Re: Vatican trying to avoid baptism by proxy

On Wed, 7 May 2008 10:51:38 +0200, Lesley Robertson wrote: 

> The way it was explained to me was that if the ceremony is held,
> this has  the result that baptism and church member****p are OFFERED
> to people in the  afterlife. There's no compulsion just because a
> descendant has arranged the  process. Now, assuming for a moment
> that there IS an afterlife, I think that  my ancestors would be
> perfectly capable of choosing for themselves, and  standing up for
> their own beliefs. After all, they were strong enough to  bring up
> children in difficult cir***stances, get them educated and 
> gradually improve the situation of the family.

It's a matter of respect for others.

There are some who believe that it's bad kharma for those like the LDS
and Jehovahs Witnesses to call, uninvited, on people only to be told
"goodbye" or "get lost" at best, and a load of four letter abuse at
worst.

> Since I don't actually believe in an afterlife, I can't see what
> harm  they're doing - indeed they're doing a lot of good by making
> all sorts of  du***ants available to the rest of us (I can remember
> how long everything  took when I relied on the postman to deliver
> do***ents). Their ceremonies  don't hurt anyone.

I do believe in the Afterlife.

Next time I hear a thunderstorm, I'll know it's the Bishop launching
theological counter arguments against the LDS whilst thumping his
cloud with his crozier ;))  He'd no doubt be sup****ted by those of his
cousins who were priests.  The Bishopand his cousins, incidentally,
were Roman Catholic.