The Question of Open Communion

The issue of open vs. close(d) communion has been a prickly one in the LC-MS for sometime. The official position of the LC-MS is close(d) communion; however, some individual congregations and people have taken exception to this position. Why? They see close(d) communion as an impediment to sharing the Gospel. According to them, they see the exclusion of people as a way of saying "we are better than you" or "you're not good enough to join us" or "your not a Christian because you aren't Lutheran." In a sense this is a valid point because it is possible for people to perceive the teaching of close(d) communion this way. However, this is no excuse to ignore the warning we are given in 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

This is a serious warning folks and like everything else in the Bible it is not one that we can ignore because we find it inconvenient or hard.

Now, I have heard people complain about the exclusivity of close(d) communion but never have they been a person who was previously unchurched. Everybody, who I have ever heard complain about close(d) communion is either a LC-MS'er who has family visiting that belongs to another denomination or is person who had more than nominal connections to a different denomination. These are the people that generally find it hard, because they consider themselves Christians and think that we are saying they are not. So, in a sense, the only people we are chasing off are the church shoppers.

It has been my experience that the previously unchurched appreciate the forthrightness of close(d) communion because they are worried about what to do and this answers their question. In our congregation we have devised this communion statement.

Holy Communion is a special gift of God to His people. It is celebrated here (blah, blah, blah, info on when we have communion)... Since the Lord instructs us to examine ourselves before we receive His Body and Blood, (1 Cor. 11:27-29) we ask that you reflect on the following questions:

Do you acknowledge that you have sinned and are in need of forgiveness? (Rms 3:22-23)

Has God brought you into His family by means of Baptism? (Rms 6:3-5)

Do you believe that God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to shed his blood for you and that, He has called you to Christ by the Holy Spirit? (Eph 2:4-9)

Do you believe that Jesus has promised to give you His true Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Sacraments? (Mt 26:26-28)

Do you believe that Jesus offers forgiveness of sins with His Body and Blood? (Mt 26:26-28)

If you were unable to answer "yes" to these questions, we would ask that you please speak with one of the Pastors before receiving communion.

I had wanted to add the proviso that they could come up to receive a blessing and should indicate so by crossing their arms and bowing their head, but I was overruled by our Senior Pastor. Not really sure why, but oh well, not that important.

Now, before we begin to take up the offering we announce that this is in the bulletin and ask people to make use of this time to reflect on the questions. I know this system isn't perfect but it does work. I have had people who went through our new member's class thank us for putting this in because it made their experience easier and I have had long time members tell me they love it because they use it themselves to prepare for communion. So, you can't tell me that close(d) communion is an impediment to witnessing. It really boils down to how you present it. As you can see we went to great lengths to always bring it back to the Bible (btw, we have Bibles in the pews so people unfamiliar with the passages can look them up.) I think this helps lessen the perception we are telling them they are unworthy and allows them to see we are serious about obeying God's word. Besides as I mentioned before in other places exclusion from communion did not impede the spread of the Gospel as evidenced by the practices of the early church where they sent the uncatechized home before starting communion (Dowley, Tim. Introduction to The History of Christianity).

To Worship Or Not To Worship That Is The Question

On the Blog Necessary Roughness a mission congregation was brought up that apparently only meets for Bible Study. A few of us engaged in a short conversation about the topic and while none of us have posted in awhile, I am still thinking about the conversation.

Now in pursuing this conversation, I do not really want to comment on the congregation itself rather I want to stay within the "theoretical realm" because I do not know what is going on in that specific instance. Rebellious Pastor's Wife brought up an objection concerning a church with a pastor not gathering around the sacraments in divine service. Now, I can think of one legitimate reason for not gathering around the sacraments, Holy Communion, in particular, and that is they are going through catechesis and are not yet ready. However, this fact does not negate the benefit of gathering for a prayer and preaching service. Which makes me wonder why a mission would not start a regular service of some sort once there were two or three regulars.

Now for my question, what would drive the ultimate decision to not have a regular worship service and just a Bible Study? I have to wonder if it is because we are locked into this idea that we need a proper building in which to worship. Really a storefront or church building is not necessary for a worship service. All that is needed is a person willing to open their home or a convenient open space like a park. As it was brought up in our discussion the promise of Christ is to be where ever two or three are gathered in his name not in the designated sanctuary of such and such building.

My second thought is that we are of the mindset that a worship service is not meant for witnessing. This thought baffles me completely because a worship service centered around the Word of God is going to witness to people. As God's word is presented in the context of the service one can not help but be convicted by the Law and healed by the Gospel, because they will be given clearly. I realize a major portion of the service is the Sacrament of the Altar and that unprepared people are rightfully asked to refrain from partaking and this can be perceived as an impediment or turn off, but this still does not necessarily negate the witnessing ability of a worship service. I mean the ancient church would ask people to leave before receiving communion and as we can see now it didn't turn off everybody.

Now, I realize in a sense I have set up straw men, but I am curious as to why people when they have the means would not have a worship service. I don't know maybe other's have some experience with this thought process.

Pro - Choice Mindset

The wife and I were talking last night before turning in and the topic of the pro-choice mindset came up. It got me to thinking, I honestly do not really know what the pro-choice mindset is. I have my assumptions but we all know what "assume" means. To be honest the pro-choice position is one that at least from the rhetoric is one that is completely outside of my conception. I mean how can anybody deny that little person growing enutero is a person? I have my assumptions but what is really forming their world view?

Assumption 1 - A knee jerk reaction to being told they cannot do something. - Humans and Americans, in particular, do not like legal regulation limiting the choices they can make, particularly when they involve personal decisions.

Assumption 2 - Selfishness - They want to be free from something that can drastically change their lives and let's face it nothing changes a life more than pregnancy and birth. In their desire to do what they want they will do what ever it takes to eliminate any obstacle.

Assumption 3 - Fear - As my wife shared with me being pregnant when your looking to be pregnant is a scary thing, so she could not imagine what it would be like if one wasn't looking to have children. Fear is a major driving force in forming people's opinions because they are going to make choices that will allow them to avoid what they fear. I avoid doctors partly because of a fear of needles. In a manner of speaking, abortion or at least being pro-choice allows people to avoid the thing that scares them.

Assumption 4 - Equality - Frequently, I see them arguing an infringement of women's rights when ever a ruling or law is pass limiting abortion. This makes me think they see abortion as a means of achieving equality with men. Honestly, I do not see how this is giving equality because I do not have a right to commit premeditated murder, thus bringing me back to my initial premise of not understanding the pro-choice mindset.

These are my assumptions, are they right? I don't know. However, I can't help but think that it would be a great help to figure out and understand the pro-choice mindset if I am ever going to successfully communicate and convince them of the veracity of the pro-life view.

Lutheran Singles

Luther at the movies discusses the idea of a website for Lutheran singles. It is just too funny. Check it out.

New Gay Religion Paradigm

According to Christian Post.com psychologists are working on a new paradigm to help people whose sexual feeling conflict with their religious beliefs. On the surface this idea sounds great. Everybody could use help dealing with unwanted feelings. However, the paradigm seems to be to affirm them in what ever course they choose to go. If you think your religious beliefs take precedent fine, or if you think your sexual desires take precedent well that's just fine too. This paradigm just makes my skin crawl. Talk about the ultimate in post-modern psychology.

