tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1833991209709485052024-03-13T08:56:27.995-07:00The High Mid LifeConfessions of a Confessional Lutheran on the Higher End of Mid-ChurchPastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-55875757842913573932014-08-09T14:25:00.004-07:002014-08-09T14:25:40.949-07:00Christian Heads at the Feet of ISIS' King<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Once upon a time there was a king who had a treasury filled with precious gemstones. And in order to glorify himself, the king promised his subjects that, if they worked hard enough, he might one day give them something from his vault as a reward for their obedience.</div>
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There was a man in this kingdom who desperately wanted to hold one of those gemstones in his hand and know that he had earned the king's favor. So for years, he tried his hardest to impress the king. He broke his back tilling the earth and hunting game to put delicious food on the king's table. He wore out his fingers sewing fine clothing for him. He bowed in the king's direction several times a day and sang his praises until his voice went hoarse. He fought the king's wars, expanded the king's borders, and hoisted the king's flag on mountaintops so that the other nations of the world would cower at his name. But despite all his hard work, the king never called the man into his presence and never gave him any of his treasure.</div>
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Then, one night, the man was walking home from a hard day of labor and saw a young thief sneaking out of the king's palace, his hands filled with countless rubies and diamonds and emeralds. The man approached the child to ask what he was doing.</div>
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"I'm going to give these gemstones to everyone I can find," the little thief said. "I'm going to make sure that everyone in the kingdom has a share of the royal wealth."</div>
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So the man took out his sword, cut off the thief's head, carried it into the king's chambers, and dropped it at his feet. When the king asked what this was all about, the man told the king, "this thief broke into your vault and was trying to give away for free what you've insisted we work hard to earn. But don't worry. I stopped him. The treasury is safe and your glory is preserved."</div>
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The king looked at the man, smiled, and placed an enormous gemstone in his hands. "Well done, good and faithful servant," he said. "Here's a little something for your trouble."</div>
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As incomprehensible as their actions seem, this is why ISIS is beheading Christian children in Iraq. Muslims teach that we must earn the love of Allah through our obedience and submission to him. Christians teach that Jesus has already earned the love of God and freely given us every piece of that heavenly treasure. To the radical Muslim, Christians are the little thief raiding the king's vault. And surely there can be no greater way to attain the love of the king than to offer him the heads of those who tried to give away for free the love we all must earn.</div>
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"They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me." </div>
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~John 16:2</div>
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May God turn the hearts of all who are abusing, raping, terrorizing,
and killing our brothers and sisters throughout the world. May God bring
them to faith in Christ, who has put away their murderous sins and </div>
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every gemstone of His Father's love for them. May God fill our enemies
with the Holy Spirit, that they may put down their swords and share the treasure of Christ's kingdom with those whom they once sought to destroy.</div>
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Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-9306047483047966222013-11-05T10:27:00.001-08:002013-11-05T10:27:20.327-08:00Marriage Isn't for You...I think I've heard this before<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Wedding_rings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Wedding_rings.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recently read a blog post about marriage that's gone quite <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-adam-smith/marriage-isnt-for-you_b_4209837.html" target="_blank">viral</a>.
The author beautifully addresses the notion that a husband's
vocation is to serve his wife, and that a wife's vocation is to serve her
husband, rather than the self-serving model where we get married
because the other person makes us happy and stay married only as long
as that happiness is preserved. He says, in part:</div>
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"No, a true marriage (and true love) is never about you. It's about the
person you love--their wants, their needs, their hopes, and their
dreams. Selfishness demands, 'What's in it for me?' while Love asks, 'What can I give?'"</div>
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I'm glad to see people considering this
wisdom, but also find it sad that so many never heard it before, in
particular from the pen of Saint Paul in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%205&version=ESV" target="_blank">Ephesians 5</a>: </div>
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"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."</div>
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~Ephesians 5:22-27 </div>
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Strange as it may seem to some, the Bible actually has some really
great stuff to teach us about being husbands and wives, fathers and
mothers, presented to us in the greatest love story of all, that of Christ's crucified love for his bride the Church, that of a Father's love given to his children through their mother, the Jerusalem above.</div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-60339403142482921362013-11-01T14:11:00.001-07:002013-11-01T18:37:13.354-07:00The Forgotten Saints<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had two grandfathers.</div>
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One was named Robert Preus. Robert Preus was a dual-doctorate sporting Lutheran pastor, professor, and seminary president who was instrumental in preserving the theological integrity of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod during our "Battle for the Bible" in the 1970's. His books are still devoured by young seminarians who never met him. He's still regarded as the English language's leading scholar on seventeenth century Lutheranism. And while he's certainly not as well known a theologian as St. Augustine or Martin Luther, Robert Preus is greatly revered and fondly remembered by many today, both inside and outside the LCMS.</div>
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My other grandfather was named William Fiene. William Fiene didn't write books, didn't translate theological treatises. There are no collections of his sermons because he never preached any. He wasn't a pastor. He was a mortician from small town in Minnesota. So, outside of his family and friends, nobody in the LCMS remembers his name.</div>
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But I am a pastor today because of him. My seemingly less-theologically-significant grandfather is equally as responsible for the clerical collar around my neck as my grandfather with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Preus" target="_blank">wikipedia page</a>. I say this not because I had countless theological conversations with Grandpa Fiene. He died a few months before my twelfth birthday, and in the years before, Parkinson's disease had already torn his central nervous system apart so much that I don't recall ever hearing him say my name or making eye contact with me. But the theological influence of my paternal grandfather is still in my bones, and it's come to me through what he taught his son, my father, in both word and deed.</div>
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When William Fiene was 27 years old, he contracted polio and never walked again. But he didn't despair, didn't curse the Lord who lets his legs be taken from him. Instead, he kept believing, kept trusting Christ's promises, kept praying with his children, kept teaching them Bible stories, and kept taking them to church every week. Often, during the harsh Minnesota winters, my grandfather's crutches would slip on the icy pavement while packing his family in the car on Sunday mornings. For many, that would have provided a very easy justification for staying home, sleeping in, and slowly falling away. But my grandfather kept braving the cold, kept slipping, kept falling, and kept picking himself back up and taking his family to St. Paul's Lutheran Church. </div>
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From my father's youngest days, he saw, in his father, a man who would endure pain and humiliation in order to bring his children the Word of God. William Fiene taught his son John that the pure Gospel found in the Lutheran Church was more important than anything else in this world. That's what my father taught me. And that's what I pray I will teach my sons, John, August, and Anders.</div>
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Today is All Saints' Day, a day when we commemorate all Christians, all those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And while we certainly thank God for the famous saints known the world round, we should also thank God for the forgotten saints, for the congregation of faceless believers whose names will never be written in history books, even as those names are written in the Book of Life.</div>
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So I thank God for both of my grandfathers today. Like many other pastors, today I thank God for Robert Preus, for his faithfulness, his wisdom, his writings, his lectures, and his life devoted to the Word. But even if my father and I are the only pastors in the world to remember the life of William Fiene today, I do so with equal parts thanksgiving. I thank God that, as a child, my father didn't have to look at icons of Peter and Paul to see the image of a saint. He saw one in the face of the man dusting the Minnesota snow off of his bloody knees and picking himself back up in order to bring his children to Jesus.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1uq5GV848RMDeTLfLMCzBoVMyEQ5jI_Xgm7tGIzu4zcMLtF3p-EfUZPX2wBmpvoI7tBFlR71Wu58goigTYqyzH5Kp4slyywWJf9WYV6EVJPPwCITkmQ1oDpxG1QVbHUwNwAgXPI7PWgo/s1600/Grandpa's+Grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1uq5GV848RMDeTLfLMCzBoVMyEQ5jI_Xgm7tGIzu4zcMLtF3p-EfUZPX2wBmpvoI7tBFlR71Wu58goigTYqyzH5Kp4slyywWJf9WYV6EVJPPwCITkmQ1oDpxG1QVbHUwNwAgXPI7PWgo/s640/Grandpa's+Grave.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-1857514348401282582013-10-01T10:50:00.001-07:002013-10-01T10:58:17.020-07:00Dumb Girls and Prideful Pastors<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/frat-boy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://collegecandy.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/frat-boy.jpg" width="267" /></a></div>
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When I was in college, I met a couple of girls who had boyfriends that were mean to them.</div>
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These boyfriends would say unkind things to their respective girlfriends. They would belittle them in mixed company. They would break plans at the last minute to hang out with their sideburn sporting bros. At parties, they would shout across the room to their girlfriends, "hey babe, get me a beer." And when these young ladies returned with a foaming cup of watery brew, they often found their boyfriends flirting with other girls.</div>
