Why Did I Choose to Be Baptized?

The simple (and truthful) answer to this question is that it was what was expected of me. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t believe in what I was doing or that I have ever regretted making the choice.

In the church that I grew up in, the Church of Christ, we did not believe in infant baptism. And I still understand and agree with the reasons for that in that particular situation. I do, however, agree with infant baptism in the Catholic church.

Let me try and explain. In the Church of Christ, baptism is sort of the coming of age ceremony, I guess you could say. It is a conscious choice made by someone who has reached the age of discernment. And it’s a choice that is (in theory at least) made by the person who is baptized themselves, rather than a choice that is made for an infant by their parents.

On the other hand, in the Catholic church, baptism can be a choice made by someone who has reached the age of discernment, but that is usually when the person is a convert. In most cases, baptism is a choice made for a child by their parents, and the coming of age ceremony, if you will, is Confirmation (although in our diocese and others, Confirmation occurs in 3rd grade, so it’s still mostly a parental decision, but I would hope that parents would allow their children to have some say in it).

My point is, the way in which baptism is looked at in each church is different. In the Catholic church, baptism is a promise by the parents to raise their child as a Catholic Christian, a claiming of the infant by the church, and also a promise by the community to accept the infant into their midst as a fellow Christian. In the Church of Christ, baptism is a conscious decision to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior and a promise to live your life as a Christian. In both churches, baptism is the the first step toward eternal life in heaven.

So, back to the original question. Why did I choose to be baptized? As I said before, it was what was expected of me. But it was also because I believed that I wanted to live my life as a Christian, to live a moral life and to follow God’s word in my life. I cannot say that I have always succeeded in doing that. I have most definitely stumbled and failed. But, I also know that through my baptism and through the death of Jesus Christ on a cross, I am forgiven of those sins if I but ask.

So at 12 years old I was baptized and I believed as a 12 year old believes. There were points in my life that I definitely questioned - not so much my belief in God - but my belief in my church. And that is part of the reason that I became Catholic. But that’s a whole other story which we’ll talk about another day.

I can tell you, though, that I felt something when I was baptized. I felt as if I was removed from my body for those moments when I was immersed in the waters of baptism. I felt the same type of feeling when I was confirmed into the Catholic church. I believe, and always will, that I received the Holy Spirit in both instances. Perhaps it was just water and perhaps it was just oil, but something happened to me when I was baptized and when I was anointed. Something that I cannot explain. I knew in those moments, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was more to the world than what I could see. Faith, after all, is the evidence of things not seen.

My decision to be baptized was not monumental. It wasn’t dramatic. I just decided one Sunday afternoon, between the morning service and the evening service that it was time for me to be baptized. And so that night, I was. In the little church where I grew up, by a man I’d known all my life. It was just a normal day, and I don’t think there was anything significant that happened that day. I just decided it was time. But it meant enough to me that when I couldn’t find my baptismal certificate to prove that I’d been baptized before I was confirmed into the Catholic church, I said I would rather not be confirmed than be re-baptized. We didn’t find the certificate in time for my confirmation, but they let me get by with a letter from my mother saying that I had indeed been baptized.

My baptism meant something when it happened. It means something now. And it meant enough that I wasn’t going to do it over again, because to me that was like saying that it didn’t mean anything the first time. Because it did. It does. I hope and pray that it always will.

Feel free to share your baptism story in the comments. And don’t worry about your comment being too long. Say what you need to.