While on the surface I agree with psychologists that homosexuality is not a mental disease, I do disagree with them on the issue of it being right and normal. It is a manifestation of sin rather than a psychosis and needs to be treated as such. It should not be ignored nor should it be affirmed. The article reports a sad truth that many people who feel same sex urges and are deeply involved in Christianity are often conflicted and self loathing. Now while it is good that they do not like how they feel, it is wrong that they should be in such despair. Where there is such despair the gospel is not being preached and perceived attitudes may scare them away from seeking help. Now one of the men interviewed did seek help but he sought help from places that are American Evangelical in nature and so are likely to be very law based. No doubt these people need the Law like the rest of us miserable sinners but they also need the Gospel if they are ever to be free. One does have to wonder why their turmoil is viewed as greater than that of heterosexuals.

Is it because heterosexuals have easier outlets for seeking help? Are we more accepting of heterosexual sins? I think it is both. We already are too tolerant of couples living together or just having sex without moving in with each other. Many times we just wink, wink, nudge, nudge over such deviance, but we never adopt a serious tone with these couples. Meanwhile, we are yelling and screaming about how homosexual acceptance is a serious threat to society. This double standard gives people the idea that we treat people bound by the sin of homosexuality as something more evil and hated than heterosexual sin.

I think it is time we seriously considered how we are handling the issues of sin. We need to less time singling out a specific sin and more time condemning all sin as equal and above all follow up with the Gospel. At the same time we need to help these people deal with their sin and part of that is going to be setting up an atmosphere of trust. It is easier for people to seek help when they feel trust in others and trust is hard to come by when we give off a perceived reaction of rejection. Such perceptions come out when we focus too much on one sin and in how we talk generally. As much as it pains me to say, the pc crowd is right it is hurtful to poke fun at somebody just because how they feel and such actions are going to destroy trust.

The only question is, how do we have an atmosphere of trust yet condemn the sin when the sin is so closely associated with their core identity? Quite frankly, I don't have the answer to that question.

Partial Birth Abortion Ban Upheld

The Supreme Court upheld the Federal Law banning partial birth abortions. This decision is a step in the right direction with the court beginning to ignore bad precedent. A similar bill passed on the state level had been over turned by the Supreme Court. Hopefully, this is just the first step towards correcting the horrendous injustice called Roe V. Wade.

As expected the vote ran down the line between conservative and liberal justices with a 5-4 ruling.

Planned to not be a Parenthood is rather upset with the ruling.

Said Eve Gartner of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America: "This ruling flies in the face of 30 years of Supreme Court precedent and the best interest of women's health and safety. ... This ruling tells women that politicians, not doctors, will make their health care decisions for them." She had argued that point before the justices.

I hate to break it to you Miss Gartner but this means that the government is finally starting to do its job, protect the defenseless against selfish, inhumane acts of greed. Of course, I also have to ask what about the best interest of the child who's life is in question?

I told you so

I hate to say it but, I told you so! The anti-gun people are trying to use Va Tech as a rallying point for their cause. When are they going to learn that guns are not the problem, people are the problem. One paper at least briefly admitted that guns are not the sole problem but there are other factors. They called for intensive study to figure out the problem, most likely at taxpayer's expense. I can save them all a lot of trouble. Contrary to popular belief people are not innately good. We used to be and then we went and screwed it all up. We are all sinners, bound and chained to death itself, we all will inevitably hurt somebody. The only question is, is how. Not everybody is going to go around shooting crowds, but it all comes down to sin. We do not need to spend massive amounts of money to figure it out. God has already given us the answer. We just need to listen. God even gave us the fix to the problem. It never ceases to amaze me that God loves us enough to die for us a bunch of conniving, thieving, lecherous murders.

Computer fun

My retched machine has been randomly rebooting with no input for me for the past several weeks. For a while it was not much of a problem I just made sure I saved frequently and often, well lately it would take 10 minutes to get it to boot up in the morning because it would automatically reboot after I loged in. So, today I decided to see if reinstalling WinXP would help in the hopefully not vain hope that it was a software glitch.

So, I popped in the installation cd ran setup and it crashed. I ran it again, it crashed. Finally, I said to Rome with it and decided to reformat the drive. So far that has done the trick, the problem is it cost me a full day of work. I guess I could have worked on our other desktop, but sometimes it is really hard to concentrate when your work computer has gone belly up.

Anyhow, WinXP seems to be up and running now I just have to install all of the updates and reinstall all my additional software.

Virginia Tech Shoot Out

It is always a terrible tragedy when such senseless violence intrudes into people's lives. I fear, however, that the anti-gun lunatics will try to make this a case of why guns are evil, rather than addressing the real issue. Sin.

From all of us here at Lutherama, our hearts and prayers go out to all the families and friends of the victims. It is our sincerest desire that they find comfort in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jack Chick - Purveyor of Cheesy Comics

If you come from a Lutheran background you may not have heard of Jack Chick, because there are very few Lutherans into the whole KJV only garbage. We are more likely to be Beckists, but Jack Chick is a major provider of tracts used by fundamentalists of various bapticostal stripes. Lutherans generally do not find themselves on the receiving end of his vitriolic writings, he usually saves his putrescent writing for the Roman Catholic Church. However, in attacking the Roman Catholics he inevitably will attack doctrines that are close to home for us Lutheran's, generally infant baptism and the Real Presence.

His comics are a shining example of abysmal biblical study and paranoid delusions. My favorite example of his paranoid ramblings is his comic Death Cookie. In the comic Death Cookie, Jack spins this yarn about the Pope making a deal with the devil to deceive people into believe that Jesus' body and blood are present in the Communion. According to dear old Chick the wafer is based on the Egyptian Sun God which is of course complete malarkey everybody knows that the the wafer is based on the tortilla. Jack does not even get the Egyptian God right, Ra is the sun god. He obviously has not watched enough of that fascinating show Stargate SG-1If you are going to critique somebody at least do your homework.

Then to make things better he edits the Council of Trent so that it looks like the Papists are calling the wafer the cookie god. It is good to see intellectual integrity is not a must for witnessing in the fundie circles. Come on Jack, it is easy enough to run circles around the Council of Trent, you don't have to cheat do it.

Then there is the hack job he does to the bible. Jack doesn't want you to know the promises of Christ. He wants to make the Papists into pagans, so he does not include the part where Jesus says "this is my body." He only includes the part where Jesus says "do this in remembrance." Jack if you are going to accuse the Catholics of hiding the bible, you would be wise not to do it yourself.

Excerpts from the Death Cookie:
















































So just what does Jesus say about Holy Communion? Read for yourself.

Matthew 26:26-28 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Now I have to ask you, if God tells you this is his body, do you really say that no it can't be your body?

Oh by the way, Jack's website is www.chick.com, and no it is not a dirty website you gutterminded cretin.

Introduction to Unschooling

My husband has mentioned that we plan to homeschool our daughter (and any other children we have). As a result, I have spent quite a bit of time researching methods and curricula and whatnot. There have been some approaches I've liked instantly (literature-based, Charlotte Mason, classical education), and some that I was able to rule out right away (textbook/school-at-home, unit studies). And then there was unschooling.

If homeschooling is for those on the fringe, unschooling is the lunatic fringe. There is no one set definition of unschooling, but at its core is the notion that children are inherently wired to learn, and as such, find learning a fun proposition.

