Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Brian T. Coughlin) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Help!! Message-ID: Date: 25 Sep 90 07:54:33 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH Lines: 70 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Re: Lindsay Gower, Alan T. Terlep In article unisoft!lins@ucbvax.berkeley.edu (Lindsay Gower) writes, in response to a posting by Alan T. Terlep: (Alan) >> Second, I will say that the coldly logical part of my brain is still >>surprised about my confirmation. My decision to get confirmed was the first of >>several decisions I've made based wholly on nonrationality. One day I woke up >>and knew that I should get confirmed. It was, to say the least, unusual, >>although I have had other similar experiences since. >> The problem is that I feel distanced from the standard experiences that I >>hear about from most religious people. I don't agree with many of the >>principles of the Catholic Church, but nonetheless I feel drawn to it by God-- Hi, Alan! First of all, I want to reassure you that it's certainly normal (and, in my opinion, healthy) to question the beliefs of the Catholic Church, and (going out on a limb, here...) even to disagree with some of those beliefs, from time to time. I'm a firmly rooted Roman Catholic, and I'm going into a Catholic seminary soon, to boot... and I still have disagreements with the Vatican's policies and such. That's certainly no deficiency, and it isn't a symptom of weak faith; it shows that you have a working mind! :) (I'll qualify those statements in a minute.) (Lindsay writes:) >I advise you to wait on your confirmation. That might be a good idea... but only you (Alan) can ultimately decide that. Confirmation, while CERTAINLY not the last step in your Christian life (and certainly not the BIGGEST), is quite important. When you agree to be confirmed, you are making a promise... not to the Church, not to the world, but to God. It's a promise of, "I promise to be faithful to the very best of my ability." Confirmation naturally requires a fairly thorough knowledge of your own religion and what it has to offer. This is where the idea of "disagreement with the Church" comes in, as I mentioned a moment ago. In pre-confirmation years, one's faith is still finding its roots; in these years, it is rare to experience personal fortitude (willingness to persevere in faith despite problems, disagreements, et cet.) But there is where the true meaning of Confirmation comes in; far, far from being just the chrism-anointing ceremony, confirmation would be happening INSIDE YOU. The bishop, the priests, the church and building... all of these are just window dressing, in the end. Confirmation is your own, private decision, just between God and you, to swear the vows that your godparents swore at your baptism in your stead. So I might agree with Lindsay's recommendation to wait on confirmation... not to wait forever, and certainly not to wait longer than you're comfortable with. I'd just urge you to wait until you accept the deep, private meaning of your confirmation of your faith to God. If that happens tomorrow morning, I'll say, "More power to you, and have a happy Church service!" :) -- Take care! Sincerely, Brian Coughlin oracle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu