Things I Don't Understand
Oh, there are many. Today's "things I don't understand" focus on religion.
Okay, so I'm Jewish, born and raised. My nieces are Catholic. Mom's thrilled.
Yesterday was my baby niece's baptism. But I thought it was a christening. Sometimes it's been referred to as a "baptism" sometimes as a "christening". I don't know why and I'm sort of embarrassed to ask because it seems to me one of those things everyone understands. Everyone but me. If someone would like to explain this to me without laughing at me, I'd be forever in your debt.
Then, on Friday I went to get a christening card. Some of the cards say "christening" and some say "baptism". Again, I didn't know what to make of that and there was no one Catholic-looking nearby, so I opted for the ubiquitous blank card. But here's the thing that really struck me.
All of the cards were Jesusy.
Yes, I do understand that if you're being christened or baptized you're probably a Christian. But what about creating cards for those of us who aren't? Work with me here.
As a Jew, I have not "accepted Jesus Christ as my savior", nor do I think I will be anytime soon. Hey, you have and that's cool by me. The world is big enough for all of us. But I don't understand the concept of the Trinity, I'm not hip to the concept of being "born again"--we just don't do that.
All of the cards have messages such as "We were all baptized into one body" or "Reborn in Christ". Um, well, not me. I get that the card is for the recipient, not for me, but I want to have at least a little buy-in with the message I'm sending.
I think there should be a line of cards with messages such as "I don't buy the "Jesus is my savior" thing but you do and that's cool." This would be very helpful for those of us who would like to acknowledge an event but are not of whatever faith or belief system is being celebrated. Maybe I've found my calling? I can't believe I'm the first one to think of it.
(Ha ha. I misspelled "baptized" all through this. Thank you, spell-check!)
Okay, so I'm Jewish, born and raised. My nieces are Catholic. Mom's thrilled.
Yesterday was my baby niece's baptism. But I thought it was a christening. Sometimes it's been referred to as a "baptism" sometimes as a "christening". I don't know why and I'm sort of embarrassed to ask because it seems to me one of those things everyone understands. Everyone but me. If someone would like to explain this to me without laughing at me, I'd be forever in your debt.
Then, on Friday I went to get a christening card. Some of the cards say "christening" and some say "baptism". Again, I didn't know what to make of that and there was no one Catholic-looking nearby, so I opted for the ubiquitous blank card. But here's the thing that really struck me.
All of the cards were Jesusy.
Yes, I do understand that if you're being christened or baptized you're probably a Christian. But what about creating cards for those of us who aren't? Work with me here.
As a Jew, I have not "accepted Jesus Christ as my savior", nor do I think I will be anytime soon. Hey, you have and that's cool by me. The world is big enough for all of us. But I don't understand the concept of the Trinity, I'm not hip to the concept of being "born again"--we just don't do that.
All of the cards have messages such as "We were all baptized into one body" or "Reborn in Christ". Um, well, not me. I get that the card is for the recipient, not for me, but I want to have at least a little buy-in with the message I'm sending.
I think there should be a line of cards with messages such as "I don't buy the "Jesus is my savior" thing but you do and that's cool." This would be very helpful for those of us who would like to acknowledge an event but are not of whatever faith or belief system is being celebrated. Maybe I've found my calling? I can't believe I'm the first one to think of it.
(Ha ha. I misspelled "baptized" all through this. Thank you, spell-check!)
posted by Kay at
4:50 PM
6 Comments:
How about, "Jesus loves you but he's just not that into me."
That works! The possibilities are endless, really.
Kay, I was baptized or christened or whatever you want to call it, and I don't know the difference. Thanks for reminding me why I'm such a bad Lutheran.
My mother's family is Catholic and they always got really hung up about using the proper terms for every little thing. I think that's one of the reasons I've been turned off by organized religion entirely. It's just too complicated. I would have stayed in church much longer if they would have told me "Jesus loves you and he's not so worried about the little details so just keep on believing."
In your shoes, I would have gone with the blank card as well and written a message I was comfortable with.
They do make cards for those "special" ocassions. It's called "blank."
And I think there's a difference between baptism and christening. I just can't remember what it is.
Gosh, I'm helpful.
and once again, becca made me LOL
Isn't baptism where they dunk you completely under water, like Baptists do?
In the C of E, it's Christening.
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