Certainly my ten-month-old daughter loves to explore and discover new things. She will forget to eat if there are interesting things to see and do. If she was not wired to keep persisting and exploring, she would never learn to hold her head up, or sit, or crawl, or walk, or any other milestone. These skills are either fun in themselves or allow her to do something she wants to do, and she keeps at it until she has mastered them. I must admit, I can see no reason why that persistence and love of discovery would disappear just because she reaches schoolage.

"But wait," you say, "if kids love to learn so much, then why do we have to force them to go to school and study and do their homework?"

Good question. Unschoolers assert that school destroys the love of learning in all but the most determined. Since children (and adults) are taught to equate "school" with "learning," and since most children end up hating school, they think they hate learning as well.

So why DO kids hate school? There are tons of reasons, but here are a few that most pertain to unschooling.

One, children are forced to learn in lockstep with everyone else. All six year olds are in the first grade, and all first graders must learn this list of skills in this order in this exact timeframe; this list is usually designed for the "average" six-year-old. However, children are quite different from each other, and the odds of a specific child matching up with the schools' mythical "average" child in all areas is quite low. This means kids spend quite a bit of time either bored or behind, neither of which is particularly conducive to enjoying school.

As well, knowledge is compartmentalized into "subjects," each of which is studied for a specific period of time each day or week, no more, no less. When that time is up, it's up. A child may be enthused by the American Revolution, and want to keep going, but history's over, time for math. A child's interest or lack of interest has no effect on what the child studies - why should they enjoy or respect an institution that has zero respect for them?

You'll notice there is an emphasis on "force" in the above. As a result of generations of "school=learning" and kids hating school, there is a cultural expectation that kids hate to learn, and thus most be forced. People generally conform to what is expected of them. Thus, as schools treat children like prisoners that must be corralled and some knowledge forced into them against their will, children will eventually come to live down to those expectations.

Unschoolers look at the above - children like to learn, until they are compelled to learn on some else's timetable - and declare the solution is obvious: Let children direct their own education.

And most everyone responds with, "Ha ha, yeah right. Like THAT will ever work."

At first, I, like most of you, thought this was completely impractical. I, probably unlike most of you, still thought it was a really intriguing concept. However, I still had quite a few questions and objections.


Continued in:
Practical Objections to Unschooling
Christian Unschooling - Isn't that an Oxymoron?

Zoidberg's Brain Slug Treatment Candidate of the Week

Everybody can relax now Dr. Zoidberg is here!

[crickets chirping]

After an exhaustive search I have found my next candidate for my patented Brain Slug Treatment. This week's candidate is truly deserving. She not only disobeyed her parents, she was dumb enough to advertise it on MySpace. Wait she had a party and didn't invite Zoidberg! The outrage I tell you, that there is reason alone to give her my treatment!

Back to the candidate, she is none other than Rachel Bell. Rachel, it seems, decided she really wanted to have a party while the parents were out of town. That there is dumb enough, hasn't she watched TV! Every sitcom will tell you that is bad idea and everybody knows that the TV wouldn't lie to us. Then to top it off she decided to put her party on MySpace. A recipe for disaster, I tell you! Did she really think that only a few people would show up if she put her party on MySpace. OY! Not even Fry would be so numb skulled and he once trusted Bender with his money!

Rachel it is time for you to open your mouth and say "ahh", and let me take a look at that brain of yours.

The Bondage of the Will

Tell me can anybody read this (caution, the article is not for those sensitive to crimes against babies) and still try to tell me that people are not in bondage to sin?

Pope says evolution can not be proven

When you have a 1000 monkeys at 1000 dartboards eventually you will get a right answer.

J.S. Bach on music

J.S. Bach said, "All music should have no other end and aim than the glory of God and the soul's refreshment; where this is not remembered there is no real music but only a devilish hub-bub."

Amen, Brother Bach.

A Message for Pro-Choicers

This message is primarily for those who are pro-choice but would never abort themselves.

A person who does evil to his neighbor is not the only one guilty under the commandment to not murder. It also applies to anyone who can do his neighbor good, prevent or resist evil, defend and save his neighbor so that no bodily harm or hurt happen to him-yet does not do this (Jms 2:15-16). If, therefore, you send away someone who is naked when you could clothe him, you have caused him to freeze to death. If you see someone suffer hunger and do not give him food, you have caused him to starve. So also, if you see anyone innocently sentenced to death or in similar distress, and do not save him, although you know ways and means to do so, you have killed. It will not work for you to make the excuse that you did not provide any help, counsel, or aid to harm him. For you have withheld your love from him and deprived him of the benefit by which his life would have been saved. (LC 189,90)

God will rightfully call you murderers for withholding your love from young children who could not save themselves from the selfish choices of their mothers. The defense of 'women's rights' is no excuse because no person's right of choice should interfere with anothers right to live. Life is precious because it is a gift of God. While it may not always be an easy gift to bear, it is still one that should be treasured. God treasures the gift he gave us so much he was willing to die in order that it may be restored to us. Moreover, Christ arose so that we may have life and therein is our hope, for in the end we are all murderers in our own right.

Stem Cell Breakthrough

The Journal of the American Medical Association released the results of a Brazilian study on treating Type I Diabetes, Autologous Nonmyeloablative Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Newly Diagnosed Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. While, the treatment will require further study this is a major breakthrough as several of the patients involved were able to forgo insulin treatments for extended periods. This is a big time improvement because in Type I going without frequent injections (several shots a day) is potentially lethal. Results varied with one patient going 35 months (nearly 3 years) without insulin to just one month. This is a long way from a cure but coming from a person suffering from needlephobia going several months between treatments is a far sight better than 2+ times a day.

The Church Going Sex Offender

The New York Times has published an interesting article on the struggles of churches to put faith into action when it comes to sex offenders. I can see how this topic could be a cause of strife in a church. If your congregation is like ours, more than a little fearful of the sex offender threat, you will understand the need for concern in handling this situation. In our case the fear is not entirely unfounded. One prominent family lost their oldest son to a man who raped and murdered his victims. Now, this incident happened 20+ years ago so it is not the primary driving force. Some of the fear, I think is due to the hype the media gives to the situation, but still people are afraid of sex offenders. You add on to the driving idea that they are irredeemable and you have a real problem on your hands. Particularly, since we believe that Christ can change the darkest of hearts.

So, what do we do? I'll be up front and say we invite them to receive God's grace just as we would any other sinner, because in the end we are no different than they in the need for God's grace. I imagine some will say that is easy for you to say in theory, but in my case it is not theory. We have a convicted sex offender in our congregation. We have handled the situation rather quietly, one due to legal requirements (convicted as a minor) and two to quote K from MIB "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals and you know it." The Pastors and the youth minister know about him and that is pretty much it. We take care to work around his weakness and not place him in a position to be tempted and give him the help he needs in handling this sin. In essence, we trust but verify. We also, due to insurance requirements, background check anybody who will be working with minors on a regular basis.

What about the victims of abuse the article asks. Well, they need to be handled with care, because they understandably will have a strong feeling about having abusers around. Here is where catechesis is vital; they need to be nurtured, in order to bring them to a level where they can in Christian charity interact with the the offenders. All the while, we should take care to show them the same level of care we do the offenders and remind them that just because they are members doesn't mean you have to hang out with them either. Above all let them move at their own pace. When they are ready, they are ready.

