More on Confessions of Faith 3

Another strength of writing your own confession of faith is that it allows and encourages you to address the contemporary eccentricities of the world 'christian' scene from the standpoint of the Bible. 'What do you think about : elders, healers, prophets, modern songs, tongues, falling on the floor and barking, "kicking people in the face in the Holy Ghost", prosperity teaching, the DPP, etc ?' people ask. If it's in your confession of faith they can read it quietly at home and reflect on it.

Of course, this is also a weakness. After all, who still falls on the floor and barks ? In five years' time who will still 'kick people in the face in the Holy Ghost' ? Our contemporary worries are often passing fads (thankfully !). Then we are faced either with revising our confession of faith to remove all references to barking, lowing and bleating, or with explaining the historical context in which it was written.

But of course, it was ever so. It is striking to see how the historic creeds and confessions develop. Not everyone who subscribes to a 17th century confession of faith in the Westminster family would see the Pope as the antichrist, for example, though some still would. And when we say "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins", do we mean exactly what the authors mean when they penned confiteor unam baptisma in remissionem peccatorum ?