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Sometimes these girls would complain to me about their mean boyfriends. I would ask why they were dating them, and each girl would respond, "Deep down, I know he's a really great person. He just needs someone to bring that out in him."</div>
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At the risk of sounding judgmental, I don't think these girls had a genuine Christian desire to lift another person out of the pit of his sinful and self-destructive ways. If that were the case, they would have visited prisoners or volunteered with at-risk youth. Rather, I think they were filled with pride. I think they just wanted to believe that they were more amazing and special and spectacular than every other girl in the world because they could accomplish something that no other girl could-making a mean boy nice through the power of their love.</div>
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<a href="http://s.mlkshk.com/r/CEK" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://s.mlkshk.com/r/CEK" width="362" /></a></div>
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<i>When I became a pastor, I met a couple of pastors who were convinced that they could convert people who, quite vocally, didn't want anything to do with Christianity.</i></div>
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<i>These people would say unkind things about Jesus. They would belittle their believing aunts and uncles at family reunions. They would refuse to attend baptisms of friends' children. And on the rare occasion that they attended a service, they would roll their eyes during the liturgy and play on their smart phones during the sermon.</i></div>
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<i>Sometimes, these pastors would lament the hatred that such people expressed for the Church. But whenever I suggested that this was simply because <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+1%3A18&version=ESV" target="_blank">the Gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing</a>, these pastors would respond, "No, deep down, these people really want to be Christians. <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/pastor-says-church-sucks-mixes-worship-with-katy-perry-maroon-5-tells-congregation-dont-get-your-panties-in-a-bunch-105212/" target="_blank">They just need someone to get rid of all the negativity and stuffiness</a> that turns them off to the Church."</i></div>
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<i>At the risk of sounding judgmental, I don't think these these pastors had a genuine desire to see people converted. If that were the case, instead of making their own personalities the center of worship and preaching, they would have made Christ crucified the center, as it is only through the proclamation of that bloody Word that Christians are made. Rather, I think these pastors were filled with pride. I think they wanted to believe that they were more amazing and gifted communicators than every other pastor in the world because they could accomplish something that no other pastor could-making hardened hearts believe through the power of their love.</i></div>
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Whatever happened to those college girls with mean boyfriends? I'm sure that some probably have mean husbands now. But I hope that all of them saw the folly of their pride and grew up. I hope the same thing for every pastor convinced that "God can do all things through me who strengthens Him."</div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-86219913445969075352013-06-06T08:31:00.000-07:002013-06-06T08:34:18.018-07:00Five for Five<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5R-rQg8Dmo4npz1wzcXVOhxT7PSu4mXeNg3MwcScy8iH8PZDsScvWfwKZYZC7CJh3FuCIFQA5ac2FvcsMUNyr9SdVWorbfPCPoVmDnnDdHaLcvikshzVa7_YR232a-M8LSLZOhFTVSn0U/s1600/red-number-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5R-rQg8Dmo4npz1wzcXVOhxT7PSu4mXeNg3MwcScy8iH8PZDsScvWfwKZYZC7CJh3FuCIFQA5ac2FvcsMUNyr9SdVWorbfPCPoVmDnnDdHaLcvikshzVa7_YR232a-M8LSLZOhFTVSn0U/s320/red-number-5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Five years ago today I was ordained into the Office of the Holy Ministry. </div>
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That number is, of course, paltry in comparison to the time many shepherds have spent tending Christ's flock. And my wisdom, if it can even be labeled as such, is nothing compared to that of those men. But, in honor of this anniversary, I thought I would share five observations I've made during the last half-decade, especially for those seminary graduates who will be entering the pastoral office this summer.</div>
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1. "Change then teach" works much better than "teach then change." If you want people to embrace the right practice, institute the right practice, then praise them for doing the right practice when you teach about said practice. If you try to teach them to abandon the bad practice while they're still practicing the bad practice, they won't think the bad practice is bad enough to stop practicing because you're still letting them practice it.</div>
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2. When people get angry at you, 80% of the time it has nothing to do with you. They're just mad at God. But that still leaves 20%.</div>
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3. Sin makes pastors angry, which tempts us to structure our sermons like this: <i>Proclaim the Law, then figure out how to make the Gospel fit.</i> Unless the text commands this, do the inverse.</div>
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4. People who don't think they need a pastor will never care about you, even if they like you. But when people have desperately needed you to be a pastor to them, and you have been, they will never stop loving you.</div>
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5. Remember to pack a lunch.</div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-49980659154745298572013-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:002013-05-15T12:23:17.425-07:00No Moving On From the Cross<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://tribal-fitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Twin-Towers-on-9-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://tribal-fitness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Twin-Towers-on-9-11.jpg" width="330" /></a></div>
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Americans weren't always this good at learning lessons from acts of violence and murder. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 put a long term paralyzant in our blood. It was weeks before we were able to look away from the images of smoke and sorrow long enough to ask ourselves, "what can we learn from this? How can we better ourselves and the world in response to this tragedy?"</div>
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But now we're seasoned lesson-learning veterans. The day after the shootings in Aurora, CO and Newtown, CT, we asked what we could do to reduce gun violence and to treat mental illness. As ambulances were still rushing people to Boston hospitals, we could already see silver linings in the smoke clouds as we praised the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/15/mr-rogers-look-for-the-helpers_n_3088716.html" target="_blank">helpers</a>, the brave ones who rushed into the carnage to aid their neighbors. Even before we knew how many people died in this evil act, we had focused our eyes on the good acts of humanity, desiring to make more of that goodness manifest in our lives.</div>
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We've been well trained since September 11, 2001. Now, when tragedy strikes, we only look at the violence and murder for a moment. Then we move on to the more important thing-making the world a better place in response.</div>
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I think this is how American Pop-Christianity views the cross. <i>The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ was a tragic event. It's just so utterly sad and shameful that Jesus had to die for our sins. But now that we've spent a moment looking at all that violence and murder, now it's time to move on to the more important thing. So how do we make our lives better in response to that tragedy?</i></div>
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As evidence, I submit the mission statement of one of the country's largest congregations:</div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>
</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
"As a community, we’re devoted to building an engaged, passionate,
spiritually healthy community of people that makes up [our congregation]. We’re
also devoted to engaging and impacting one another and others, believing
that Jesus himself set an example of service and that we’ve been given
the responsibility to follow it."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And if you'd like the point illustrated in picture form, here's the same thing from another mega-church:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcNHFr5F-2MTmhtqqpJPIwR6Ih9oWbRpDVXK2tAgqVVwvjrcRGWdW-wU5ldpmF144iIPLfZRvDm_kKkBa9xfQISQq2YHX34FEcJjj8EjErgHxqdi_Hv8Ri1eE6746JXSRfuXxj7S_aRvo/s1600/Lakewood+Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="556" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcNHFr5F-2MTmhtqqpJPIwR6Ih9oWbRpDVXK2tAgqVVwvjrcRGWdW-wU5ldpmF144iIPLfZRvDm_kKkBa9xfQISQq2YHX34FEcJjj8EjErgHxqdi_Hv8Ri1eE6746JXSRfuXxj7S_aRvo/s640/Lakewood+Church.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
These aren't egregious examples. Hop on the webbernet, check out the mission statement of the congregation down the road from you, and you will probably find something exactly like this, something that basically states<i> your journey starts with Jesus. First look at his cross. Then move on to figuring out how you should live in response to that cross. Our congregation is here to help you do that.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So do these congregations deny that Jesus died for
their sins? No. But that death, that bloodshed, it's not the epicenter of the faith. It's not the substance of their preaching and teaching. Rather, the cross was that tragic event that should set you on the path of self-discovery. The cross was that brutal act of violence meant to inspire you to better yourself and the world. Stare at the carnage for a day, maybe two, but then move on. Because, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/miles-j-zaremski/let-not-the-children-of-s_b_2363076.html" target="_blank">just like the children of Sandy Hook</a>, Jesus will have died in vain if we don't learn the right lessons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But the cross is its own lesson And we don't move on from it. Jesus didn't die so that we could better the world. Jesus died to save the world. Jesus died to give us life, to give us the love of God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And that's what the Church is for-to give us the things that Jesus won for us in his death. The Church <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028:16-20&version=ESV" target="_blank">makes disciples by giving us the cross found in baptism and teaching</a>. The Church <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2011:17-33&version=ESV" target="_blank">nourishes us with the same body and blood that were broken and shed on Calvary</a>. The Church's mission is not to engage and impact. Her mission is to put the cross of Jesus on your flesh, in your eyes, your ears, your mouth.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." <b>Hebrews 12:1-2<i> </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