Is HOPE all that you hoped for?

Flatoday.com reports that the Florida State Legislature is ready to vote on a bill for the funding of Stem Cell research titled HOPE, "Hope Offered through Principled, Ethically sound stem cell research." To be honest I am not sure that it is all that I hoped. I had hoped there would actually be money to put into the bill, however, it appears they did a hack job and will not be offering 20 million in research grants. A shame because the bill would provide this money to research conducted on the most ethical source, adult stem cells. However, instead of great legislation we have a laughing stock. They must have spent the 20 million trying to pay for the increases in hurricane insurance. {For those of you who do not know, many congregations in Florida are hurting right now because our hurricane insurance has gone through the roof or they have been dropped, to give you a clue our congregation's insurance went up nearly $20,000}
Some how I doubt the State Government is feeling the pinch, but I sure am.

I guess the best I can say about this one, is well at least we didn't pull a Missouri and vote away our rights just so we can selfishly possibly, one day, fix our self inflicted wounds.

Are we afraid to be distinctly Lutheran?

Recent trends have gotten me to thinking recently that Lutherans are afraid to be Lutheran. In some ways I can't blame them. They look at churches around them who are experiencing numerical success such as Saddleback, Lakewood, Grace Community (Houston, Tx), Calvary Chapel (Melbourne, Fl), and others; and they want that same experience. Part of me says "I can't blame them," because having a large influx of people is exciting. Then the other part of me dreads their excitement because then it translates into why can't we be more like them. We need to change our services. We need to be more contemporary. Toss out the old and in with the new. Now I can see the potential of using the new multimedia tools for conveying the wonders of the Gospel but I wonder do we really need to do the out with the old?

Do we really need to look for new and innovative ways? I think we should do some historical studies and see what worked for the churches in the days of the Roman Empire. Why you ask? It is really simple, they lived in a society that is very similar to ours. Their society was very tolerant of drug use, sexual sins, violence, and any and all religions were good. In fact, if you had a god they didn't they'd just toss up a statue for him in the temple. They even tolerated the quaint Jewish and Christian idea of monotheism until Caesar needed a scapegoat. So with a society so similar to ours I think we should look at what they did.

Articles all over the place are talking about the need to be relational with our message and ministry. You can't get any more relational than people throwing parties and sharing the message with their friends. They didn't have any great programs, the people just went out and shared the Gospel. It really is that simple. Now, we just need non Christian friends.

The worship service was relational and relevant. A tradition I think could find great favor in today's postmodern mindset is the practice of individual Absolution or as I like to call it "The Lutheran Altar Call." It is a far more personal way of conveying the truth and promise of God's Forgiveness than the corporate confession and absolution we currently practice. I think it is time we faced up to the idea that the group absolution that has largely replaced the practice of individual confession and absolution does not cut it in a society that places and emphasis on the individual experience. The practice of individual Absolution is a perfect fit because it is entirely in keeping with the doctrine and practice of the Lutheran Church and it is undeniably an individual experience.

We also hear a need for up beat songs. Ok, give them what they want but be sure to give them what they need. There is nothing wrong with catchy, upbeat tunes, I like a toe tapping tune myself. But you need to make sure they are filled with lyrics that have far more to them than "I will sing praise to you." Praise to who? Praise for what? People have pointed out that Arius used catchy tunes to teach his dastardly teachings, well, don't let the devil ruin a good thing. Use catchy tunes to teach good things. I did it, I'd like to see you say "Almighty Fortress" is not a catchy tune.

Preach to people's felt needs, but make them Lutheran or I shall beat you with a rubber hose. It isn't that hard to speak to people's needs and point them to the great gifts of the means of grace as the answer. Give them sound wisdom (Biblical principles to live by) but be clear that when they fail to live by these principles they should run to cross and look for strength from Christ.

Above all don't be afraid to be Lutheran because at the heart of being a Lutheran is the Gospel. It is the Gospel that is ultimately going to win the hearts of people not a snappy dressing smooth talking preacher.

Bitter Sweet Easter

I hope everybody had a blessed Easter. I must admit mine was in someways bittersweet. I am a big fan of Johnny Hart's and will sorely miss his wonderful humor and hope filled comic strip. However, as much as I will miss his art, I rejoice in the hope that drove him to pour out his heart via stone aged characters.

Jesus Christ is Risen!

Maundy Thursday

Blessed Maundy Thursday to all of you. I trust that the Lord will use the gifts he gives us in Word and Sacrament to strengthen and deepen your faith.

As we are entering the vigil weekend I won't be posting for a few days.

Blessings,

Dr. Luther and all the people here at LUTHERAMA

Does this mean I can't name my son Martin Luther Jr.?

Foxnews.com reports that a couple in Sweden is suing to for the right to name their daughter Metallica. Apparently the Swedish Nanny State has determined this is an unfit name for a little girl because it is associated with the heavy metal mega group Metallica and the word 'metal'. This makes me wonder if they would allow me to name my son, should I eventually have one, Martin Luther Jr. or would they claim that it is too closely associated with a famous black preacher and a little known monk. (sorry but it kind of urks me that when people hear Martin Luther they think of that King fellow and violent streets with his name while completely ignoring the man he was named after. King did good work, but it would be nice to have my work remembered particularly if it was associated with the preaching of the Gospel.) In some ways, this ruling by the Swedish, we know better than you, Government seems a little hypocritical. How many Johatans, Johans, and Josefs have been turned down because they are too closely related to major religions? Zero.

Creflo Dollar prophet of the Antichrist?

After watching the video clips below I would have to say yes.






To deny the very heart of the Christian faith that Jesus is God at any point before or after the incarnation (change due to clarification from reliable source) is heresy. Does not the apostle John write, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." John 1:1-2
Then to add on the bit about how we are gods {thinking thoughts that must be confessed} the last time I heard that claim guess who it came from. I give you a clue he makes his appearance a few chapters after the bit old Money Bags uses to prove we are gods.

HT The Heresy Hunter

Blow Hard predictions are out

Dr. Luther eminent prognosticator of political predictions has released his predictions for the up coming political season.

There will be

723,987 promises made
723,988 promises broken
267 Scandals
30 named scandals
15 of which will be named _____ gate

So far, Dr. Luther has been right 100% and we will see if he can continue his average with his first ever prodigious prognostication.

By the way in real news Dr. Gray of Colorado State University has released his predictions for the up coming hurricane season.
17 Named storms
9 Hurricanes
5 Intense Hurricanes

Personally living only a few miles from the right coast of Florida, I am hoping for a very very quiet year.

Public Schools teaching the Bible as Literature

David Van Biema has written a decent article on the trend of offering elective courses teaching the Bible as Literature, and I must say that I am torn over the idea.

On the one hand, I am all for the teaching of scripture to young minds. The Bible is most profitable for teaching young people in the ways of righteousness. At the same time it is, of course, the only place where we can find true hope in this life of strife. Now here comes the part where I am have issues.

