conformation

Discussion in 'Questions?' started by mark fisher, Aug 10, 2022.

  1. mark fisher

    mark fisher Member Anglican

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    i was baptized after infancy with full knowledge of it do i still need to be confirmed
     
  2. ZachT

    ZachT Well-Known Member

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    If you were not confirmed at the same service as your adult baptism, then yes - you still need to be confirmed.

    You can always check these things with your priest.
     
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  3. Tiffy

    Tiffy Well-Known Member

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    There's the Theologically sensible answer and the Anglican Requirements answer to your question and they can be seen to be at variance one with the other or alternatively to be in some agreement with one another, depending on how right we think the church might be about things.

    Let's take the issue of Baptism. Once an adult postulant has submitted themselves to instruction and the discipline and symbolism of Baptism in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit they have become so fully a disciple of Jesus Christ and a member of His Church that no further ceremonial symbolic act is necessary, except repentance if they have seriously stumbled in the faith. I defy anyone of any denomination to prove conclusively to me from the pages of scripture that any further 'ritual' or 'ceremony' is either necessary or required.

    In the case of Infant baptism, the infant him or herself is not a postulant. They are not a volunteer. Any or at least most, instruction they receive, will come AFTER baptism as they naturally grow and develop within their own family and within the family of God, the church, (or not as the case may be, determined, by the child's parents or God Parents who are responsible for the child's religious education). The reason for batism in infancy being administered is purely because of the pre-existing 'Holiness' of the child by virtue of the fact that, as the child of a parent who is a believing disciple of Jesus Christ they have full entitlement to be symbolically welcomed into the church through the sacrament of Baptism. (click on the link to see the theological New Testament justification for this practice).

    Such infants however grow up and most will take full responsibility eventually for their faithfulness to Christ and his philosophy of life. They need to personally express their own desire to 'Loyally fight under his banner against, sin, the world and the Devil and continue Christ faithful disciple until the end of their life, assisted by the Holy Spirit within them'. This is the true meaning of Confirmation. It is essentially the COMPLETION of baptism for those who entered the church unknowingly as infants and the fulfilment of all that they were promised by God, under their New Testament Covenant with Him at their baptism as infants.

    You may have so unconsciously entered the church yourself and your parents failed to supply you with a Christian home, (that is not necessarily an unloving home), and a Christian education, (that is not necessarily a total lack of education). If you had been 'Christened', (actually the word is Baptised), then your recent adult baptism is all that you need for Salvation and a guarantee of a Covenant relationship with God, through faith in Jesus Christ.

    Had you not been baptised as an adult, being fully cognisant of all that you were committing yourself to as a disciple of Jesus Christ, then, you would need to be Confirmed in the faith as an expression of your personal commitment to Christ and His teaching. This would become essentially equivalent to Believers Baptism as promoted by the Baptists.

    That is the sensible THEOLOGICAL position on the question you asked.

    The Anglican church is however not always sensible in what it requires of its adult initiates.
    .
     
    Last edited: Aug 10, 2022
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  4. PDL

    PDL Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Act 8: 4-17 (Authorised Version): Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
     
  5. Matthew J Taylor

    Matthew J Taylor Member

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    Follow whatever is the established practice of your jurisdiction.
    They'll guide you down a fitting path.