"And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." <i> </i><b>1 Corinthians 2:1-2 </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The cross is not 9/11. It's not the Sandy Hook shooting or the Boston Marathon bombing. There is no moving on from the cross. Because, unlike the death of everyone else, the death of Jesus Christ is life.</div>
<br />
<br />Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-21062382531413403072013-04-29T11:42:00.002-07:002013-04-29T11:49:40.393-07:00The Parable of the Seamstress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPkysUdNK1cUPSEJk1QI8h96oq5M55ROdyD8k4UvRjXtm-2bduSTJ5Ph-l2dixdJq3KHRewT5Bpu_ULru0ZA-3UwpzGm4sAucTyalRhchNvID2nVaVUJOOJ8ylZoD0ubaAOrCOi0zWe0/s1600/Singer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgPkysUdNK1cUPSEJk1QI8h96oq5M55ROdyD8k4UvRjXtm-2bduSTJ5Ph-l2dixdJq3KHRewT5Bpu_ULru0ZA-3UwpzGm4sAucTyalRhchNvID2nVaVUJOOJ8ylZoD0ubaAOrCOi0zWe0/s400/Singer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Once upon a time, Hazel sewed her family's clothes. She lived in an era when there were no department stores or major clothing labels. And Hazel's family couldn't afford the services of the nearest tailor, so Hazel sewed because that's what was necessary to survive. And because it was necessary to survive, Hazel taught this skill to her daughter Sarah. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When Sarah grew up and had her own family, she found that this skill was no longer a necessity. For a reasonable cost, and with the aid of a department store or a catalog, she could contract someone else to do the hard work of measuring and cutting and stitching. But even though she didn't need to sew anymore, Sarah still pulled out the Singer from time to time. She'd sit down with her daughter Kimberly in her lap and make a garment or two around Christmas. Sarah did this because the feel of the thread on her fingertips and the vibrations of the sewing machine on her palms reminded her of her mother, and she wanted to give some of those memories to her child.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But Kimberly couldn't even tell you how to thread a needle anymore. Her grandmother sewed out of necessity. Her mother sewed out of nostalgia. But Kimberly doesn't sew at all because, without necessity, nostalgia rarely makes it to the second generation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Christian faith is necessary. You are dead without it and nothing in this world can replace the salvation that Jesus gives to those who hear and believe His Word. But when your pastor doesn't see you for months at a time, when you let every conflict bump the Divine Service off your Sunday schedule, when you never talk theology with your children, you teach them that the Word of God is nothing more than a trinket we pull out of the closet whenever we want to taste the sweetness of our familial heritage. And when you teach that to your children, your children will not grow up to be Christians. They will not believe anymore than Kimberly sews.</div>
<br />
<br />Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-35419940085721204292013-04-09T10:27:00.001-07:002013-04-09T10:37:31.405-07:00Virginia's Sunday Morning Windows<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDp8oO0uNCXHZaDQaW_U17BWqD4NyTit5ysRh7Zyfnq-g6aIcCxZlw7ZaUVLK6zKtRlS68pe6Z3polv9bjvS3i9HnSJvg5eSRbEISYlZGTJ0I6IuQP5UmjOLqfZB46rnJ2kMjNAUgNgho/s1600/Rainy+Window.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDp8oO0uNCXHZaDQaW_U17BWqD4NyTit5ysRh7Zyfnq-g6aIcCxZlw7ZaUVLK6zKtRlS68pe6Z3polv9bjvS3i9HnSJvg5eSRbEISYlZGTJ0I6IuQP5UmjOLqfZB46rnJ2kMjNAUgNgho/s400/Rainy+Window.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Virginia woke one morning to the sound
of thunder and church bells. "Oh, that's right," she
thought. "It's Sunday. But the weather sounds terrible, and I
have a lot of things to do around the house this morning. So maybe next
week."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Seven days later, the bells sounded
again, their metallic clang ricocheting off the growling thunder and the drum
roll of fat raindrops slapping the pavement. "I know, I know,"
she told herself. "It's been awhile since I've been to church.
But it's really nasty out there, so I'll just wait until things clear up."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But things didn't clear up. With each passing season, the bells never rang
without an accompanying rain shower. For weeks and months and years,
Virginia's Sunday morning windows rattled from the one-two punch of the bells
and thunderclaps. As she graduated and got married, as her children grew
from infants to toddlers to teens, the roads remained far too slick to hazard a
trip to the church.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then, one Sunday morning, the rain
stopped and the sun began to shine. A soft heat began to radiate on
Virginia's Sunday morning windows. And even though the bells didn't clang
that morning, Virginia told herself, "ok, now I'm ready. Now that
the rain is done, I'll go back to church."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But when she pulled into the lot of
that old building, she didn't have to fight anyone for a parking spot.
She was the only one there. Getting out of her car, Virginia saw that the
church doors were locked and the windows were boarded. Peering in through a crack, she saw that the
font where she'd been baptized was dry, the altar where she communed was bare,
and the pulpit where she heard the word was empty. Then, stepping onto the same grass where
she'd done cartwheels while her parents shook the pastor's hand on the Sundays
of her youth, Virginia saw that the ground was now pierced with the shards of
that bell she'd heard calling her for so many years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So Virginia sat down and wept. "There used to be so many people
here. What happened?" she asked
herself aloud.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"They got old and died," a
voice responded.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Virginia looked up and saw the
gardener standing in front of her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"And the younger generation,
people like you, they didn't come back, at least not in time."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"But if God wanted me to be here,
if he wanted me to come back to Church, why did he make it so difficult? If he wanted me to follow the bells on Sunday
mornings, why did he keep allowing all those thunderstorms?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"O you of little faith," the
gardener replied. "It was the rain
that made the bells ring."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></i><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: HE;">God’s Word and grace is a passing downpour, which does not return to
where it has already been. It has been with the Jews; but what’s lost is lost,
and they now have nothing. Paul brought it to Greece; what’s lost is lost, and
they now have the Turks. Rome and Latin-speaking regions have also had it;
what’s lost is lost, and they now have the pope. And you Germans dare not think
that you will have it forever, for the ingratitude and disdain will not let it
remain. Therefore take hold and hang on tightly, while you are able to grab and
to hold. Lazy hands are bound to have a hard year.</span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-language: HE;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">-Martin Luther</span></div>
</span>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-70197009285645801222012-12-04T09:43:00.001-08:002012-12-04T09:45:03.602-08:00A Parable for Abused Pastors<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKn4CD8E7IrUFTUS4rWb05jUhscnntXUAFrvbxn6Px0AsbvVHpRfQFgvop8XDZZ3V00Z7b0CLQhu1-3R2-qfTZ4LlVRms_wvolye8n2JwcgPviGEINeAb5LEZ1G1vQWFF0cmHa8xf5oDY/s1600/Tuberculosis-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKn4CD8E7IrUFTUS4rWb05jUhscnntXUAFrvbxn6Px0AsbvVHpRfQFgvop8XDZZ3V00Z7b0CLQhu1-3R2-qfTZ4LlVRms_wvolye8n2JwcgPviGEINeAb5LEZ1G1vQWFF0cmHa8xf5oDY/s400/Tuberculosis-.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>And the Lord sent Nathan to the District President.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He came to him and said, "A rich man had
a daughter with tuberculosis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He married
her to a man, but the man fell sick with her disease and died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the rich man married her to another man,
who also contracted her infection and he died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Five times this happened until the rich man could find no other suitors willing
to marry his daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the rich man
went to one of his servants and said to him, 'Marry my daughter or you will starve."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The servant protested, saying, "But
master, surely if I do this, I will be like those men before me, falling ill
and dying in my youth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rich man
responded, “Surely not!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I give my word
that, if you love her enough and be patient with her, my daughter’s disease
will not take your life as it did those men before you.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>The District President’s anger was greatly kindled against
the rich man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, this man will never
arrange another marriage because he showed no mercy or wisdom.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Nathan said to the District President, “You are the man.”</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
These words are not aimed at all men who wear the title "LCMS District
President." I thank the Lord for those men who have defended the
shepherds under their care when they were attacked. And I pray that He may grant us many more men to join the ranks of the faithful. </div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-23011328103229038392012-10-23T15:42:00.002-07:002012-10-23T15:42:49.318-07:00Tebow Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAX05cgbMlNi5gfeiEWqNtqg_H6F4pyACQAUyj1cRymu3iJXohlEQF51OGvb3BZGUsf4aLSKv9_S-EonHNmWgHIoBciO8kBb44jnstM5AIOvobuSHE8_hxfEr_3HECBvNJEf7MvfaPb8/s1600/mea_culpa_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpAX05cgbMlNi5gfeiEWqNtqg_H6F4pyACQAUyj1cRymu3iJXohlEQF51OGvb3BZGUsf4aLSKv9_S-EonHNmWgHIoBciO8kBb44jnstM5AIOvobuSHE8_hxfEr_3HECBvNJEf7MvfaPb8/s400/mea_culpa_2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After reading some more at the request of a commenter, it appears that Tim Tebow has not sought a trademark on the Tebow pose itself, but merely on the phrase "Tebowing." </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, just to clarify, I still stand by the following words: </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Tebow's legal action is annoying for three reasons. First, because <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 6</a>
commands Christians not to pray to be seen by others. And even if you
weren't originally praying in your signature style to be seen in a
pharisaical manner, the fact that the masses have named your prayer
posture after you should make it fairly clear that it's time to take it
out of the public eye and into the privacy of your room. </i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I also stand by these words: <i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Second, when
the world mocks you for your faith, the Bible tells us to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:11-12&version=NIV" target="_blank">rejoice</a> that we've been <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205:40-42&version=NIV" target="_blank">counted worthy</a>, not to threaten legal action against anyone who imitates the way you display your faith without authorized written consent.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If altered to say:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Second, when
