tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post274131974153251986..comments2024-01-23T10:37:14.372-08:00Comments on Surburg's blog: Mark's thoughts: Confirmation - ecclesiastical insanitySurburg's bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07471674105191295804noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-22639593983030910222016-03-18T08:57:07.508-07:002016-03-18T08:57:07.508-07:00Amen!!Amen!!David Schwarzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14534739558975147921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-6319841615052514422016-03-18T08:54:41.718-07:002016-03-18T08:54:41.718-07:00Absolutely!! Absolutely!! David Schwarzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14534739558975147921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-41940278951254275422016-03-18T08:53:21.229-07:002016-03-18T08:53:21.229-07:00Absolutely!Absolutely!David Schwarzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14534739558975147921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-21987299781071851302016-03-17T06:15:57.641-07:002016-03-17T06:15:57.641-07:00I don't know the solution but I do know that f...I don't know the solution but I do know that formal catechesis by the pastor was useful for both myself and my children. At a difficult time in my life, having the explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle's Creed was very important and it is unlikely my father would have required that I memorize it. I think confirmation/catechesis by the pastor is helpful for children whose parents do attend regularly prior to confirmation class.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14741320143295367834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-55863513055654383842016-01-26T10:04:16.188-08:002016-01-26T10:04:16.188-08:00"The result is that we will not see confirmed...<i>"The result is that we will not see confirmed youth in Church."</i><br /><br />To the contrary, you will see the confirmed youth, who take their confirmation vow seriously, in church. You will not (or rarely) see the confirmed youth who do not take their vow seriously, in church.<br /><br /><i>"What I do know for sure, is that Confirmation as we currently practice it is ecclesiastical insanity."</i><br /><br />Confirmation, as we currently practice it, is when the confirmand confesses the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, drawn from inspired Word of God, to be faithful and true. This is the confession held by the entire congregation as a member of the Missouri Synod. It is also a confession made by members of the Missouri Synod as called pastors at their ordination. That some liberal pastors in the Missouri Synod subsequently ignore their vows is no reason to regard ordination similarly "ecclesiastical insanity." Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-91478270407934777212015-09-16T04:38:33.728-07:002015-09-16T04:38:33.728-07:00I wonder how many Lutheran pastors (especially in ...I wonder how many Lutheran pastors (especially in the LCMS) inform their catechumens, perhaps only at the moment they take their vows as confirmands, that they are quia-subscribing, not to some CPH-published English translation of Martin Luther's Small Catechism, nor to revised and updated questions and answers originally prepared by Heinrich Schwan (how many catechumens even know who he was?), but rather to Luther's Small Catechism and the other Lutheran Symbols in the German language contained in the Book of Concord of 1580. <br /><br />Perhaps some catechumen might even be asked, and able to provide, the names of at least four such Symbols (the three creeds and the SC). A clever catechumen might even infer that Luther might have written a "Large Catechism." <br /><br />The Lutheran pastor then is only left with mentioning the other five Symbols, includng, in the LCMS, the one the Missouri Synod Constitution doesn't mention.Carl Vehsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00348831096001668813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-90013912451500956472015-03-13T09:38:27.546-07:002015-03-13T09:38:27.546-07:00Decades ago, as a seminary student, a district pre...Decades ago, as a seminary student, a district president gave a talk to the senior class. He said he had grown up in a family of delinquents, but that his confirmation instruction stuck. He warned us not to be too quick to remove names from the books, and to trust God's power in the means of grace.Timothy Buelowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07054736557370216427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-25901472769223090362015-03-12T23:47:20.570-07:002015-03-12T23:47:20.570-07:00Let's have no movement to discontinue Confirma...Let's have no movement to discontinue Confirmation. And as for youth attendance and the "falling away" from worship.....it is nothing new. Some, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, regardless of parental early influence, will return. Others, lured away by the world or the culture, will live out their lives and die in unbelief...unsaved. And still some of the returning youth may even join another church, possibly Calvinist, could be Baptist, non-denominational.....and this too may be God's will. It is by the grace of God that salvation occurs in people, and those who reject Christ, the sacraments, and His word are a prescribed number which are not of the elect, and we are vain to think we can persuade by words or programs those intent on rejecting The Lord and the means of salvation.John Joseph Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596324816480709495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2447271489594435093.post-49758325189296966732015-03-12T20:42:51.159-07:002015-03-12T20:42:51.159-07:00Amen! You echo many of the same frustrations I hav...Amen! You echo many of the same frustrations I have.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com