In order to teach the Bible in classes they pretty much have to strip the Bible of its core purpose, the proclamation of Jesus Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection. One the Supreme Court, the dunderheads that they are, require the Gospel to be striped in order to teach because they do not wish to promote a religion. Second, the stated goals of much of the course is to help the students understand the cultural impact of the Bible. Which, in essence, is pure idiocy without the Gospel, because the Gospel is the single reason the Bible has had the impact it does. If it were not for the Gospel the Bible would be as exceedingly dull and vacuous as a modern soap opera. Without the Gospel, the Bible would have been lost in the myriad of works and be no more of an influence than the gnostic writings.

My pastor friend has other worries. After reading Van Biema's article he recounted his time at Texas A&M when he took a Bible as Literature course. He noted that the course was full of theories which attempted to dissect and devalue the Bible as the Word of God. In this course, they promoted such idiotic ideas as JEDP, as if they could even hope to tell you who wrote what just by looking at grammar. We must not forget the eternal question, how many Isaiahs are there 2, 3, 4, 25? To add on to the troubles caused by viewing the Bible in the same light as every other book they tend to look at the Bible as a collection of separate pieces rather than a unified whole.

This is cleaving of the Bible is evidenced by the Van Biema when he brings up the issue of a case being thrown out because Jurors had a discussion on "eye for an eye" according to the Old Testament. He claims the jurors were at fault because they ignored or hadn't noticed that Jesus repudiated "eye for an eye" by teaching people to turn the other cheek. However, Jesus' proclamation is not a negation of the Old Testament where God is laying out the civil laws for the physical nation of Israel. Jesus is arguing against those who have used these verses to justify revenge as Dr Jeff Gibbs notes in his commentary on Matthew " Given the human condition, it was inevitable that some teachers in 1st Century Judaism would have taken the biblical admonitions regard just penalties and recompense and married to them this perspective of "do what you have to do, and be sure to get even." Jesus is not negating the states right to punish by the sword which is outlined in the Old Testament he is calling on people to take on "lives of reckless generosity and naivete." (Gibbs)

Enough about that, as much as I love the idea of young people studying God's word, I just can't help but feel that courses that seek to teach the Bible as literature will do nothing more than butcher and bury the most important thing about the Bible, Jesus Christ.


Gibbs, Jeff Matthew 1:1-11:1 Concordia Commentary Series, CPH, St. Louis: 2007

Time Magazine Highlights fellow Blogger

The most recent issue of Time Magazine has an article on Pastor's wives and how the internet is providing a needed outlet for these dear ladies. One of the people interviewed in the article is none other than a favorite of mine The Rebellious Pastor's Wife.

The Nanny State

Fellow blogger The Rebellious Pastor's Wife has recently posted an excellent refutation of the book Why Mommy is a Democrat. The book itself is a horrendous piece of propaganda but that is not what I want to spend time on, if you want to read about its misleading nature go read The Rebellious Pastor's Wife. [Zoidberg] "Do it, I tell you! Or face the wrath of my mighty Claw!"

What I would rather spend time on is the idea of the Nanny State. Now, I will be very candid and state that I believe I can take better care of myself than some must justify my taking up oxygen bureaucrat in D.C. I do firmly believe that God has given authority to our government to rule our country, however, I do not think this means they necessarily must regulate ever part of my existence. I like the Pastor's wife have noticed a decided note of disapproval of people who do not rely on the government in certain aspects of life.

Thankfully, we have numerous families who homeschool in congregation so most people are not put off by Mrs. forty-two's desire to homeschool little Rebekah and future siblings. We still get a little bit of but how will you properly socialize your kids. Personally, I ain't too worried. I just think they will miss out on the fun of Friday Night Football. Oh well.

Where we really get the odd looks is when people find out we are attempting to opt out of Social Security. It is like we are from a different planet because we don't wish to rely on the generosity of government which is habitually incapable of balancing its own budget. I also wish to minimize the numbers of strings the government feels it has on my ministry.

With these in mind I think you can easily figure out that I am not a fan of the nanny state and as I look out at the political landscape I am reminded of a short story I read in highschool. I wish I could remember the title. Maybe somebody can help me out. Anyhow, the story is about a time of political correctness run a muck, where good dancers are shackled, pretty faces are hidden behind a mask, and smart people have implants that keep them from focusing too long all in the name of equality. The nanny state ideally is about bringing people all to the same level.

However, in reality it is always about bringing everybody down to the lowest common denominator. Look at our schools, the SAT has been readjusted to make students feel smarter and now instead of actually having to know math you get to use a calculator. Heaven help us if the calculator dies. Yes, I rely on one myself, but at least I can do the math without one. My wife is a victim of public school mediocrity, she is a brilliant person, she graduated salutatorian from her highschool, but was never challenged. When she was in college she was not prepared for the rigors of excelling at the collegiate level. To put it this way, public school was so easy she did not pay attention in class but read a book and still maintained a 4.0. These factors play into why she wishes to homeschool.

Now the nanny state schools are more concerned about instilling tolerance of ideas they agree with and the color ink that will not negatively affect the self-esteem of the child than they are about getting children to achieve their highest potential. My other issue with the nanny state ideal is what I call the Animal Farm Principle - all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

The nanny state is predicated on the idea of equality but it does so at the expense of certain groups. Instead, of actually working to erase distinctions it heightens them by giving so called disadvantaged groups special liberties. The book in question TRPW's blog is a prime example of this phenomenon. It demonizes white middle/upper class people.

ERA is back

According to Crosswalk.com, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) is trying to bring back ERA. Now, I have serious doubts that it will pass, but one never knows. Whether or not it will pass is not really my concern with the ERA; my concern is, how will the ERA affect the Christian Church and its stance against female clergy?

According to a straight forward interpretation of the amendment we would be guilty of denying a fundamental right by denying women admission into the ranks of clergy. If you are counting on the 1st Amendment to protect you, don't. They will find a way around it. They may not make it illegal for us to operate but they will do everything they can to place financial pressure on the church. Mark my words, seminaries that insist on the truths of the Bible will no longer be able to provide their students access to federally guaranteed student loans and churches will lose their tax-exempt status. Of course, this doesn't take into account all of the lawsuits that will come against the church for its refusal to bow before the altar of the world.

I realize I sound alarmist, but I have lost faith in the people who serve us in elected positions. Really, it is hard to trust a person who looks to the Government for all the answers rather than to God. Tack on the fact that many of these so called tolerance people consider Christians backward, bigoted and incapable of thinking for themselves. Well, I think you can understand my reticence about thinking the church will not be affected by ERA.

An interesting court case

This case was a normal divorce proceeding which is bad enough now it has taken on a new dimension. The ex-husband in the case is refusing to pay alimony because his ex is now a man. Oh what tangled webs we weave when we seek to play God.

Women hits building while going to see Eye Doctor

This story is just too funny to pass up. This poor lady managed to hit a building while going to see her eye doctor. With a headline like that you just can't pass it up. Of course, I can't imagine a worst way to get your name in the paper.

The American Evangelical Pilgrimage Destination

This past weekend I went with our Confirmation students to the The Holy Land Experience or as I like to think of it Roman Pilgrimage Protestant Style. This miserable piece of bland American Evangelical putrescence could have been great if it didn't cost 30 gold coins to get in and it wasn't so steeped in Left Behind garbage. The missus and I went to the presentation on the temple expecting hear an explanation of the worship which occurred at the temple and history behind it were regaled with fairy tales about a future temple and how God did not fully dwell with his people and did not give them the Holy Spirit. If God did not give them the Holy Spirit just how in the world did the Holy Spirit communicate God's Word? I wonder why they consider God dwelling with his people at the temple an incomplete dwelling.

