[Magdalen] Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I saw that question asked a while back by a person who wished to sever
entirely any connection he had with Christianity.

I pointed out that if he believed that Christianity was indeed a sham, then
it must surely follow that the ceremony had been nothing more -- an empty
ceremony -- and there was literally nothing involved in it for him to
undo.  An empty ceremony means nothing, accomplishes nothing.  And since it
was nothing in the first place, there must surely be nothing to undo.

If, on the other hand, he believed that the ceremony actually had some kind
of potentiality within it, then that was a strong suggestion that he
harbored deep inside himself some remnant of his earlier conviction that
Christianity was a real, valid faith, and if that be the case, he ought to
give more serious thought to abandoning it altogether.

As has been so frequently observed, many folks, when they turn away from a
faith, are turning away from a faith they knew as a child, but if almost
any of us encountered, we would not believe in it either.

Baptism is a pretty complex ritual to explain to a neophyte.  It's been
hawked as giving the child a relationship with God which the child without
baptism cannot have (Not true, even though our 1928 says so), erasing the
child's original sin (nope), joining the child to the Church (three
strikes). The problem is that we think we humans control this stuff, when
it's really up to God.  Baptism, I suspect, is much like a funeral.
Neither is actually for the benefit of the person who is the object of the
exercise; Both serve those others, reminding them of their own
responsibilities and duties, and giving them encouragement -- and showing
all of us that life truly does go on, and on, and on.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sat, Apr 16, 2016 at 4:28 PM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

>
>
> In a message dated 4/16/2016 4:25:49 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> gracecan at gmail.com writes:
>
> Lew  Alcindor>>>>>>>>>>>
>
> This is his baptismal name.  It brings up that line from the  Baptismal
> Liturgy to the effect that the baptized "....is Christ's own  forever."
>
> Therefore, can one be unbaptized?  Can one join up with another
> faith and somehow slip away from previous baptism?
>
>
>
>
> David Strang
>