#AceNewsServices says the latest Mail on Sunday article has highlighted that parents and grandparents no longer have to cast out the devil or repent of their sin‘s. The article went onto say this was after the Church of England rewrote the solemn ceremony.
The new wording is designed to be easier to understand – but critics are stunned at such a fundamental change to a cornerstone of their faith, saying the new ‘dumbed-down’ version ‘strikes at the heart’ of what baptism means.
In the original version, the vicar asks: ‘Do you reject the devil and all rebellion against God?’ The parents would say “We Do” thus affirming that this child would be brought up in the “Eyes of God” without reference to the sin that is within people! This affirmation goes back centuries and has become the cornerstone of “Christening A Child in the Eyes of God” [As the one that sees all our sins] so for the Church of England to change such a solemn rite, has caused many to speak out about the fact, and that these words were the cornerstone of their faith, and the dumbed down version changes the context of what it means to be christened.
It appears that the draft was drawn up by the Church’s Liturgy Commission to redress fears the current version was too off-putting for lay people who only go to church for baptisms, weddings or funerals.
So is this change for change sake just to get people into church as congregations dwindle?
Or maybe it is time for the hierarchy to climb down from their pedestals and get more in touch with the people in the street, by giving of themselves and not taking away what people have the right to believe.
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