Historically, Confirmation in Norway was a special year-long course of study that 14 year olds went through to complete their Christian upbringing. It “confirms” they have been baptized and are officially a child of God. But like many things in Norway, the times they are a-changin’.
Not that long ago, Confirmation took an enormous amount of time to accomplish all the memorization work required, from the Bible as well as other sources. It was serious business. If the Priest asked a kid one of the many questions they must know the answer to, and they were unable to answer it, they could not be Confirmed until they completed another year of study and answered correctly. A party afterwards was certainly in order to celebrate such an accomplishment.
As the years went on, the party following the Confirmation ceremony became the main focus. It was no longer just about food and fellowship, it was more about the gifts the child received for their efforts. Now that Norway is an incredibly wealthy nation, most of those gifts are Norwegian kroner (money). It’s the norm for Confirmants to be the recipient of thousands of kroner. Most of these young teenagers receive the equivalent of two to three thousand dollars, but upwards of six thousand isn’t unheard of.
Because of this incredible infusion of cash, no one wants to miss out on this “coming of age” party, which is more like what Confirmation has become in Norway since it’s Christian roots are quickly going by the way-side. It’s sad to me they still call it “Confirmation” though because it’s supposed to confirm they have a relationship with the God Almighty, but it no longer does. The process of being confirmed, even in the State Church, has just become a time of fun and games, with occasional lectures, but no serious Bible study or memory work required. Everyone passes, as the requirements are very accommodating to a child’s busy life. They only have to attend church eight times in the course of a year, for example.
Today in Norway, every teenager chooses be confirmed, even if they don’t believe in God, because they don’t want to miss out on the party. For those who have an aversion to going to church, they now have the option to take a secular “humanitarian” course of study, which takes Christianity and God out of the process altogether.
My 12-year-old son asked if we could move to Norway for another year when he is 14 so he can go through Confirmation there. I haven’t answered him. In my opinion, it’s a very sad time in Norway because it appears that Confirmation now just confirms that for most young people, like many adults, their god is money.
The Norwegian Lutheran state church belives that the Confirmation is a confirmation of the baptism that one had as a baby, in other words -you agree with your parents choice in the baptism of you when you were a little baby.And most non-christians in meaning of non-belivers, are still a member of the state church, even if they dont belive in God. And they go through with the Confirmation anyway -beliving in God or not. Evangelic churches have another tradition -they regard the Confirmation day as the end of a year of Bible studies. The feast is just a celebration of the fact that the youth now has learned a lot more about God and The Bible than before this year. Only families beliving in God go through this year of teaching. The most important "personal celebrations" in the evangelic churches are the day of the baptism, the blessing of a child, and weddings.
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