Hello,

I haven't but I would like to get baptized for several reasons one of them being my gf request, another one being that I actually do believe in God and Jesus and last but not least I am getting more and more often pretty scary sleep paralysis episodes where I see all kind of demons ... really scary ... I even hear myself sounding like uuuuuhhhhhh uuhhhhh ... horrible.

The question is:
- What's the difference between getting baptized in the Catholic Church vs. the Orthodox Church? I would not go to the protestant one ...
- How is the procedure to do it discretely ... minimum necessary conditions? How much does it cost?
- Do I have to then start paying Swiss taxes on Religion?

Thanks in advance,
Best regards,
TapiroLee

If you are baptised a catholic then you are a catholic. If you are baptised into the orthodox church, then you're an orthodox believer. They've quite different traditions and practices, I believe.

Probably costs the same as for an infant christening. I.e. not much. Regarding question 3 - yes, you probably will have to pay tax.

You should weigh the costs against the value of your soul.

Well no, I mean I can also wait to get Baptized when I go to my home country for visiting ... it is free there

While you are at it get a circumcision done as well and stop living in sin.

The lord can see right through you, and getting baptised may be seen as an act of sophistry.

Alternatively join the 21st century.

With all due respect, if you are asking this question, you haven't done enough personal research. Believing in God and Jesus is not enough to get baptised in any Church. The "process" of getting baptised is amongst the smallest and least important part of the whole thing. Yes it is an important first formal step, but it is only the beginning.

Simply put, you actually need to agree with what the Church (you choose) stands for and how it goes about its business.

A bit (British understatement here, I actually mean a lot) of research, including attending services, speaking to several priests (I would recommend at least 3 of each denomination you are interested in exploring) as well as other lay people of that religion would help you decide how best to proceed.

You don't actually have to be part of organised religion to believe in God and Jesus.

Finally, if your gf wants it, have you considered whatever denomination she belongs to?

Whatever you choose to do, I hope that you find happiness and peace.

My gf is Russian so she is Orthodox, we plan to marry at some point so it would make sense ... but I have strong Spanish roots and my ancestors have always been Baptized by the Catholic Church so that's why I ask .. I was never Baptized but is a big TODO in my life, I would prefer the Catholic Church.

Thank you for your help!

perhaps you should forget about tradition for a little while. talk to priests of both denominations and find out what their teachings are (as already suggested). You might find that one of them resonates more with you than the other in which case tradition will be irrelevant. If you find that you can't decide then, maybe come back to the issue of gf's religion vs family tradition.

I don't know what the situation is here (Switzerland) but at home I'm pretty sure that adults have to take classes in the RC catechism before getting baptised.

Only 3 groans so far? I thought I would get a lot more.

Someone must be watching over me...

I should have groaned you for the lack of a comma after "Alternatively" but what the heck? I'm feeling benevolent tonight.

I don't get it. You believe in God? Great. Jesus? Awesome. But if you don't even know the difference between the Catholic and Orthodox Church, then why would you want to be baptised at all? Also, check out our very own Zurcher Zwingli - he was of the opinion baptism isn't necessary to get into heaven. But if I were you I'd start learning enough to form an opinion. I don't think spilling a bottle of Vittel over yourself will have a marked effect on your soul if you don't even know why it's happening or what it means.

Maybe the bad dreams is your mind taking a dump and letting you know that something isn't quite right about the baptism business.

If you do get baptized then do it with your heart and soul, just for yourself.

If your girlfriend loves you, she loves you full stop.

Sweet dreams.

I believe sometimes it is ok to makes some choices and decisions for the love you have for someone... If it is that important for his girlfriend, if they are happy together and this is the only thing bothering her and he is willing to do it for her, I don't see a problem. If someone can leave his job, his family and friends to move the other side of the world to be with his love, why someone couldn't be able or willing to be part of what his love believe?

Have you thought about joining the "reformed" followers of the Flying spaghetti monster, all hail his noodly appendage. We can offer you a discount babtism in beer of your choice this September nineteenth.

So basicaly if it's free here you'll do it but if it's not, you won't ?

Great believe you've got !

If you really want to do it, go for the orthodox church. Then you don't have to pay church taxes.

Ahh, that's why they can't afford pews.

In some protestant groups, that's the exact requirement - especially those that only practice believers (adult) baptism. They'd probably ask a few more questions to satisfy themselves that you are a believer. My sister-in-law was baptised in the Philippines while on holiday. She was visiting a church, and the preacher was saying that if you're a believer, you should get baptised. She spoke to him afterwards, as she'd become a Christian several years earlier, but hadn't got baptised, and he arranged the whole thing for her the next day. (For free, I might add).

I think the vast majority of protestants are probably also unaware of the difference...

Not us atheists. We need to keep track of you all.

In Canada, most people would be aware of the difference.

An interesting and courageous post.....all credit to you for doing so and risking the scepticism that you got (a tiny bit )

But the bit that jumped out at me was that bit above.....


I think I'll just post a and leave it at that....

Then the other thing I'd suggest is that religion might be the solution to your sleep problems, but may be only from a higher "faith base" than you seem to have if you aren't sure about which religion to choose. I suggest that maybe you should explore some form of therapy in parallel with your religious quest to see if that helps

good luck

OK, that's scary...

I guess the UK being vast majoritedly (?) nominal Anglicans, most Brits probably don't even know what a protestant is. (N.I. excluded, of course).