the world mocks you for your faith, the Bible tells us to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:11-12&version=NIV" target="_blank">rejoice</a> that we've been <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205:40-42&version=NIV" target="_blank">counted worthy</a>, not to threaten legal action against anyone who attaches your name to the mocking imitation of the way you display your faith.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, in light of this clarification, I retract and apologize for my claim that Tim Tebow's attempt to trademark genuflection is a great example of the ignorance and arrogance often found in Ahistorical Christianity. Seeing that this was not what happened, the Tebow example simply doesn't fit and I was wrong to make it based off of the rather misleading article I linked in the original post.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I do not, however, retract my statements concerning this widespread problem of ignorance and arrogance in Evangelicalism and Ahistorical Christianity. Certainly a better example could have been used, but the problem is very real, as the examples of dispensationalism, pentecostalism, and anabaptism certainly illustrate.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So, again, to Mr. Tebow, I apologize. </div>
<br />
<br />Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-39293439012122106542012-10-23T11:10:00.001-07:002012-10-23T11:26:18.391-07:00Evangelicals, this is why you annoy us.<div style="text-align: justify;">
People like to divide things in half. Two categories. Black and white. Republicans and Democrats. Team Edward and Team Jacob (although both of these teams are dweebs).</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When it comes to Christianity, people try to do likewise. But when they do so, they usually do it wrong. The categories of Catholics and Protestants don't work because that leaves out all of those in the Orthodox tradition. (Also, Lutherans don't really like being called protestants.) And <i>Bible Believing Christians </i>vs <i>Non-Bible Believers</i>, the preferred designations of your more fundamentalisty crowd, aren't terribly accurate. Because while Episcopalians may not believe what God says in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201&version=NIV" target="_blank">Genesis 1</a>, Baptists don't believe what God says in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%206&version=NIV" target="_blank">Romans 6</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Rather, I would suggest (and have, in fact, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=405472149505893&set=pb.173746872678423.-2207520000.1351013928&type=1&theater" target="_blank">already suggested in a comedic form</a>) that, if one is inclined to cleave Christendom in twain, the best way to do it is to make Church history the dividing line.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So despite our manifold differences, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Anglicanism, Lutheranism, and a handful of other traditions (FYI: I hate that term) are united in the sense that church history shapes the way we think and teach and worship and have fellowship. Historical Christians tend to ask themselves questions like, "how have Christians in previous generations done these things? What have Christians from the past written on these subjects? What can we learn from those who were taught by the Church Fathers and the Apostles? What valuable traditions of theirs should we continue?" Even if we don't get the answers right, these questions are still swimming around in our minds, generally speaking. And by asking them, we show respect to those Christians before us by assuming that we can learn something from them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Among Ahistorical Christians, however, such respect is not shown. It doesn't bother Dispensationalists that nobody believed in the Rapture until the mid 1800's because they don't think their faith mattered. Baptists seem perfectly unperturbed that no Christians denied infant baptism until the 1500's because they were obviously too foolish to cast off the shackles of Catholic Paganism. And if you want an example of how Evangelicals also show their disdain for those Christians who have struggled and learned and taught and worshiped before us, you'll find a great one in New York Jets' backup quarterback, Tim Tebow, who <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2012/10/19/tim-tebow-trademarks-tebowing/1645333/" target="_blank">has now trademarked his prayer posture, often referred to as "Tebowing"</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Tebow's legal action is annoying for three reasons. First, because <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206&version=NIV" target="_blank">Matthew 6</a> commands Christians not to pray to be seen by others. And even if you weren't originally praying in your signature style to be seen in a pharisaical manner, the fact that the masses have named your prayer posture after you should make it fairly clear that it's time to take it out of the public eye and into the privacy of your room. Second, when the world mocks you for your faith, the Bible tells us to <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205:11-12&version=NIV" target="_blank">rejoice</a> that we've been <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%205:40-42&version=NIV" target="_blank">counted worthy</a>, not to threaten legal action against anyone who imitates the way you display your faith without authorized written consent.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But most of all, Tebow's legal action is annoying for this reason. He's not "Tebowing." He's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genuflection" target="_blank">genuflecting</a>, something that many Historical Christians have been doing as an act of worship for a really, really long time. Check it out:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here are some genuflecting Orthodox folks.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD9IazdiEpqdsXaL6ON5nW3b8IHh70S9Geba3aMLgEnz-GnKLQO7MczpcdSFf_VOYVZCHvYbDnKuNTCjyac3BKG5s38a5dDBpe5JPaMED57bARkuYsMss2BV-uID76hI4APb6zJYBsgo/s1600/Greek+Orthodox+genuflecting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfD9IazdiEpqdsXaL6ON5nW3b8IHh70S9Geba3aMLgEnz-GnKLQO7MczpcdSFf_VOYVZCHvYbDnKuNTCjyac3BKG5s38a5dDBpe5JPaMED57bARkuYsMss2BV-uID76hI4APb6zJYBsgo/s400/Greek+Orthodox+genuflecting.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's are some genuflecting Anglicans.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdTnO3AnlrDltrzjg5eFVkrMGB3saRHEde9kprOEQ2g4o7AhqiKS0ZFUYRFfwftVJRPG9GvzrnUBdVLTj4yc4oaod0L3Oja2RtfyV64-Msf2j-J8TSmpNYzzcHo6wGiNX57lo7D1_4F-M/s1600/Anglican+genuflecting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdTnO3AnlrDltrzjg5eFVkrMGB3saRHEde9kprOEQ2g4o7AhqiKS0ZFUYRFfwftVJRPG9GvzrnUBdVLTj4yc4oaod0L3Oja2RtfyV64-Msf2j-J8TSmpNYzzcHo6wGiNX57lo7D1_4F-M/s400/Anglican+genuflecting.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's a sweet little genuflecting Catholic girl.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJl29uVU1kEID6FHKFLoH_0RWqa8JmaBFlZjYwKSWYam0ryZ4-J7PXHgCuMgHUhyphenhyphenE7vygaafXUu_UWupv1w31sHDa4_n-ZA9ls0qEyYIgaodD-J-Tq1EpU1JyPR3zvUJfhNcXkpcehJ8/s1600/Catholic+girl+genuflecting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpJl29uVU1kEID6FHKFLoH_0RWqa8JmaBFlZjYwKSWYam0ryZ4-J7PXHgCuMgHUhyphenhyphenE7vygaafXUu_UWupv1w31sHDa4_n-ZA9ls0qEyYIgaodD-J-Tq1EpU1JyPR3zvUJfhNcXkpcehJ8/s400/Catholic+girl+genuflecting.jpg" width="367" /></a></div>
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Even Lutherans genuflect. Not me personally, but a guy I know.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGCTbKPNEuATs57f7aKz4ZbPtZ8qFO3es0DBQlR07KE5X7gP1yb1G38VRLzQ7iPIniLwrJXhiPhRm9ESaSXVwf6_WvDBDn58BfTA6tt17wcd7HLvT4S8ng2RbrnNbXbFbiVYiqOZPSwg/s1600/Lutherans+genuflecting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOGCTbKPNEuATs57f7aKz4ZbPtZ8qFO3es0DBQlR07KE5X7gP1yb1G38VRLzQ7iPIniLwrJXhiPhRm9ESaSXVwf6_WvDBDn58BfTA6tt17wcd7HLvT4S8ng2RbrnNbXbFbiVYiqOZPSwg/s400/Lutherans+genuflecting.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
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Oh, and lest you think that all these Christians were just jumping on the Timmy Time bandwagon, here's the Angel Gabriel tebowing before the Virgin Mary in a painting from 1490:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOc-iGT87he63Tr0XxTXY85OoWBxRh_Pt-dWdxVvCRAoclGyeqj_Jr1hdl4-FcYbvpgliHtFLchOr90Ap1q8QuHwsgXYT6f_G1qlBkdiUkRKncw2GcCSzWGYDwd7m0eJjnZAFNVHwO9nk/s1600/Sandro_Botticelli_080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOc-iGT87he63Tr0XxTXY85OoWBxRh_Pt-dWdxVvCRAoclGyeqj_Jr1hdl4-FcYbvpgliHtFLchOr90Ap1q8QuHwsgXYT6f_G1qlBkdiUkRKncw2GcCSzWGYDwd7m0eJjnZAFNVHwO9nk/s400/Sandro_Botticelli_080.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Clearly Tim Tebow wasn't the first person to pray or worship on one knee with arm(s) extended forward. In fact, bagillions of Christians have been doing his schtick for centuries. And Tebow not knowing that is a pretty excellent example of the ignorance of Evangelicalism that drives other Christians nuts. Furthermore, Tebow presuming, via this trademark, that genuflecting is his intellectual property is an excellent example of the equally irritating arrogance that comes when you don't think you'd have anything to learn by asking, "How have other Christians done stuff prior to last Tuesday?"</div>
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So to my Evangelical friends, I highly recommend asking yourselves that question. I highly recommend diving into Church history, into the traditions and practices and teachings of Christians who lived a long time ago, long before Mark Driscoll or even Billy Graham. Do that and you will find a faith that is far richer and stronger than anything you've ever tasted before, a faith that isn't subject to the whims of fads or societal mindsets, a faith that will still be standing when American culture has crumbled to dust.</div>
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And to my friends who have already discovered the joys of Historical Christianity, I highly recommend holding the Scriptures in even higher regard than tradition. Do that and you might just find Lutheranism:-)</div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-59698321069936562542012-10-15T11:53:00.002-07:002012-10-15T11:53:26.174-07:00Contemporary Worship Apologetics: A Quick Observation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/EinFesteBurg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="355" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/EinFesteBurg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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When advocates of historic Lutheran worship argue against the widespread use of contemporary worship, in particular the use of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) in the Divine Service, they often do so using a syllogism that looks something like this:</div>
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<b>Major Premise</b>: Music that focuses on the objective work of Christ is beneficial for use in worship, whereas music that focuses on the subjective feelings of Christians is not.</div>
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<b>Minor Premise</b>: Most historic Lutheran hymns focus on the objective work of Christ, whereas most CCM songs focus on the subjective feelings of Christians.</div>
