Converting from Catholic to Baptist

Good Evening all,

I have quietly been looking at this thread evolve since I posed the original question. Although I think some (not all so don't get offended) have used this thread to have discussions that really didn't address my original question, I respect and appreciate all of your comments; and thank you to those of you who did stay on topic.

I think I need to clarify some things on my mom's part though, because some are making assumptions that are offending me and if they read the original comment carefully, they would have never even have said them:

1) My mother was not baptized as an infant. My grandmother was ORIGINALLY Baptist and allowed my mother and aunt to become Catholic because of a wonderful priest who became a family friend who wanted them to attend the Catholic School he was a part of. My mother was 7 and my aunt was 9 when this took place. Although most would disagree that she "knew" what she was doing, she did, and she still maintains that to this day. She knew Jesus was her Lord and Savior; she is the one who instilled the faith in me. My grandmother remained Baptist, but still studied the catechism. My grandmother did not view this as changing "faith", she viewed it as simply going to a church in her neighborhood and allowing my mother and aunt to attend a better school with the urging of her priest friend. Now my grandmother is passed away, so I cannot possibly ask her what was her rationale behind allowing my mother and aunt to be Catholic, but she obviously felt like it was the right decision at the time.

2) My mother's decision is not a hasty one. She has been going through a spiritual transformation for quite sometime, as well as myself. We have been making this journey together. We have numerous religious influences in our family (Catholic, Baptist, Jehovah's Witness, Muslim) and we have examined and carefully considered what all of our family members had to say. Despite our different beliefs, we respect and love each other very much, and we don't bicker over the details, although we do disagree. But getting back to what I was saying, this was not a hasty decision. My mother actually tried to start becoming a practicing Catholic again, but the priest she ran into down here (she was originally in NY as a child, she moved to VA when she was pregnant with me) was a disgrace and put a really bad taste in her mouth. Not saying that you can judge all Catholics by this man, I'm not saying that at all, but it drove her from the Catholic church for a L-O-N-G time. We both went through some hard times in our lives, and we were led to our local Baptist church by a family friend. We instantly felt at home. We have been attending for almost 4 years now, 1.5 years regularly, and after careful consideration, my son and I joined 3 months ago. My mother joined last Sunday. We are both extremely happy with our decisions. It is not that she hates the Catholic faith now, we both just found a worship place that we love and feel comfortable in.

3) Now, the "re-baptism" issue. We talked to our pastor about this. He said that the saving does not occur with getting dunked in water. As a matter of fact he said that you have a lot of people that go in a dry sinner, and the only change they have when they come up is that they are wet. The saving occurs with accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That occured a L-O-N-G time ago with both me and my mother. He did say he would prefer for her to be immersed completely, considering when she was seven they just poured the water over her head, but he has accepted people into his flock in the past that have just been sprinkled (he used African Methodists as an example), and he did not pressure them into being re-baptized. They were accepted as full members of the Baptist church. When it came down to it, he said that it was a personal decision. The baptism is for the public, the change has already occured on the inside. He even went as far to say that if someone was on their deathbed and had never seen the inside of a church and had never been baptized, but had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they would be saved.

So in conclusion, my mother will not be getting re-baptized. She will be accepted as a official, full member of the first Sunday of September. She feels like her "Catholic" baptism was sufficient, and she felt like she would be throwing that experience away (which was deeply spiritual for her) if she did a "do-over". Once she talked to the pastor with me, she was convinced it wasn't necessary. However, I believe that if he said that she HAD to do it, she would have. But considering he said it was a personal decision, she isn't going to.

In my personal opinion, I would also prefer for her to be immersed like I was, but I don't think any less of her for not doing it. My sisters are joining as well, and they will be fully immersed, because they have not been baptized yet.

I'm not an expert, as a matter of fact, I am what my dear Pentecostal friend calls a "baby Christian", but sometimes I feel like we get too caught up in man's details, and we miss the overall point. But that is just my opinion, which I'm sure will stir up more controversy, LOL! But I welcome it, and I am thankful that a forum like this exists where we can ask questions and express our opinions freely.

I hope I have not offended, I just feel like I had to say something .

I love you all and bless you all, Catholic and Baptist, and all Christians alike.

Tara