" Imagine that you are a man from Mars who has arrived on Earth. But
you cannot pick up the wavelengths of this world, so you are totally deaf.
CONFIRMATION continued....
The Rev. Ian Dunlop is a canon [ a senior priest] at Salisbury cathedral in England. The following passage is based on notes he gives pupils in confirmation classes. In this extract he writes about sin.
You discover a piano. You would be able to discover everything about the piano, except what it is actually for. You cannot understand it because you cannot grasp its purpose. Now, if someone could open your ears and play the piano for you, then and only then could you understand the piano.
Can you imagine a piano coming into existence if it had not first been thought of in the mind of a musician? Can anything have a purpose if it was not conceived in a mind? That mind we call 'God.'

If God has a purpose for you, anything you do which helps to achieve that purpose is good. And anything that falls short of it is sin. The Greek word for 'sin' [used by Jesus in the Gospels] means 'to miss the mark'. We therefore need to know what the mark is.

Suppose a car stopped by you and the driver asked, 'Am I on the right road?' What question do you have to ask him?"
HOMEWORK ACTIVITIES:
1  In the front of your exercise book, copy out and complete this paragraph:

Young people confirm their beliefs at a service called ............  They agree to the ........  made by their ..........  when they were babies. In the Church of ....... this happens from the age of ......

2 a]  Read carefully the six questions asked at an Anglican Confirmation Service
        on the previous page. In your own words, write down what you think any
        TWO of these questions mean.

b ]  Which one do you find the most difficult to understand and why?

c ]  See if you can work out what it means. Ask a parent or someone else if you get
     stuck.

3 a]  Read the creed written by the pupils on the previous page. How is it different
        to the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed repeated by Christians in church?

b ]  Which is easier to understand? Give reasons for your choice.

4 a]  Read Canon Dunlop's notes above. What question would you ask the driver?

b ]  This is another of Canon Dunlop's questions. What does the word 'good' mean
       in these phrases: [i] a good game; [ii] a good medicine; [iii] a good rifle; [iv] a
       good instrument of torture?

c ]  What do you mean by a 'good person'? Who would you say was a good person
      that you know of? Why are they good?

5   Write about an event from your own life that made a difference to you as a
     person or changed you in some way [ eg your first time away from home
     without  your parents, etc].