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<b>Conclusion</b>: Therefore historic Lutheran hymns are beneficial for use in worship, whereas CCM songs are not.</div>
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In my experience, most Lutheran advocates of contemporary worship do not argue against the major premise. So we all seem to agree that it's better for a hymn to tell me about Jesus than to tell me how great the hymn writer feels about Jesus. And that's good. Rather, the response I have seen most often from contemporary worship advocates is an argument against the minor premise, the assertion that "historic Lutheran" equals good and "CCM" equals bad. Quite simply, they counter this syllogism by arguing that there are plenty of bad Lutheran hymns and plenty of good CCM songs.</div>
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But, interestingly enough, when it comes to defending their counter-argument through the use of examples, things get very one-sided. Are these Lutheran advocates of contemporary worship ready to hand us a big fat list of our most cherished compositions that fail to meet the rigorous standards we require of CCM songs (standards such as <a href="http://www.hope-aurora.org/docs/praisesongcruncher.pdf" target="_blank">this</a>)? Yes, they are. Do they have countless examples of rather bad "good, Lutheran hymns?" Absolutely.</div>
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But do they also have any examples of really good CCM songs? In fact, forget "any." I'll settle for one. Do they have even one example of a CCM song that is as deeply and doctrinally and poetically focused on the Cross as the best of what we have in our hymnal? Can they give us just one example?</div>
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Can they? Maybe. But have they? No, at least not that I've ever seen. And that's not good. Because when Christ calls us to be one body, and when you're using music that has been and still is causing division in that body, I think your fellow believers deserve to have their criticisms met with a better response than, "well, you use stuff that's just as bad."</div>
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Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-48864839501123348172012-08-26T09:41:00.002-07:002012-08-26T09:58:11.203-07:00A Latter Day Re-Gift QuotesSince I couldn't fit them into the YouTube video description box, here are the quotes captioned into my latest video, <i>A Latter Day Re-Gift, </i>where I note the striking similarities between Islam and Mormonism.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7bukaRhbI0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Islam and
Mormonism Citation Captions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Names<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Muhammad<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Joseph Smith<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Alone place<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Cave<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Woods<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Name of angel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Gabriel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Moroni<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Reestablishing the one true religion<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"Abraham was not a Jew, nor yet a
Christian; but he was an upright man who had surrendered (to Allah), and he was
not of the idolaters." -Surah 3.67<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";"><div style="text-align: left;">
"There is no reproach for the Prophet in that which Allah maketh his due.
That was Allah's way with those who passed away of old - and the commandment of
Allah is certain destiny - Who delivered the messages of Allah and feared Him,
and feared none save Allah. Allah keepeth good account. Muhammad is not the
father of any man among you, but he is the messenger of Allah and the Seal of
the Prophets; and Allah is ever aware of all things. -Surah 33.38-40"</div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"My object in going to inquire of
the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which
to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able
to speak, than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of
all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart
that all were wrong)—and which I should join. I was answered that I must join
none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said
that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors
were all corrupt; that: 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a
form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.'” -Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith-History,
pars. 18-19.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Unverifiable<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Revelation from an angel that no one
else gets to see/hear<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Revelation from golden plates that
nobody else gets to see<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Christians changed the Bible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"And because of their saying: We
slew the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not
norcrucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree
concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit
of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain." -Surah 4:157<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">John 1:1 (ESV, KJV) In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Meaning: Jesus is God)</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">vs.</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">John 1:1 (Joseph Smith Translation)</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">In
the beginning was the </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel
was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the
Son was of God. </i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(Meaning: Jesus is not God)</span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">7.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">The Trinity<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"And when Allah saith: O Jesus,
son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods
beside Allah? He saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I
had no right." -Surah 5.116<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black";">"We
declare it is self-evident from the scriptures that the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost are separate persons." -<i>The Only True God and Jesus
Christ Whom He Hath Sent </i>Jeffery R. Holland Of the Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">8.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Justification by grace through faith<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"They surely disbelieve who say:
Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary.
The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord
and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath
forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire." -Surah 5:72<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"The sectarian dogma of
justification by faith alone has exercised an influence for evil." -Articles of Faith, JamesTalmage, (LDS
apostle, 1911-33), pg. 432<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">9.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Good works<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"To those who believe and do
deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great
reward." -Surah 5.9<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black";">"We
believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by
obedience to the laws and ordinances of
the Gospel." -Joseph Smith's 13
Articles of Faith,</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black";">Art.
3</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">10.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Arial Black";">Levels
of Heaven</span><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Firdaus, 'Adn, Na'iim, Na'wa, Darussalaam,
Daarul Muaqaamah, Al-Muqqamul, Amin, Khuldi<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Celestial, Terrestrial, Telestial<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">11.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">Higher levels of heaven based on
perfect obedience<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Calisto MT"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Calisto MT";">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calisto MT","serif";">"Those who spend (benevolently)
in ease as well as in straightness, and those who restrain (their) anger and
pardon men; and Allah loves the doers of good (to others). And those who when they commit an indecency
or do injustice to their souls remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their
faults-- and who forgives the faults but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly
persist in what they have done. (As for)
these-- their reward is forgiveness from their Lord, and gardens beneath which
rivers flow, to abide in them, and excellent is the reward of the
laborers." -Surah 3.134-136<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">"They are they who received the testimony of
Jesus, and<sup> </sup>believed on his name and
were baptized after the manner of his burial,
being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the
commandment which he has given—That by keeping the commandments they
might be washed and<sup> </sup>cleansed from all their sins, and
receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who
is ordained and sealed unto this power; And who overcome by
faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the
Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are
they who are the church of the Firstborn...These are they whose
bodies arecelestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the
highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being
typical." -Doctrines and Covenants 76:51-54, 70<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">c.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Pro-polygamy<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.5in; text-align: left; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>i.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">"And if ye fear
that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good
to you, two or three or four." -Surah
4:3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.5in; text-align: left; text-indent: -1.5in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>ii.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">"And again, as pertaining
to the law of the priesthoodif any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse
another, and the first give her consent,
and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other
man, then is he justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto
him; for he cannot commit adultery with that that belongeth unto him and to no
one else." -Doctrines and
Covenants, Section 132.61</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1.5in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">12.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Division in followers after prophet's death</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Sunnis/Shiites</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">/</span><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Reorganized Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">13.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Change in theology based on political environment</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Politically weak in Mecca: Let's be friends, Christians and Jews!
