Would you baptize someone if they asked you to?

Question

Are there requirements for someone being able to baptize?

Answer 1

I have and will. it shows commitment and does not have to be done by clergy.

Answer 2

I have baptized someone before. Anybody can in an emergency. This sounds funny but, I carry a bottle of water in my car in case I come across an accident where there is no time to call someone and the person is unconcious or is able to say they want to be baptized, then I can do it. You cannot use Pepsi or something so I think carrying a fresh bottle of water is good.

Answer 3

Hell Ya, I'll baptize someone right now, in the name of Jesus.
No special requirements, hell you don't have to even believe in order to perform a baptism, just the person being baptized needs to believe

Answer 4

Yes, but I would ask for someone to help me. There are no particular requirements in my church for someone to baptise a certain person but usually out of respect for the Pastor, he should be there to help.

Answer 5

I would'nt know if I could baptise someone. I know that by merely asking the Lord's forgiveness and having full faith in Him and His love for you, you are saved. I think that baptism is just another tool of comfort and serenity to help remind us that we are saved because we have so much faith, we are going through the act of being baptised. Its just a ritual. Just listen to your heart and know that God love you.

Answer 6

No. Being a non-christian and all, it probably wouldn't count if I baptized someone.

Answer 7

there ar requirements and they are the standards set by god in the bible. But not just anyone should be baptizing

Answer 8

Baptize is just a figure of speach. its a parabled.it means to be cleans by the Water..Water is also the Words of GOD

Answer 9

Water. The words "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".

Answer 10

Can you help me get in touch with Smiley George? I don't have enough points.

Answer 11

Being a godparent

The goal that each of us should maintain as Christians is to preserve the grace that was given to us during the Mysteries of Holy Baptism and Chrismation into Christ. Acknowledging that this is a challenge, we fortunately do not have to do it alone and should have support of our Church, including our godparents in this lifelong effort.

It might surprise you to know that there have been godparents since the days of the early Church, and not some fashionable thing that has developed in the last few hundred years. In the early Church, those who discovered faith in Christ and wanted to become members of the Church had to become a ‘catechumen’. While in this stage of preparation they were introduced to the Church’s teaching in the early part of the Divine Liturgy that is still called the “Liturgy of the Catechumens”, and with the help of special classes (as is done even to this day).

We join the Orthodox Church through the Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation. These are Mysteries because we are reborn in Christ with faith and by God’s grace, and because they bring us into the communion of a renewed humanity. God is united with man through Christ, and to all those who believe in Him as being the Son of God, the Way, the Truth and the Life, He bestows new life through the grace of being “reborn”.

I do not pretend to fully understand the Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation and I am sure I have not even begun to appreciate their depths, but there are a few things that I can say about them. These Mysteries are associated with various layers of symbolism, from the removal of the catechumen’s garment (signifying the putting off the ‘old man’ and a sinful life) to the lighting of the three tapers (which together typify the Holy Trinity, in whose name baptism is administered) that are placed upon the Baptismal font (symbolising Noah’s ark). The sponsors (or godparents) also hold tapers, to be a sign of their faith in the illumination from darkness that the Holy Mystery gives to the soul of the person being baptised. It is for this reason that baptism is also called ‘Illumination”.

The basic preparation for our Christian ‘rebirth’ consists of a small service just before baptism. This service includes an initial solemn blessing, three prayers of exorcism, the denial of Satan, the acceptance of Christ, and the Confession of Faith done by reciting the unmodified Nicene Creed, which is said by the godparent on behalf of an infant being baptised while the priest says a short prayer for the catechumen). The priest next consecrates the water.

The catechumen is anointed with oil and while facing east is immersed in water three times in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is followed by reading of Psalm 32 (called "The Joy of Forgiveness") while the newly baptised puts on a white garment symbolising purity of a new life received (or a rebirth). The catechumen turns his face to the east, because light rises from there, again symbolising illumination. You may be interested to know that the oil used for the anointing is called the “oil of gladness”, since the ‘wild olive tree’ (the person being baptised) is grafted in to the good olive-tree (who is Jesus Christ) and becomes a “partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree” (Romans 11:17). As the Lord sent a twig of an olive tree by a dove to Noah’s ark, in a token of reconciliation and salvation, so the waters of Baptism serve to reconcile humanity with God through His mercy and grace.

Chrismation follows Baptism, when the priest anoints the forehead, the eyes, the nostrils, hands, and feet of the newly baptised with the Holy Oil, pronouncing each time, “Seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”.

Having touched on the symbolism of becoming a Christian we still have not discussed the purpose of being a godparent. We might think that we live in a comfortable society without the persecution that our ancestors experienced for their faith in Christ. However, I feel that our faith is more threatened by the subtle effects of our community’s ills. Our young are threatened as never before by things like the common incidence of divorce, the lack of parental guidance, materialism, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, desensitisation to violence, and the huge influence of mass-media such as television and videos. Our children need all the help that they can get to become established in our Orthodox faith, and this can be done with the help of godparents. Godparents, in the ‘old days’, acted as stewards of faith and played important roles in the life of their godchildren. These duties have been largely neglected or forgotten, and being a godparent is considered to be an expensive ritual by some while others still consider it a solemn duty.

Godparents must be zealous Orthodox Christians since they actively undertake to assist in the religious nurture largely by their own good example. How can someone promise God to make certain that the child will grow to be a true follower of Christ, when they live a life of unbelief and disobedience?

Before becoming a godparent, we need to promise to try and do as God expects from us, and to remembering our godchildren in our daily prayers, to remember their special days (such as their name day), and to regularly prepare ourselves to take the Body and Blood of Christ with them.

Elias