Comments on: Begin to become accountable https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/ Thought-provoking commentary on life, politics, religion and social issues. Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:13:11 +0000 hourly 1 By: Kim Siever https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23979 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 19:13:11 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23979 component from the discussion, it’s always going to be there. Perhaps. But we tried not to use it as a motivator.</blockqquote>]]> I would also say that no matter how hard you try to remove the ‘making the parents happy’ component from the discussion, it’s always going to be there.

Perhaps. But we tried not to use it as a motivator.

]]> By: Steve EM https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23974 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:51:36 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23974 I believe rick and I are coming from the same place. I believe 8 was meant to be a minimum age for baptism to best assure that it is an informed choice, and not the “dunk em at eight” ritual that we do in practice. Many, if not most, eight year olds just don’t realize what they’re doing. That’s not to say Kim’s daughter wasn’t ready at eight. I’m expressing my opinion in general.

]]> By: rick https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23972 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:42:22 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23972 You wouldn’t. It’s part of your faith (most faiths at that).

The heartening part is that you both admit your bias and you at least attempted to be coercion free – which is more than can be said about 90% of the membership.

I would also say that no matter how hard you try to remove the ‘making the parents happy’ component from the discussion, it’s always going to be there. It’s on in-group out-group dynamic which in a member-parent family would be pretty hard to nullify completely.

]]> By: Kim Siever https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23970 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:23:46 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23970 We taught her several reasons to be baptised (follow Jesus’s example, sign of baptismal covenants, symbolise our new life, etc), but making us happy was not one of the reasons. In fact, we tried explicitly to make sure she didn’t choose to be baptised for others (make us happy, because everyone’s doing it, etc).

I should clarify, that when she had her doubts, we didn’t just say, “It’s up to you” and leave it. We tried to encourage her all along that this was her choice and she needed to come the decision through her own, but we didn’t just ignore her.

Of course we gave her biased information. Of course we emphasised one side. Why wouldn’t we?

]]> By: rick https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23969 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:09:21 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23969 So the choices were:

a) be baptised like you’re supposed to, and the parents will be happy

or

b) choose not to be baptised for right now, which is not what your parents prefer, and the parents may or may not be happy

I’m not trying to be specifically contrary here, really. :)

I just have a problem with an 8 year old being given a ‘choice’ which really isn’t much of a choice at all. Not to mention the fact that I don’t believe an 8 year old is quite old enough yet to have all of the relevant facts known or processed.

I don’t mean to speak to your daughters baptism directly, I’m speaking in terms of the church policy in general; using your daughter’s baptism as an example.

]]> By: Kim Siever https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23968 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:02:53 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23968 Because although we gave her the choice to either be baptised or not, we never taught her it was “perfectly alright if she never gets baptised.”

We never taught her she was doomed to hell if she never got baptised, but we also didn’t teach her there was nothing wrong with not wanting to be baptised.

]]> By: rick https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23963 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:56:50 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23963 So how is ‘not participate’ different than ‘don’t get baptised’ as I said in #8?

]]> By: Kim Siever https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23958 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:37:59 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23958 Participate or not participate.

]]> By: rick https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23953 Wed, 07 Mar 2007 16:22:58 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23953 So when you say she “chose to participate in the ordinances”, what were her choices?

]]> By: Kim Siever https://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/comment-page-1/#comment-23897 Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:20:59 +0000 http://www.ourthoughts.ca/2007/03/05/begin-to-become-accountable/#comment-23897 In that case, no we didn’t.

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