("And do not argue with the People of the Scripture except in a way that
is best, except for those who commit injustice among them, and say, We believe
in that which has been revealed to us and revealed to you. And our God and your
God is one; and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.'" -Surah 29.46)</span></div>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -0.25in;">Politically strong in Medina: Die, Christians and Jews, die! ("And kill
them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled
you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al-
Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such
is the recompense of the disbelievers."</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -0.25in;">-Surah 2.191)</span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Before wanting statehood for Utah: God says we must practice
polygamy! (1843 revelation to Joseph Smith)</span></div>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -0.25in;">After wanting statehood for Utah: God says we can't practice polygamy! (1890
Manifesto of LDS president Wilford Woodruff)</span></div>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">14.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">Pre-eternity of souls<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">"And when your Lord brought forth from the children of
Adam, from their backs, their descendants, and made them bear witness against
their own souls: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes! we bear witness. Lest you
should say on the day of resurrection: Surely we were heedless of
this."-Surah 7.172<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 1in; text-align: left; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">"And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in
the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among
those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me:
Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was like
unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there
is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth
whereon these may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will
do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who
keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first
estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first
estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their
heads forever and ever."</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;">-The Book of Abraham 4:23-26</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">15.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Mormonism's explanation for why some people are black</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">:</span></div>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: 'Calisto MT', serif;"><div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">"There is a reason why one man is </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">born black and
with other disadvantages,</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> while another is </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">born white with
great advantages.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> The reason is that we once had an estate before
we came here, and were obedient; more or less, to the laws that were given us
there. Those who were faithful in all things there [pre-existence] received
greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less. . . .
There were no neutrals in the war in Heaven. All took sides either with Christ
or with Satan. Every man had his agency there, and men receive rewards here
based upon their actions there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for
deeds done in the body. </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">."
-Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th LDS President, </span><i style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Doctrines of Salvation,</i><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> 1:61,
65-66</span></div>
</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-55811621069166442082012-08-24T10:09:00.001-07:002012-08-24T18:17:25.537-07:00The Pro-Life Mask<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fQr2-aQXZtWLKqsji5oLVEk6JadN_3AypS1Ha5DfX2hu1UbxAMyJhhei0XsGme3-uK9oQB6r3ORl4r_rhL5l3st-SbFSfmBIBkpalrixAKWlxkzDN9qwvtweXxmWFdqwMWFeXZfbEA8/s1600/Phantom+Mask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6fQr2-aQXZtWLKqsji5oLVEk6JadN_3AypS1Ha5DfX2hu1UbxAMyJhhei0XsGme3-uK9oQB6r3ORl4r_rhL5l3st-SbFSfmBIBkpalrixAKWlxkzDN9qwvtweXxmWFdqwMWFeXZfbEA8/s400/Phantom+Mask.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Todd Akin recently accomplished something that I had always considered impossible. With his <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/19/missouri-republican-claims-legitimate-rape-rarely-results-in-pregnancy/" target="_blank">odd attempt </a>to explain that abortion is not morally acceptable even if a woman has been raped, Rep. Akin convinced me that abortion rights advocates may have been right all along.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not that they have been right that abortion should be legal. The Word of God teaches us that, from <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2051:5&version=ESV" target="_blank">the very moment of conception</a>, we are fully human, fully human sinners in need of Christ's forgiveness and fully clothed in the dignity that God commands must be given to all the descendants of Adam and Eve. And this Biblical teaching that life begins at conception is scientifically echoed in the fact that, at the moment of conception, you find unique human DNA that is alive, cells that are growing, dividing, developing into tissue and organs and systems. If this "glob of cells" were just a part of the mother's body, she would certainly be as free to dispose of it as if it were her appendix. But it is not her body. It is the body of another human being. It is a life which cannot justifiably be taken. And to take that life is a murderous act.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So they have not been right in defending abortion. Rather, abortion rights advocates have been right in their contention that pro-life advocates simply want to control women. Todd Akin, or rather the response from many pro-life politicians and personalities to his comments, convinced me of this.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mitt Romney's campaign, for example, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0823/Todd-Akin-rape-remarks-highlight-divide-in-GOP-over-abortion" target="_blank">made sure to reassert </a>that the GOP nominee does not oppose abortion in the cases of rape or incest. The media also was quick to point out how out of touch with mainstream America Akin's opposition to abortion in cases of rape is, citing that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/todd-akin-abortion-rape-incest_n_1819201.html" target="_blank">only 17%</a> of Americans believe that abortion should be outlawed in all circumstances, a much lower figure than the fifty-ish percent of people who identify themselves as somewhere on the pro-life spectrum.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Obviously rape is a deplorable act, a dehumanizing crime that continues striking with psychological violence long after the physical violence has concluded. And, at the risk of disagreeing with Jacob the Patriarch, I believe that t<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2034&version=ESV" target="_blank">he Shechemites got what they deserved</a> when Simeon and Levi put them to the sword in defense of their sister. But, in spite of all that, what are Gov. Romney and other pro-life voices trying to say when they reaffirm that they don't oppose abortion in cases of rape?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Surely they're not saying <i>life begins at conception except when a woman is raped, in which case life only begins if a raped woman wants that life to have begun</i>. Such a position would be as scientifically indefensible as Rep. Akin's belief that a woman's ovaries have a built in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Defense_Initiative" target="_blank">Star Wars Missile Defense Shield</a> in the event of rape. Rather, what pro-life voices are saying when they affirm the rape exception is <i>this woman should get a pass on having to carry this child to term because getting pregnant wasn't her fault</i>.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And, in saying that, what are they also saying? <i>But all those other women chose to sleep with their husbands, their boyfriends, their drunken hookup partners, and they should have to take responsibility for their actions. They agreed to participate in marital relations or fornication or adultery, so they should have to face the consequences of the decisions they made willingly.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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So these voices don't oppose abortion out of a genuine respect for unborn life. They don't believe that this living, growing, developing thing within a mother's womb deserves the same dignity and protection that you and I deserve, regardless of how conception occurred. No, instead, these voices simply want women to act like grownups, to be responsible enough to pay the piper when their actions come back to bite them in the uterus.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And I'm afraid this mindset is exactly what abortion rights voices have been condemning. <i>You don't have the right to tell a woman what to do with her body, before sex or after. </i>This has been the pro-choice mantra for quite some time. And the more that pro-life voices make exceptions for rape and incest, the more they reveal that their pro-life convictions are not governed by a desire to protect unborn children, but by a desire to judge sexually active parents. The more that pro-life voices give their consent to the murder of unborn children conceived in rape, the more they reveal that the only thing distinguishing them from a president who doesn't want his daughters <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpWOYWIWVcg" target="_blank">punished with a baby</a> is that they're fine with that form of punishment, as long as the girl deserves it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daz1frOrDNMGL6zfNXLNKiEV9v8N9mHXG6nwULdZtRVhkgRqQUEH7InJdHnqrtFFLLWT7nIFwe8oU1hWCSaARt3sc81M-Ne12Q2tuh7I4Z6bw5N865a1eFg0dw-vqpzFyQVBUm9CX04/s1600/Unborn+Baby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3daz1frOrDNMGL6zfNXLNKiEV9v8N9mHXG6nwULdZtRVhkgRqQUEH7InJdHnqrtFFLLWT7nIFwe8oU1hWCSaARt3sc81M-Ne12Q2tuh7I4Z6bw5N865a1eFg0dw-vqpzFyQVBUm9CX04/s400/Unborn+Baby.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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But we don't oppose abortion because women should have to lie in the beds they've fornicated in. We don't oppose abortion out of judgment. We oppose it out of mercy, out of the desire to defend the weakest among us, to protect those who have no strength or power or influence. We oppose abortion because a human's life begins at conception, and because, from that very moment, he deserves the same rights that you and I have, both the right to live in safety as a citizen of this nation, and the right to hear the saving Word of God that gives peace to those who were at war with God from the moment egg and sperm first combined.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So please pray. Pray that Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals may see that we have no greater treasure than the lives of those who haven't even made a bump in their mother's bellies yet and that we have no greater duty than to defend their existence. Pray that God may soon provide doctors a way of taking children out of the wombs of mothers who would otherwise have them aborted and into the wombs of mothers who will cherish and love them and weep tears of joy on the days they are born. And pray that those who have picketed outside of abortion clinics and those who have utilized the services inside may both turn from their sins and trust in the saving blood of Jesus Christ that never runs dry.</div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-79160909880458219812012-08-07T09:23:00.002-07:002012-08-07T09:23:56.252-07:00Burying a Church<br />