Then after that, there was the presentation of Israel in 66 A.D. where we learned that the location of tomb and the cross is not where Christian tradition has believed it to be rather it in is someplace identified ~75 years ago by some no name Brit. Of course, I had to ask who cares its not like there is anything in there now.

About the only thing worth seeing that we were able to take in is the Scriptorium and smoked turkey legs. Although there are some glaring historical inaccuracies in the Scriptorium, the first is the idea that Christians invented the Codex, they did not; they popularized its use. Second of all is the laughable idea the Puritans were about religious freedom. Let's set the record straight they were all about the freedom to teach in their own way and engaging in a little persecution themselves. Some of the earliest colonies were formed because of religious differences and laws against teaching against the Puritan beliefs.

Anyhow, do yourself a favor save your thirty gold coins and go see a good historical presentation by going to a Dr Paul Maier presentation.

Luther's thought for the day

God's word is the true "holy thing" above all holy things. Yes, it is the only one we Christians know and have. Though we had the bones of all the saints or all holly and consecrated garments upon a heap, still that would not help us at all. All that stuff is a dead thing that can sanctify no one. But God's Word is the treasure that sanctifies everything. By the Word even all the saints themselves were sanctified. Whenever God's Word is taught, preached, heard, read, or meditated upon, then the person, day, and work are sanctified. This is not because of the outward work, but because of the Word, which makes saints of us all. Therefore, I constantly say that all our life and work must be guided by God's Word, if it is to be God pleasing or holy. Where this is done, this commandment is in force and being fulfilled.
- Luther's LC 2nd Commandment 91-92

The people at St Matthew's Churches out of Oklahoma should read this statement. Maybe then they would stop sending me those wretched "prayer rugs." They are as bad as the holy relic merchants who sold enough pieces of the cross to build enough crosses to crucify all of Europe.

Zoidberg's Brain Slug Treatment Candidate of the Week

It's Zoidberg's chance to write and if they try to stop me they will face the claw, the CLAW I tell you. I have found my first candidate for my experimental treatment of instilling commonsense by means of Brain Slug. I have searched long and hard for this week's winner. This week's recipient has earned the hate of animal lovers around the world or I should say animal lovers who have not received my patented brain surgery. Our patient is so well loved that his fellow activists hate him, now that takes talent. Enough about how much hate he is earned now is the time to meet our patient. He is none other than, animal-rights activist Frank Albrecht. Old Frank gets the nod this week because he thinks we ought to kill Knut without offering it to me as a free dinner. Zoidberg is hungry!

It turns out that even animal-rights nut jobs disagree with his idea that "he should be given a lethal injection rather than brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet." Daily Mail

Dr. Luther, however, tells me he deserves our ire for a non-dinner related reason. He says that God gave all creatures in to man's care and that means they should care for those animals who cannot care for themselves even when said animals would make Zoidberg a great meal. It's a conspiracy, I tell you, a conspiracy!

For the increase of zeal

I have always been Pro-Life, but I never had a great deal of zeal until recently. To be honest I hadn't realized the change until this afternoon as I was doing some research on a totally unrelated subject and I came across the picture of a 22 week old dead baby and my heart was torn. Earlier, I was in principle and action pro-Life, but there was no emotion attached with my beliefs and now there is and I wondered "why?". It is then I realized there is a major reason for this change. And here is that reason,


Meet Rebekah, she is less than a week old in this picture or 36 weeks (counting from the start of the pregnancy - she was born premature). She is now 9 1/2 months, but in this picture she wasn't much older than that poor unloved child left out to die. If holding your own child doesn't change your perceptions, I don't know what will.

Sweet Sixteen Starts Tonight!

I am feeling rather nervous and excited because tonight my Aggies are playing a Sweet Sixteen game for the first time in 27 years. The last time the Aggies were in this position is when the late Shelby Metcalf led the first ever men's team to the Sweet Sixteen. This year has been quite a treat. They talk about the 80's team making believers out of people, but the current team has made a believer out of me.

Luther's Thought for the day

How, then, does such sanctification take place? Not like this: sitting behind the stove and doing no rough work, or adorning ourselves with a wreath and putting on our best clothes. But as said above, we occupy ourselves with God's Word and exercise ourselves in the Word
- Luther's LC 2nd commandment 88

Sanctification does not occur because of our own work, but through the Holy Spirit working through God's word. It is when we dive into the word of God that the Holy Spirit opens our hearts and minds in order to enlighten us with God's wisdom and will. In this manner we will find our daily lives being affected by God for He has promised that His word is profitable for training in living a Godly life (2 Tim 3:16).

Lutheran Thought for the Day

I was pondering ways that I could be of greater benefit to my readers outside of sharing my views on current events and then I thought "hey, I can let them journey with me through my devotions." Currently, I am working my way through the new Concordia: Reader's Edition of the BOC. It is a great buy, by the way, particularly for its reading schedule. Anyhow, devotional tidbit for the day

But the greatest abuse occurs in Spiritual matters. These do with the conscience, when false preachers rise up and offer their lying vanities as God's Word... Here, then, let us learn and take to heart the great importance of this commandment. Then, with all diligence, we may guard against and dread every misuse of the Holy name as the greatest sin that can be committed outwardly. For to lie and to deceive is in itself a great sin. But such as sin gets even worse when we try to justify our lie and seek to confirm it by calling on God's name and using his name as a cloak for shame, so that from a single lie a double lie results-no, many lies.
- Luther's LC 2nd Commandment 54&55

A fair warning to all of us, be careful in how you speak. Do not confuse the lies of this world with the word of God. Speak only the truth and seek the Lord's will above all things.

Lord, may the words and actions of your servant be of glory to you alone.

Are weddings worth it?

I can remember talking to pastors and finding it a complete surprise to hear them say they hate doing weddings but like doing funerals. I wondered because in my mind weddings are a happy occasion and funerals are sad. Now with a few funerals under my belt and a couple of weddings I now fully understand why.

In some ways I think performing weddings are more trouble then they are worth. First of all you have those newsstand garbage rags telling the brides not to put up with anything from the minister because it is her wedding and some brides take that to heart. They tend to be rather surprised when you tell them if you don't approve they don't get to use the church. Now we don't have to much trouble with that because we are upfront with prospective couples concerning our service guidelines. Now it is the second issue that makes it even worse.

If you are a pastor reading this feel free to chime in, but are you like me praying that as they fill out their personal info you will find two separate addresses? I know I do. It is never easy to deal with couples living together, but it is even worse if you are like us and allow non-members to be married at our church. First of all, you do not have a relationship of trust already established and that makes it much harder to convey the Law without them getting defensive and mad at you. It is for this reason, I tend to wait until the second or third time that we meet to spend time with this topic because then it is easier to see that I bring it up out of concern and not just to be another random "you evil wicked people person" who is easily dismissed. Another reason is that it is because I use the ZoeScore premarital test, and I can show them all the research on how living together damages their relationship on top of sharing the Law. I find these results help them to personalize the Law and see how breaking the Law has hurt them, thus making it easier to confront them with the Law with the goal of repentance. This brings me to the next problem, couples who are not members of the church are just looking for a place to get married and have no desire to listen to a dumb pastor tell them how to live a godly marriage. Thus begging the question, are weddings really worth it?

