Baptism and Christening

Holy Water is just plain water that has been blessed. It can come from a tap, a river, the sewers... it doesn't matter where its from. If someone says a prayer over it, it becomes Holy Water.

Holy water used in Baptism is water that has been specially blessed:

from Modern Catholic Dictionary by John A. Hardon, S.J. Doubleday & Co., Inc. Garden City, NY 1980

Baptismal water. The water used for the administration of the sacrament of baptism. For the valid conferral of baptism any ordinary natural water may be used. But for licit administration of solemn baptism, the water should be ritually blessed. Normally, the water is blessed for this purpose during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. But it may be blessed at each baptism by the one who confers the sacrament. Three ritual blessings of the water are provided by the Roman ritual, two OS which include a symbolic touching of the water by the priest and alternate responses by the people.

The simple reason for this is the great commission given by Jesus himself at the end of Matthew's gospel:

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

because some people say you are starting a new life by getting baptised.

Baptism is the sacrament established by Jesus to wipe away the original sin and to cause a new birth of the person baptised as a child of God. A sacrament really effects the grace that it signifies, and a person comes out of the baptism as a new creation, entirely justified, and able to lead a Christian life through God's grace.

The Roman Catholic church accepts two broad classes of alternative to the sacrament of Baptism:- so-called Baptism by Desire, and Baptism by Blood.

If you search carefully you may find earlier versions of the Catechism (especially in non-English languages) which refer to Baptism by Desire and Baptism by Blood as different forms of Baptism, but this terminology often led to confusion - these days the Church prefers to speak of them as alternatives to Baptism (Baptism by water).

Mainstream Church doctrine does not accept any baptism before the Ministry of Our Lord as a valid sacrament (specifically the baptisms of John the Precursor are held to be different from true baptisms by the Council of Trent); a fuller treatment of the complex doctrinal reasoning surrounding pre-Christian baptism is offered in the New Advent Encyclopedia.

Christians believe you must believe in Christ. There are two types of Christians and only one type goes to Heaven. They are those who only believe that Christ is the Son of God and those who believe in Christ. Those who believe in Christ not only believe that He is the Son of God, but also do as he does and says.

Read Luke 23:43. Baptism is a good thing, but it is not an absolute requirement.

Jesus himself made it absolutely clear. No one comes to the Father except through him:

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John 14:6]

However, this is not as exclusive as it seems. For in the Greek the 'me' can stand for the personal pronoun 'me' or also 'what I stand for'. So which is it?

Well, Jesus also clears this up by his own teaching. In Matthew's gospel, a wealth of Jesus' teaching, we read the following from chapter 25 (31-40):

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'

This shows clearly that it is not in Jesus himself that we are saved, but in what he stands for - God's perfect unconditional love. This love comes from God alone, and so, as we receive it freely so must we feely give it. If we are to be called Christ's disciples, Jesus said (at the end of John's gospel) that we are to love one another - and that by this love we will be known as his disciples.

Finally, the great commandment necessary too be saved is that given by Christ himself: we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength - but we must love also our neighbour as we love ourselves.

So love is the key to salvation. Not bellievers' baptism. Sadly there are too many 'Christians' about who are judgemental and arrogant and are as far from God's kingdom as they can be. Let's not forget the story of two men that Jesus told:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

This question you would need to ask of Jehovah God directly. Only Jehovah could decide whose baptism is valid or whose is not. (And I don't think Jehovah is signed up on WA.)

The Bible indicates that 'infant' baptism is not how early Christianity performed baptisms. That's like 'forcing' religion on a child (who has no choice in the matter.) But some religions do consider it valid. Again, in the end, Jehovah will decide.

Jesus did mention some caution about being too confident of our relationship with Jehovah and Jesus. Matthew 7:22,23

Jesus fortold that "MANY will say to Jesus (on Judgment day): ''Lord, Lord, did we not preach in Your Name? Did we not put out demons in Your Name? Did we not do many powerful works (miracles) in Your Name?' (New Life Version)

As you might imagine, those are just a 'sampling' of things they might say. They might also say: "Lord, Lord, did we not baptize in your name?"

Please notice, --- they did all those good things 'IN JESUS' NAME'.

Jesus' response is quite surprising: "I am going to say? Knowing the correct password-saying 'Master, Master,' for instance (doesn't impress me.) 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.'" (The Message Version)

This scripture obviously depicts their 'surprise' at Jesus' reaction. Therefore caution is in order.

Bottom line is that Jehovah God and Jesus will decide whose baptism is valid.

From a scriptural standpoint, there is no reason for a baptism to be private.

It CAN be, if the person wishing to be baptized is highly self-conscious or (in extreme cases) fearful of retribution, but in the New Testament record, baptism involved hundreds, and even thousands of people at a time (Acts 2:41).