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<i>An anonymous friend wrote this article and asked me to publish it here.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>This brother is not alone in his struggles. And while I believe it's meet, right, and salutary for a pastor to feel a sorrowful sting every time he looks down from the pulpit and sees that no nursing children or newlywed couples have taken the seats of the saints he's been burying, he ought not feel like a failure.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>When we look at a congregation of senior citizens who cling too tightly to the past with one hand and perhaps not tightly enough to the Word with the other, we see something to disdain. </i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>But this is not what Christ sees. Rather, Christ sees a flock of wrinkled sheep that He will never cease to feed and love and defend, a collection of saints that He is still preserving with His life, even when all five of our senses tell us that death has already consumed them.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<i>So no matter many times you've received no response when you've commanded Lazarus to arise, and no matter how hoarse you've grown from calling out his name, keep shouting. You do not speak this word in vain. And Christ will continue to bring life and resurrection through your lips that preach and your hands that baptize and commune.</i></div>
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<i><br /></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzoTLvgXWqfrCjO84XrKjA5AjFTq7DwEHhZnv89M6L0Ntz7R0fP54nnSmeSNDWupjlvXx0S2oQOzbOANq2rPYxLum367xmKrNaenb0Crell4U32qe51TgoCjLY73eQzCS-w7dTJurRI0/s1600/crumbled+church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzoTLvgXWqfrCjO84XrKjA5AjFTq7DwEHhZnv89M6L0Ntz7R0fP54nnSmeSNDWupjlvXx0S2oQOzbOANq2rPYxLum367xmKrNaenb0Crell4U32qe51TgoCjLY73eQzCS-w7dTJurRI0/s400/crumbled+church.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
Burying a Church</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;">
by an anonymous Lutheran pastor</div>
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<br /></div>
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Once, my wife told me that she thought that my strength
as a pastor was comforting the bereaved, preaching at funerals, burying the
dead. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I was angry with her for saying that. But she said that she meant it as a
compliment. “That’s probably the hardest
thing for a pastor to do,” was something like what she said.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Burying people is probably near the top of the list of
things I have done consistently and successfully as a pastor. </div>
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<br /></div>
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On a given year I usually confirm around one, two, or
three adolescents. I may confirm or
receive by affirmation of faith about as many adults. I baptize around 8 babies, most of which are
the grandchildren of members who don’t live nearby or the children of members
who don’t attend Divine Service more than a few times a year. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But I bury between 20 and 25 people every year. About two people a month. My work among the living is like a civil war
officer trying to keep his command from routing, trying to get them to advance,
to keep advancing. But ground is lost
every day. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
My work among the dead and the mourners is a constant
labor during which I am largely isolated from the congregation, preaching to
family members who are alienated from the church or who have forsaken the
Lutheran church for communions that still seem to win victories.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Burying the dead often seems to be my real work, that and
caring for those for whom death is now a houseguest. Preaching and teaching to
those who are still healthy feels like preaching to the deaf, or like saying,
“Lazarus, come forth!” and he
doesn’t. Or like a ghost preaching to a
congregation of ghosts. Trying to work
with the congregation’s leaders to administrate feels often like the restless
movements of the bedridden—not only on their part but mine. So much not only of what the congregation
wants, but also of what I want—perhaps it is vain. We think we are living and we can make things
happen. We feel like it is our
responsibility.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One of the reasons why it is possible to comfort the
bereaved and to comfort the dying is because I do not feel as though I am
responsible to stop it. With a
congregation it is different. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When I first arrived at the congregation I was confident
that I could get people fired up and working together. That’s poor theology, but theology is easily
diverted or diluted by what we want and what we need—what I would be more quick
to call “idolatry” in the face of congregational criticism.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Six years in, I feel utterly powerless and mostly
exhausted. You try to rally the troops
and lead some charges, not realizing that many of the troops have been on many
charges and are too tired to do it anymore.
But a few go with you, maybe against their better judgment. Probably as many more want you to fail. And the mass don’t pay any attention.</div>
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<br /></div>
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After awhile, you can’t do it anymore. The politics within the congregation continues. The numbers decline in church and
school. There’s no time to go after the
sheep who are never join the rest of the flock by the pulpit and the altar. There are no volunteers to help give rides to
church or check on why others aren’t attending.
They’re overwhelmed with the inroads the enemy makes into their areas of
responsibility—their children, grandchildren, sick parents and spouses.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And yet—the death of a congregation can be averted—can’t
it? Should we always chalk it up to
God’s hidden will? Or does God sometimes
allow the congregation to decline because He wants His congregation to seek
Him? He hides Himself, desiring to be
sought? He wants the congregation to
examine herself, to fast and pray for the lost sheep, to listen attentively
again to His Word? “In their distress
they shall earnestly seek me…” Where is that verse?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Even with dying people we counsel them to accept God’s
will as coming from the hand of a gracious Father. “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave
Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all
things?” Yet we also do not stop praying
for the recovery of the dying—if it is God’s will. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Often with the elderly it isn’t easy to know what to pray
for, particularly if they’ve been suffering a long time. And yet, I’ve seen families who—with good
intentions, out of love—keep telling a dying family member, “It’s okay,
grandma…it’s okay to go see Jesus now.”
But they don’t realize that sometimes it is not okay; it’s not because
grandma doesn’t want to go. She’s wanted
to go for days or weeks; she is tired of the pain. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
But God is not ready yet.
He says, “No”. But we keep
telling grandma it is alright to go now, as though grandma decides when she
lives and dies.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Because death is inevitable, we don’t want our loved ones
to have to keep fighting it forever. But
burying a church? It’s different. There are young people and old people in a
church. There are those who are tired
and those in the midst of their years; and there are children and infants from
whose lips God has ordained praise, to silence the foe and the avenger.</div>
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<br /></div>
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One member of the congregation, I’ve heard, seems to want
the congregation to die. “Why don’t you just let it die in peace!” he’s supposedly said. </div>
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<br /></div>
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This often angers me.
But we’re in different places.
I’m 35 and this is the first congregation I’ve served. This person is 80 something. This person has had enough and no longer has
the energy to keep leading charges. Even
though I’m worn out, if I was convinced it would accomplish something and I
could get anyone to come with, I could probably lead scores more charges. Let’s paint this! Let’s convert that! Let’s show mercy here! Let’s study this!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
But if I get this tired at 35, I can only imagine how I’ll
feel at 85. I would not give an 85 year
old a guilt trip for not wanting to endure radiation treatments or
chemotherapy. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
But a congregation doesn’t exist only for 80 year olds,
even if they are the majority. What
about the 35 year olds? What about the
20 year old mothers in the projects up the streets, and the 7 year olds with no
father who don’t know the gospel of Jesus Christ? What about the children who are the age of my
son? They are the ones who are going to
have to come of age in a country in which the wealth and power we enjoyed have
become ruins. They are going to see the
collapse of the great tower of Babel built by our great grandfathers, where the
church and the Greeks and the Romans were built together in a great city that
housed Bach’s music and Luther’s
theology as well as Thomas Jefferson and Robespierre and Nietzsche and
Freud. All of that is going to be a ruin
by the time my son is older. It is already
becoming a ruin. But then the barbarians
will be scavenging marble from the aqueducts to build fortifications and
vandalizing the statues of Apollo.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s easy to preach the pure Gospel at a funeral and say,
“Your mother doesn’t have to lead anymore charges. She rests with Jesus.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
What about for a congregation that wants to die, that
wants to be able to die and say, “It was inevitable. It couldn’t be helped. The neighborhood was bad. The old people were bad. The school was bad. The pastor was bad.”?</div>
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<br /></div>
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How can a congregation want to die? “Why will you die, O house of Israel?” “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Much of the congregation wants to die. Or doesn’t want to avert it’s death. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Because death is upon it.
Sennacherib is surrounding the city.
But no one humbles himself before the Lord. The church does not pray and fast or weep in
dust and ashes. The congregation does
not rouse itself and seek the word of God.
It wants the good days to come back, and if they won’t come back, then
nothing is worth working for or saving.
Let our children live in the ruins like owls in the wilderness.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
But I think there’s a problem with my preaching and
theology, too. I scold the congregation,
as though the dead could raise themselves.
