On August 11th 1978 i, Nicolas Currat, was baptized at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church in Englewood Co. My cousin Pascal became my Godfather and my mom's best friend Josette became my Godmother attesting that i would have the protection of the Holy Spirit and was now a child of God. I was baptized (at less than three months old) in the Roman Catholic Church. So as a newborn and growing, if death were to strike: i would be claimed by God in heaven because the holy sacrament of baptism. I did this not of my own choice but because my parents were beleiving Catholics. This posting is just a reflection of why i feel the need to get baptized as an Evangelical Christian. These are opnions i hold and alienating or condeming others is not my goal.
As practicing Catholics, it is an duty to follow not only the Bible (which is eternal and from God) but the Catechism of the Catholic church ( a temporal application from the heirarchy of the church revised to this day). Such documents are common in many Christain faiths. From this i have the following applications:
. ONE BAPTISM FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS
>977 Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved."521 Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of forgiveness of sins because it unites us with Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification, so that "we too might walk in newness of life."522
978 "When we made our first profession of faith while receiving the holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them. . . . Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil "523
979 In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of sin? "If the Church has the power to forgive sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. The Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives."524
980 It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be reconciled with God and with the Church:
Penance has rightly been called by the holy Fathers "a laborious kind of baptism." This sacrament of Penance is necessary for salvation for those who have fallen after Baptism, just as Baptism is necessary for salvation for those who have not yet been reborn.
985 Baptism is the first and chief sacrament of the forgiveness of sins: it unites us to Christ, who died and rose, and gives us the Holy Spirit.
986 By Christ's will, the Church possesses the power to forgive the sins of the baptized and exercises it through bishops and priests normally in the sacrament of Penance.
987 "In the forgiveness of sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of salvation, wills to use in order to efface our sins and give us the grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).
(From the Vatican website on the Roman Catholic Catechism)
Millions of Catholics around the world find a meaningful refuge with these sacraments. I did too until the age of 18 when the uncertainty of my salvation hung too obviously over my head, and i thought preists could be more a sinner than an absolver. I decided to stop praying and think for myself. After that i had the mentality of "Jesus, yeah been there, done that."
As a literary analyst my thought process always scrambled up the message God had for me. Logic boiled down miracles and the words of Christ to: "oh who's to say Jesus heard of God's coming to earth and was Schitzophrenic enough to convince himself that he was the chosen one." The devil could make thoughts like that in my head, back then i didn't think the devil was real. That was before i really focused on what Jesus actually said and how a Messiah of servitude can only be constructed by God the Father. Now, I want to be baptized in the faith life that i've found in reading the pages of the Bible.
What convicts me, was when i became a Godfather myself to my nephew Michael Currat. The duty of Godparent is firstly to nourish and grow a faith in Jesus Christ. It is a teaching title that is life long. This reveiling of Christianity by a Godparent was absent in my relationship with both of my Godparents. Lets us not overlook that they both reside in europe. Secondly, in cases of trajedy where the baptized person loses his/her parents, the Godparents would step up and hold true the duty of providing for that person. This further reveils why infant baptisms still occur.
If i am to succeed as a Godfather to Michael, i have to make up for lost time. I haven't ever asked him about God, the Bible, or the afterlife. The last he knew and saw of me was as an unbeliver. Recently, I prayed often for God to strike common ground and give me a starting point to talk to my favorite 12 year old about Jesus Christ.
So after a year apart, i saw him for the first time at the church softball game where i'm surrounded by my chruch family. (I considered that an answered prayer.) Upon realizing that i'm not the best batter in the game, Michael's giving pointers on my stance and posture. (We're going to the batting cages tomorrow.) Even more amazing things happened after: we're in Albertsons and my Christian friend calls to invite me to see a movie. My nephew overhears the conversation, and for some reason i'm telling my friend about the last movie i saw; saying one of the driving themes was "We praise Him when we win; and we praise Him when we loose." I get off the phone and my nephew's says: "That's Facing the Giants, it was a good movie." (this is a movie made by a chruch in the south) My smile got big as i agreed and went on casually talking about how God is at work all the time, and its not like he's hiding from us.
So yes i want to complete this voluntary command of getting baptized. Not in an act of unknowing forgiveness, but to make my Faith known publically, to encourage others.
"For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." COL 3:3
I tried so hard for my nephew to be in attendance as i was convinced that this would be the most perfect avenue to talk about God. Who knew that it was actually at Albertsons that the first occurance manifested. unfortunately he returns to North Carolina the day before. (i'm all about a canceled flight)
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