Much apologies

I was a bad boy and forgot to post a link. Anyhow for those of you who wish to learn more about the sick activities of 'Black Jesus' check out this link

Zoidberg's Brain Slug Treatment Candidate of the Week Award

Hey all,

We are getting ready to start a new regular feature here at LUTHERAMA. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that people do a lot of stupid things and well we would like to honor these people who make life funny, so we are going to be featuring these people in a once a week feature called Zoidberg's Brain Slug Treatment Candidate of the Week.

Now we at LUTHERAMA already spend a large amount of time on the web but we can still only be in so many places during the week, so we are going to need your help. If you see a prime candidate for Zoidberg's Brain Slug Treatment let us know, feel free to leave a comment on any of our articles and if yours is picked we will give you the credit for the find and link to you in the article (and if you are like us you like Links). Remember, we are looking to have fun so the funnier the better.

Look for our first candidate this Friday!

The Real Silence of the Lambs

Steven Tart, self proclaimed "black Jesus", has been arrested for raping, sacrificing, and eating young women. To be perfectly frank, this is just sick. On the other hand, it once again proves to us that we are in the last days. Jesus warned us that in the last days there would be people who came along and said "I am He" and that they would try to lead people astray.

Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
- Matthew 24:23-28

Show and Tell isn't all that it is Cracked up to be

This story by Foxnews.com would be funny if it wasn't so sad. A mom was arrested after her son showed up in his 1st grade class with some crack cocaine. I think the fact that he was able to bring this drug into a supposed drug free zone should be an indication they need to start searching elementary age children for contraband, just like they do to the high schoolers. I have to wonder did he have to abide by the "bring enough for everybody" rule? That would have taken and made a normally dull make work assignment a little more interesting.

How Sweet it is!

The Aggies are in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in over 20 years and the girls aren't doing to bad either having advanced to the second round. No matter how the game ends this coming Thursday, it will be a great season. Now we just have to worry about somebody trying to steal Billy G. away. I hope that doesn't happen because he now has the chance to build a legacy at Aggieland.

Homosexual Advocacy Group Wants God To Apologize

Homosexual Advocacy Groups have expressed dismay at God's perennial bestseller title The Holy Bible claiming that it makes derogatory and hateful remarks about homosexuals. Of particular contention between the homosexuals and God is His statement, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

According to the spokesperson from ATALBG, "God is perpetuating a stereotype that homosexuality is not normal and advocating discrimination against the homosexual community. Comparing homosexuality to thieves and drunks is bigoted and should not be tolerated. We are seeking an immediate public apology from the Almighty."

More militant groups such as the Rainbow Army are calling for a complete banning of the book and laws against people who disseminate God's book through spoken or written form. Meanwhile, people such as the Archpriestette Schori is trying to calm the strife between God and the homosexuals claiming that this was an remark later added by the editor.

God's response to all of this, "People, I don't hate you. I hate what you are doing. Didn't you see the part where I said all people are sinners? Or did you just add on 'except me'. The fact remains everybody is equally sinful, but I still love you enough that I was willing to go to the cross to die for you. As for an apology, don't expect one any time soon. I do not apologize for telling the truth and insisting on a certain level of morality in my creation."

This is of course a parody of events surrounding Gen. Peter Pace. However, the truth remains homosexuals are sinners in need of a savior just like everybody else.

Sin the root of the problem

This article by Foxnews.com is not exactly for the faint of heart. For me it causes conflicting desires of wanting to drum them over the head and wanting to reach out. Rather than go into the gruesome details, I will simply state a mom killed her children. Usually after such a thing hits the news, people start asking why a person could do such a horrific things e.g. Andrea Yates. The answer though is not one people want to hear. It is the expression of the inherited sin nature of human beings. This is the root cause. The twisted nature that we inherit from Adam warps our perceptions, thoughts, and feelings so that we end up doing despicable things. People don't want to hear this because they want to maintain the delusion that people are inherently good. So, I am sure there will be many people calling for her to be given mental therapy rather than jail time.

Mental therapy is all well and good but it is not going to treat the problem only the symptoms. This woman and her boyfriend desperately need a good dose of the Law to wake them up to the fact that they aren't right. Then we can treat the real problem with the healing balm of the Gospel.

I have officially gone Mad

Yes, indeed, I am as mad as a hatter. It is March Madness, baby! My Aggies are the #3 seed in the south. I hope they put together a better showing then their last game. If they come with their "A" game opponents will have to watch out for the long arm of the Law.

I am not anti-Hollywood, I just have a disorder

After reading David Van Biema's Time article Rewriting the Gospels, I have come to realize I suffer from OTMSBBS. OTMSBBS or One To Many Speculative Bible Books Syndrome, manifests itself in the vocally deep loathing of all books speculating about Jesus' life. It is good to know they have finally diagnosed this problem that has caused me to shoot off my mouth so frequently these last few years. Hopefully, they will soon find a cure.

The Bible: Good Luck Charm?

This article by crosswalk.com caught my attention because my friend and internet guru worked for Chick-fil-a while going to college. Anyhow, the story is about a man who is a rather successful owner/operator in Richmond. It would appear that when they were building his first stand-alone restaurant's he and his wife buried a Bible in the foundation under the future location of a register. Now this register is the number eight national grossing register. Of course, you can see the connection they are starting to make. God blessed that register because they buried a Bible under it. Good grief, does the worship of holy relics never cease? Buried under the restaurant that bible is of no use to anybody. To paraphrase Paul, if they can't read it, how are they going to see the one who called them?

Of course, this is only part of the story. They mainly credit God's blessings on the owner's promise. God does bless things just because we make a promise. That is foolishness, we break our promises more often than we keep them.

My thoughts is the blessing is in how the owner is using his vocation to God's glory. The owner hosts a bible study during the week and offers a free breakfast for all attending. I wish more Lutheran store owners would do the same. Maybe more people would hear good Gospel instead of Osteen's feel good self-help manure.

How Personalities Change

My favorite movie critic Luther at the Movies, no I am not biased, reports that he has an INTJ personality while I received this result

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense. Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

Isn't it amazing how a personality can change through the years?

Aardvark Alley's questions answered

The illustrious gatherer of Lutheran bloggers Aardvark Alley, has posed a paradox "how can there be two Luthers?" Well, I thought about just saying we are Lutherans and so we can rejoice in the paradox but no there is a much simpler explanation. Part of what happened is explained in my bio, I fell into a cryochamber and was frozen. How the cryochamber came to be in my chambers, I really do not know but I suspect Nibbler is behind it. I was later unfrozen in the year 2004 and refrozen in 2017 hoping that movies would be better in the future. I was unfrozen again in 3001, where I was promptly hired by a senile professor to be the official documenter of the crew's exploits. It was fun, I got to carry around a very cool holocam. Yes, but how did you get back to the 21 century you ask. Long story short, Fry accidentally created a rip in the space-time continuum and we were sucked back in time and we crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico. When we sold the story to Matt Groening, he decided to send us back because it made for a happier ending. We have made ourselves quite at home here in the 21st century, Leela and Fry finally admitted their love for each other and are now happily married, Bender currently works as their hot water heater while doing some other work he is hesitant to tell me about. Zoidberg, is thrilled with his job as the Red Lobster mascot; Red Lobster got a great deal on him, he works for food. Hermes was hired by the IRS where he lives out his dream of endless filing. The professor moved to Florida to be with like minded people.

