Sancho said:
I have a good friend who is a Missouri Synod Lutheran, and I have some questions I'm hoping can be answered.
1. Why are babies baptised at birth, when they are obviously too young to understand what is happening?
2. How exactly does the process of confirmation work?
1. There are many ways to answer your question, but perhaps the simplest is to say infants are baptized precisely because they are to young to understand what is happening (which is different than saying they have no faith). Lutherans believe that God applies His graceful forgiveness and life to His children through specific means, called "means of Grace." There are three such means revealed in the Bible: preaching of the Gospel, Baptism, and the Lord's Supper. (The latter two are called sacraments.) Receptive hearts are filled with faith that receives God's grace, forgiveness and new life. Since infants are unable to understand preaching and seem unable to "examine themselves," (a Scriptural requirement for receiving the Lord's Supper), God's grace, Life and forgiveness is dispensed to them through Baptism.
2. Confirmation is a longstanding custom (but not a dogmatic requirement) that traditionally marks an important milestone in the process of teaching the faith. Although no longer uniform among Lutherans even within the Missouri Synod, traditionally a person is received into communicant membership in the congregation (unless they were in communicant membership in another congregation in communicate fellowhip with the receiving congregation) by a period of instruction in the Christian faith called catechesis based on an ancient method of questions and answers organized around the 10 Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles' Creed. Luther standardarized the instruction in his Small Catechism, with which Lutheran fathers are supposed to teach their children the faith. In addition to the traditional catechesis, Luther included sections on the Sacraments, the Office of the Keys and Confession, and even an explanation of Confirmation.
When they are older (usually 14-16 years old), a teacher, pastor or vicar conducts formal instruction for two years, or adult instruction for several weeks for adult converts or Christians from other traditions. Once the students, called catechumens, have learned the basics of the faith that every Christian should know and express a desire for full membership, they publicly proclaim their faith and are accepted into full membership in a ceremony called Confirmation. Afterward, they may commune with the congregation and other congregations in communicant fellowship.
