Rypheid en aflegging van geloofsbelydenis

Abstract

Confession of faith must be a mature, personal, independent, self-conscious act. Maturity in faith is therefore the norm for confession of faith. The problem with which we have to deal is whether it is possible to indicate exactly when maturity has reached the same stage so that a personal independent act of confession of faith is possible with the result that the child of the covenant can take his place in the congregation as a mature member. During the time of the Old Testament a child at the age of 12 to 13 years became bar-mitswa "son of the law". In t h e early Christian Church as well as shortly before, during and shortly after the Reformation 12 to 14 years were reckoned as the anni discretionis of the child. That was the time for the covenant child to confess his faith. In the Reformed Churches in South Africa, children generally confess their faith at the age of 16. The question at hand is whether the child of the covenant of today is able to do a mature, personal, independent, selfconscious confession of faith at that age, seeing that life today is much more complicated than during the time of the Reformation as a result of which maturity is reached at a later stage. The psychology of development has done much to promote a better understanding of the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. From infancy up to adulthood, the religion of the child shows a genesis, and it is only in the early adolescent years when the faith of the child shows a resemblance to maturity. Thus there is a close relation between age and maturity in faith. Therefore the years 10 to 16 must be rejected on psychological grounds as a possibility when confession of faith can take place as a personal, mature act because those years are especially the years of puberty. Only at t he age of 17 the youth reaches the stage in adolescence when he becomes an adult. The adolescent years and the early years of adulthood, 17 to 21, is the time for the covenant child to confess his faith. A solution for the problem (where the problems in everyday practical life as well as sociological circumstances are taken into consideration) can be that the church must i n future, through medium of her ecclesiastical instruction, especially through the minister, take a much more active part in bringing the covenant child to maturity in faith and confession of faith. It i s thus recommended that the church must follow an intensive instruction programme starting when the child enters school and concluding in the first quarter of the matric year. Confession of faith can take place during the last quarter of this year, after a written application, in which the reasons for confession of faith are stated, has been handed to the Church Council. In this way it can be assured that there is the necessary knowledge of faith, so that a mature, independent, self-conscious confession of faith can be made. The psychological demands should have been met when the child of the covenant is in his adolescence, and the practical and sociological problems will no longer be stumbling blocks. In this way all the demands for a mature, selfconcious personal confession of faith can be met.