Comments on: Why confirmation?

By: Phill

Phill — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 08:56:10 +0000

Well it depends how you define baptism If you’re interested (or feeling masochistic, depending on how you look at it) there’s a whole series of articles about it here: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/lifeevents/baptismconfirm/sectiona.html (this is the first article in the section, it contains some info about infant baptism.)

By: pandammonium

pandammonium — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:54:00 +0000

I don’t recall what it is in the RC church, what with me only having been a baby at the time

If that’s what it is, though, shouldn’t it be some sort of service for the parents and called something else, rather than a baptism?

By: Phill

Phill — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:42:30 +0000

Well, I think infant baptism indicates the acceptance of the baby by the church family and the willingness of the parents to bring him or her up in the Christian tradition (this is actually part of the infant baptism service, at least it is at Fordham).

By: pandammonium

pandammonium — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:23:15 +0000

I think that infant baptism is appalling. As with so many other decisions in life, people should be allowed to make their own informed choices as to which religion, if any, they choose to be a part of.

Like you said, Phill, "baptism [is] a visible acknowledgement of … faith". The mind boggles as to how a baby can do this!

By: Phill

Phill — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 21:21:49 +0000

It does indeed sound like a thrilling conversation, and perhaps you will be a party to it if you’re round at our party (did you see what I did there?!) on Wednesday night

Ah, how much fun we shall have…

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:56:22 +0000

Sounds like it could be a ‘fun’ conversation and I’m sure I would find something in it to disagree on, just on account of not being an Anglican.

You might have gathered, I’m back at work, bored and flicking through various blogs to see what I’ve missed. What fun!

By: Phill

Phill — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:09:08 +0000

Or, as Anne-Marie would probably say, ‘Baplican’!

I think there are one or two differences between my decision and someone who chooses to get baptised as an adult after having been confirmed – but I guess we can talk about that in person

By: Matthew

Matthew — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:47:10 +0000

Thanks Phill! I figured you probably *did* agree with confirmation, as I know you’re not the sort of person to do this sort of thing without fully committing to it and knowing what you’re getting into, it was just good to hear your explanation. I understand where you’re coming from – I often hear about people being confirmed as a teenager and then going through adult baptism later, so I suppose it can just as easily work the other way round!

I still might pick your brains on a couple of points, but I’ll leave that for face-to-face discussion rather than overloading your blog with it all! After all, the Baptist-Anglican relationship is something I’m very much interested in.

By: Phill

Phill — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:36:42 +0000

Hi Matthew, no not at all – no offence taken What makes you think that I *don’t* believe in confirmation? The only reason I haven’t been confirmed is that I didn’t grow up in the Anglican tradition. Nothing wrong with that at all. But by getting confirmed, I am affirming that I do support the tradition.

Also, there is the whole thing about not being a stumbling block to people – if my not being confirmed is potentially a stumbling block, surely it’s worth doing!

These are my thoughts at the moment anyway.

Phill

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:29:25 +0000

Thanks for sharing that, Phill. I shall have to listen to that sermon at some point, definitely a topic I’m interested in.

As for your confirmation, and again potentially acting as Devil’s Advocate here, you say that people might not be comfortable with a minister who isn’t confirmed, but don’t you think they might be less comfortable knowing that you only got confirmed because of what other people thought rather than because you actually believed in it? Surely a meaningful adult baptism is worth more in the Kingdom than a half-hearted confirmation? Regardless of which particular denomination you ally yourself to primarily, passion and clarity of belief must go hand in hand if you are to be taken seriously as a teacher – if you didn’t feel ‘called’ to be confirmed and didn’t properly consider what it meant in the context of your previous baptism, is your confirmation really valid?

Sorry, that sounds a bit harsh on re-reading. Don’t take it personally Phill, I just know from experience that you do think about these sort of things and do lots of studying, and in that sense perhaps your readers might understand more fully if you explained a little more! Or, if you think I’m out of line, just delete this comment and we’ll go and have coffee…