Is it morally wrong to have two sets of Godparents?

[mod19]

The reason I ask is because my family and dh family are from different states. Currently we live in Texas near his family and will be here for another 6 or 7 years or so until his daughter turns 18, but my family is in Wisconsin and will be moving back there. If course I'm being selfish and want my baby baptized Lutheran with my family as Godparents, but I dont want his family to be left out either. He has cousins who would make amazing Godparents down here. So what do I do? Can I do both? SHOULD I only baptize baby once? I'm not sure what's morally right here. Dh says he doesn't care if we just do it with my family, but I think his will be hurt if we leave them out. And I would not expect nor ask anyone to buy a plane ticket for a baptizm.

 

[SJDsMommy]

I think you should do one baptism, but then have honorary god parents as well if you want 2 sets.


We decided early on that My husband's best friend would be our son's god father (we never baptized, it was more of an honorary thing) and when our daughter came along I figured he would be her god father as well, I don't like the idea of my kids having different God parents.. I wouldn't want them split up! But hubby (without even consulting me first) gave the duty to another friend of his that I can't STAND! He is so immature and in NO way capable of taking care of a child. Hubby got hell for that when his friend left. No way in HELL would he get my daughter! I don't know what we will do with this one.. if we choose a god parent at all..

In all honesty though, if - god forbid - anything happened to hubby and I, my children would likely go to my mother before their assigned God parents. The God parents would be the first choice if a capable, trusted relative is unable.

 

[Button#]

I'm not Christian so don't know about the moral aspect but my OH has 2 sets of godparents. They were the two ladies my mil lived with before marrying my FIL and the godfathers were friends of FIL. They're all really lovely and they adore my LO.

 

[Tattoo]

I have two sets of Godparents, and so does my sister.
My daughter has three Godparents (my sister, her husband, and my best friend). You do what works for you.

 

[Eleanor ace]

It is fine to have 2 sets of Godparents (at least for the denominations I know of) but I don't think having 2 baptisms would really work. A baptism is all about welcoming a person to the church, making the pledge to bring them up in the faith etc. Any more than 1 baptism is a bit redundant. I know that in some churches you can have godparents who aren't present at the baptism, someone stands in for them or they are mentioned as Godparents, might be worth looking into?

 

[amaryllis]

I don't think it's morally wrong at all, but I was baptised Catholic as a child and don't follow the faith "officially" (I have my own sort of beliefs which include Christianity). I think it's up to you, and how you will feel about it all.

I don't know the rules of baptism for your churches, but I don't see how doing it twice is harmful or wrong at all. I don't think one negates the other. I look at it as two hugs from Jesus instead of one.

Again, my outlook on it is from someone who doesn't follow the same rules and beliefs that you do, so I might not be the best person to ask. I just wanted to say that I don't see anything wrong with what you wanted to do, and I'd hate to think of someone stressed or thinking themselves amoral just because they want to keep peace between family members. All the best.

 

[MrsMandy]

Could you have a babtism while baby is little mentioning both sets of god parents and then when you move have a dedication in your families church? More like welcoming you and your family to a new church rather than welcoming baby into the faith?

 

[mod19]

I know that in the Lutheran and Catholic churches babies are baptized quickly, whereas Southern Baptist (my husbands family) I think wait till the child is older? I guess if that's true it won't even be an issue right away, but I'm not sure if that's how it works? Dh doesn't practice so he's not the person to ask lol but the rest of his family is very religious, as is mine. Thank you for your suggestions and replies. I have about 7 more months to think about this lol.

 

[MrsMandy]

I dont know if southern baptist is the same as being a baptist in the Uk? I was raised baptist here and when a baby is born into the church they have a naming or dedication ceremony where the parents promise to raise their child in the faith and then when the child is older - usually teens and older they then make the choice wither to continue in the church and be baptised into the faith of their own accord rather than the parents making the choice for them.

 

[MeaganMackenz]

I had 1 set for my daughters but as years went on we changed God parents. It's not exactly the 1 Vs 2 sets problem you have, but it does speak to changing or doing what suits your needs. The God parents we picked aren't close to us anymore, my kids barely know them. When I got pregnant with dd2 and dd1 was just over 2 I cosmically reconnected with a high school friend and his wife and have been close since. Our kids love their kids and they treat our kids like nieces. So we asked them before we knew about baby to be #3 to be the girls God parents. Life changes needs change, never feel bad for that.

 

[northern_me]

I don't think anyone can tell you what is morally right or wrong! People here have two sets of godparents all the time.

Where you are, does making them godparents mean they will go with that family if anything happens to you guys? That is a totally separate matter here. Godparents around here are just the people responsible for their spiritual well-being, not the actual taking care of them. It is in more ways symbolic.

However, I'm not really one to talk. I was raised Catholic and my daughter goes to a Catholic school, however I'm leaving it up to her at a later time in life to figure out if she wants to officially become Catholic or not.

 

[mod19]

I'm not sure how Baptists view it. In my religion (Lutheran) it's more of a spiritual guidance thing. It means nothing about who will take care of them if something were to happen to us.