music, "Just as I am," "The Old Rugged Cross," etc. must have worked its intended function and I discovered myself standing up front with some other impressionable folks, and my mom just beamed with pride and pleasure.  Everything that happened later was sort of embarrassing, especially the trip a few Sunday evenings later up some steps to the little alcove that was located in the choir’s rear and facing the congregation above the level of the dais, and centered between two wings of the choir where the baptismal pool was installed.  There was even a painting above the pool of a placid and peaceful river with low sloping sandy banks receding into the distance, that I am certain must have represented the River Jordan.  Reverend Sellars, covered in white, flowing raiment, was standing in the pool doing his level best to look holy as he addressed the congregation and identified the soon to be new member of God’s Select at King’s Memorial Baptist Church.  Then he would extend his arm to the soon to be drenched and chilled to the bone, theoretically, ex-sinners-to-be waiting just out of sight on the steps from the basement up to the alcove with the small pool.  Up the steps and down into the water I went, and that holy water was awfully cold because the tub was filled afresh for each dunking session.  The water, perhaps strategically intended, rose to just above crotch-level thoroughly cooling one’s possible near-term amorous desires for sure. 

I felt like a fool out there in front of the congregation as words that thankfully I do not remember were said and I was dunked, backwards of course, into that cold chlorinated city water.  I wondered why it always has to be backwards into the pool where the water will run up one’s nose on the way out unless one tightly held one’s nose during the procedure.  Part of the mysteries of the “Death and Rebirth” and payment for past evil deeds and transgressions I suppose.  Well, in any case, there I was, “saved” and a new and, hopefully I am certain, tithe-paying member of the congregation; another hand for the offering plate, another head added to the census; another soul snatched from the ravages of an eternity down below in the lake of hellfire and damnation.  I never went back to church much after that.  No great revelation appeared before my eyes, and I did not have a feeling of holiness, relief and/or fulfillment in my heart or chest.  As far as I was concerned there was no soul and the ceremony was show and tell all over again, only in a different format where everyone’s pants stayed up; of course that may have been different had it been performed in private at a Catholic church with a pedophile priest.  As soon as I was old enough and thereby empowered to make my own decision about attending a church and listening to a preacher, I decided I had seen and heard all I cared to and bailed.  I am now and have been for the past 20+ years a self-declared and very public atheist and free-thinker.  The good news is we're a steadily growing segment of the US population and the shenanigans of all the true-believers are making them look very weird and bad and that helps us all the time.

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