Interesting nonsensical side note, spell check thinks the correct spelling for cryochamber is chamberpot.

The Cross at William and Mary

It will appear that the cross gets to stay in the chapel but I can't help but feel they made a deal with the devil.

THE WREN CHAPEL CROSS SHALL BE RETURNED FOR PERMANENT DISPLAY IN THE CHAPEL IN A GLASS CASE. THE CASE SHALL BE LOCATED IN A PROMINENT, READILY VISIBLE PLACE, ACCOMPANIED BY A PLAQUE EXPLAINING THE COLLEGE'S ANGLICAN ROOTS AND ITS HISTORIC CONNECTION TO BRUTON PARISH CHURCH. THE WREN SACRISTY SHALL BE AVAILABLE TO HOUSE SACRED OBJECTS OF ANY RELIGIOUS TRADITION FOR USE IN WORSHIP AND DEVOTION BY MEMBERS OF THE COLLEGE COMMUNITY.

Full release

Dial 2 to Kill a baby

Planned Parenthood has found a new way to fund the murder of children. They have set up a deal with Working Assets to provide cellphone plans where ten percent of all proceeds go to murder a baby. Talk about the ultimate irony, now you can call up your mom and tell her how great she was and provide the means for another mother to kill her child before he/she can even has a chance.

Working assets excuse for contributing to murder.
"We are doing this to"build a world that is more just, humane, and environmentally sustainable." Somebody tell me what is just and humane about financing murder?

Crosswalk points out that some pundits think this is an attempt to reach teens because Planned Parenthood is losing support amongst the teen set and guess who is one of the largest set of users of cell phones.

For more information go to
Crosswalk.com
Working Assets

Pardon me for calling you a Bandit

The mother of one of the "Barbie Bandits" told America on Good Morning America that

I want [people] to know that her and Heather both are not bandits, they're little girls that made a bad choice. - Joy Miller

Little girl, my eye, she's 19! She is old enough to know that robbing a bank is not a good idea or right. A five year old could tell you that robbing a bank is not a good idea. Just a little girl, bah. This just a blatant ploy to win sympathy for the little felon in the court of public opinion in the hopes the court will go easy on her aspiring Bonnie. Making excuses for children is a failure to live up to one's vocation as a parent. If Joy really wanted to help her daughter she would be helping Ashley own her crime and admit she did wrong. Alas, she is doing what every delusional sinner does makes excuses rather than face the Law.

Of course, the father of the other girl is no better.

God gives us free will and it's up to us what we do with it," he said. "Any adult has to make decisions and live with them — good, bad or indifferent."

May I recommend my book Bondage of the Will for your bedtime reading pleasure? Available at Amazon. com for 11.55 plus shipping.

To read the full article go to Foxnews.com

Junk on Jesus continued

Well, I did it I managed to watch The Jesus Tomb with out killing my tv. I will say that with the exception of the production quality the whole thing was a farce. The evidence they presented were all based on "if". The whole thing sounded like if this then it might be this. Eck put together better reasoning than this Jacobovici fellow, and get this Simon, not being a scientist/archaeologist is no excuse for producing badly reasoned material. Even a film maker should be able to figure out that you don't start with an idea then get or manipulate results into agreeing with your idea.

Bad Idea #1 - Relying on Statistics - there is a reason it is called lying with numbers. Never believe statistics, the numbers can be manipulated to say anything you want.

Bad Idea #2 - Over stating the value of Mitochondrial DNA, this type of DNA which is passed down only by the mother can only tell you if they are related maternally either brother/sister or mother/son. I find it hard to believe the clip of the CSI type guy was "unedited" I am sure they filmed it in such a way to elicit his response.

Bad Idea #3 - Relying on a 4th century text that is already suspect in its authenticity. I have no doubt that the text they used is 4th century. What is in doubt is the authenticity of the information. The material first surfaced approximately 150 years after Jesus died not exactly an eyewitness account.

Bad Idea #4 - Perpetuating the Da Vinci Code Conspiracy Myth. I suppose they couldn't help take a shot at Christians for maintaining the male only pastorate, but can they at least be little honest intellectually by acknowledging the earliest Christian writings, Paul's letters indicate a male only pastorate. Oh wait I forgot Paul was a misogynist and cannot be trusted to relay truth. In addition, the Church didn't suppress the Gnostic writings in the fourth century they were never accepted by the church with the exceptions of a few people who had ulterior motives. While I am thinking about it what is with them calling Gnostic writings "Christian."

But then what can I expect, Simon Jacobovici is only a filmmaker not a scientist. What a load of horse manure, even a filmmaker should be have better ability at assembling good evidence and using logic.

For additional comments go to House, M.Div

More Junk on Jesus - Dr Paul Maier Speaks Out

Dr Paul Maier issued a written statement this week responding to the idiotic claims made James "I'm king of the World" Cameron about the Historical Jesus. Here are some the highlights

Alas, this whole affair is just the latest in the long-running media attack on the historical Jesus, which I call “More Junk on Jesus.” We all thought it had culminated in that book of falsehoods, The Da Vinci Code. But no: The caricatures of Christ continue.

There are 21Yeshuas cited by Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, who were important enough to be recorded by him, with many thousands of others that never made history. The wondrous mathematical odds hyped by Jacobovici that these names must refer to Jesus and His family are simply playing by numbers and lying by statistics.

Please note the extreme bias of the director and narrator, Simcha Jacobovici. The man is an Indiana Jones wannabe who over sensationalizes anything he touches.

And my favorite

He should have known better, and the television footage of the two making their drastic statements on Monday, February 26, was disgusting, and their subsequent claim that they respected Jesus nauseating.

It is like he took a page out of my book.
It is getting to the point that every time I hear somebody say "historical Jesus", I feel sudden urge to vomit. Maybe it is because every time somebody writes about the historical Jesus it is never about the real historical Jesus rather it is an attempt to discredit Jesus.

The full response is available at www.lcms.org

Jesus the Divine Healer

This Lent our church is doing a series called The Signs of John, in which we look at the major miracles portrayed in the Gospel of John. Building on the foundation John provides that these were recorded so that we would know that Jesus is the Christ we look to see what each of these incidents can tell us about God. Last night we covered a topic I think is very pertinent in this day and age of resurging gnosticism. The sermon's focus was on the healing of the official's child and how Jesus revealed himself to be the divine healer.

As the divine healer Jesus demonstrates that he is not only concerned with our spiritual health but also with our physical bodies, not so much as in guaranteeing good health here and now rather in that he is concerned about all of us not just a part of us. Why? Because, God as our creator loves his creation and wishes to see us completely restored to how he created us. These acts of healing serve to disprove the gnostic assertion that the flesh is bad and that Jesus came to set us free from our flesh, because if Jesus wished to set us free from our flesh why would he heal it.

In addition, the sermon pointed out that Jesus is not only capable of healing nearly always fatal diseases such as the official's son's disease, but he can heal the always fatal wound in our relationship to God caused by our sin.

To paraphrase the John Newton, I am a great causer of hurt but Jesus is an even greater healer.