Or as though the lame could strengthen their own wobbly knees. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
There may still be time left, but the congregation is no
more able to contribute something to its own healing than the mourners are able
to comfort themselves. Mourners try to
do that a lot. They invent false
comforts. “He’s in a better place,” is
the one we hear most frequently. The
funeral homes print stupid poems up on cards: “When you stand at my grave, do
not weep. I am not there. I do not sleep.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
The first task is to take those away without giving the
impression that you’re sadistic and you hate them (if possible.) But it can be done, if there is
compassion. Because no one really
believes the stupid poems.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Probably this has been one of my gravest sins in the
ministry—that I foolishly preached and acted as though the congregatio<a href="" name="_GoBack">n had any resources to effect its own repentance. Or as if I had them.</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
No, neither the
minister nor the congregation has the resources to prevent its death. Repentance
and renewal in faith and the continued existence of the congregation are in
God’s power alone. All of the three
depend on His will alone. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
Perhaps I should pray,
“Lord, grant the congregation repentance and spiritual renewal. And grant me to preach Your Word rightly, so
that I don’t act as if our salvation is in our own hands. And if it pleases You, let the congregation
continue to proclaim Your Word and Your mercy to the next generation.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;">
It would probably be a
good thing if my pastoral work among the congregation took lessons from my work
among the dead.</div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-19242882068738337732012-06-25T07:26:00.002-07:002012-06-25T07:31:33.237-07:00The Devil and ULC<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr76NpJtdOO0K2mr11eka6etHMumXIEZywlB5ucQmGo3o7iNGeBwA8cSmQmz-M4EWEYOPHOeB0935FPnGKiXU-2Q8931rYi6MxREoS_Y7OuvSCRn5LiOX6FideCN8dZD7P1jjINGTnSnE/s1600/ULC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr76NpJtdOO0K2mr11eka6etHMumXIEZywlB5ucQmGo3o7iNGeBwA8cSmQmz-M4EWEYOPHOeB0935FPnGKiXU-2Q8931rYi6MxREoS_Y7OuvSCRn5LiOX6FideCN8dZD7P1jjINGTnSnE/s400/ULC.jpg" width="300" /></a> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is the sanctuary of University Lutheran Chapel. This is the place where the Bridegroom cleansed and sanctified His bride. This is the place where the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. This is the place where the Good Shepherd fed His sheep with salvation.<br />
<br />
And those things will no longer happen in this place because the Board of Directors of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's Minnesota South District took this place away from the pastor who was feeding with that salvation and the congregation who was feasting on that salvation in order to pay for a program that, no matter how well intentioned, is not the Church, not the forgiveness of sins, not salvation.<br />
<br />
So the devil rejoices in this picture. He rejoices because he now has another little chunk of this world where the preaching of the Gospel will not pierce his eardrums. He rejoices because he was able to deceive those elected to lead a collection of believers that they were somehow serving Christ and His Christians by taking away the place where Christ made and sustained Christians. The devil rejoices in this picture because he has never once triumphed over the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood, but his bedroom wall is covered with the busts of programs and movements and methodologies that he slaughtered without breaking a sweat.<br />
<br />
The devil rejoices in this picture. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
But the devil is already defeated, already a gory, twitching mess lying on the ground, his skull shattered beneath the weight of Christ's cross. <br />
<br />
And because of this Christ and His cross, because of the Bridegroom's union with His bride, because of the Good Shepherd's love for His sheep, University Lutheran Chapel will go on. She will continue to receive Christ's salvation, continue being brought back to life through His word, continue being washed in His waters, continue feasting on His body and blood.<br />
<br />
No matter how long she wanders in the wilderness without a home, no matter where she eventually settles, and no matter how hard the devil rages against her, Christ will continue crushing the head of the serpent with His once dead but now living foot.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span class="text John-16-1" id="en-ESV-26716"><span class="woj">I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.</span></span> <span class="text John-16-2" id="en-ESV-26717"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum"></sup>They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.</span></span> <span class="text John-16-3" id="en-ESV-26718"><span class="woj">And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.</span></span> <span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj">But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.</span></span></i></div>
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<span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj">So says our Lord in the Gospel of John, the sixteenth chapter. </span></span></div>
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<span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj">And so, to Pastor David Kind, and to all my brothers and sisters at University Lutheran Chapel, rejoice. In the midst of your tears, rejoice that you have been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ. Rejoice that your faithfulness was great enough to capture the full attention of the devil. And rejoice that the wicked foe will never defeat you because Jesus Christ your Lord will never stop defending you, never stop loving you, never stop feeding you with His forgiveness, life and salvation.</span></span><i><span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj"></span></span></i><br />
<i><span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj"><br /></span></span></i><br />
<i><span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj"><br /></span></span></i><br />
<i><span class="text John-16-4" id="en-ESV-26719"><span class="woj">For more information on the ULC tragedy, <a href="http://www.ulcmn.org/Files/Pages/SaveULC.html" target="_blank">click here</a>.</span></span></i></div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-82527177857268385002012-05-10T09:32:00.002-07:002012-05-10T09:32:09.649-07:00On the Ceasing of Tongues<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Za-2OkE0BVk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
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I try to avoid commenting on my Lutheran Satire videos on YouTube. There are two reasons for this:</div>
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1. YouTube comments have a character limit, which makes discussing theology rather difficult.</div>
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2. YouTube comments don't show up in order, so it's very difficult to keep track of a conversation.</div>
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By and large, this isn't a problem, since there isn't much gold in the comments section, either way. Most of the supportive comments are not much more than cheer-leading, which, don't get me wrong, I greatly appreciate. And negative comments generally sound like the ramblings of wild haired anabaptists in straight jackets. So there's not much point in responding anyway.</div>
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But every once in a while, someone posts a comment that I believe deserves a bit of a thoughtful response. And I think these words, from YouTube user <span class="author "><a class="yt-user-name " dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Ph33rsPhun">Ph33rsPhun</a> certainly do:</span></div>
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<i>Just referring to the debates aspect of saying 1 Corinthians 13:8 has
already occurred, because knowledge is also a part of what is going to
pass away in 13:8. I suspect Paul was saying that when Christ comes
again, prophesies, knowledge and tongues will pass away, but Love will
not pass away. It seems quite a stretch to insert that tongues has
passed away but knowledge has not. Note: I'm not defending the theology
of speaking in tongues, just addressing the scriptural argument.</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzacS1FGNWih6NA_t7_8Iq-_-cRqxDe_1wmRkt4ExKUAgtL6CQkdmJuyN8oVA88RRw2gZvF-Hx_jRqGzxNljGPx2PmzYDXx6K4u1FhdC8r_ugGdbD-fPOAWMZf0qlUTOkNkaH1oX_H0Y/s1600/Reedr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRzacS1FGNWih6NA_t7_8Iq-_-cRqxDe_1wmRkt4ExKUAgtL6CQkdmJuyN8oVA88RRw2gZvF-Hx_jRqGzxNljGPx2PmzYDXx6K4u1FhdC8r_ugGdbD-fPOAWMZf0qlUTOkNkaH1oX_H0Y/s400/Reedr.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>
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A stretch you say, good friend? A STRETCH?!?!?!?!?! Let me assure you, there's not a drop of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Richards" target="_blank">Reed Richards</a>' cosmically radiated DNA up in this Lutheran exegetical house. Which I shall prove to you. So let's break down some 1 Corinthians 13.</div>
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First off, I'm not asserting that tongues have passed away but knowledge has not. I'm asserting that they both have. </div>
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<i><span class="text 1Cor-13-8" id="en-ESV-28657">Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.</span></i></div>
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If you look at the full context of chapters 12-14, it's clear that the <i>knowledge </i>Paul refers to here is the same direct revelation, stuff-you-only-know-about-God-because-He-told-You-directly-kind-of-knowledge that he mentions in chapter 12, when he lists off the various charismatic gifts, saying:</div>
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<i><span class="text 1Cor-12-8" id="en-ESV-28626">For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,</span> <span class="text 1Cor-12-9" id="en-ESV-28627"><sup class="versenum">9 </sup>to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,</span> <span class="text 1Cor-12-10" id="en-ESV-28628"><sup class="versenum">10 </sup>to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.</span></i></div>
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So when Paul states in 13:8 that prophecy, tongues and knowledge will cease, he's using these three terms to encompass all the charismatic gifts. </div>
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And not only does Paul tell us <i>that </i>these charismatic gifts will one day be gone. <span class="text 1Cor-13-8" id="en-ESV-28657">He also tells us <i>when </i>they'll be gone, saying:</span></div>
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<i><span class="text 1Cor-13-9" id="en-ESV-28658"><sup class="versenum">9 </sup>For we know in part and we prophesy in part,</span> <span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-ESV-28659"><sup class="versenum">10 </sup>but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. </span></i></div>
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-ESV-28659">This is perhaps a minor point, but I would argue, as Dr. Douglas Judisch has before me, that the Greek words here translated as <i>perfect </i>and <i>partial </i>would be better translated as <i>complete </i>and <i>incomplete. </i></span><span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-ESV-28659">So, as Paul tells the Corinthians, t</span><span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-ESV-28659">ongues and all the other charismatic gifts are taking place in this <i>incomplete </i>era, but they will cease to take place in the <i>complete </i>era. So what is the <i>complete </i>thing? When does this <i>complete </i>era begin?</span></div>
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-10" id="en-ESV-28659">Many, such as </span><span class="author "><a class="yt-user-name " dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Ph33rsPhun">Ph33rsPhun</a>, seem to be under the impression that this complete thing is the return of Christ on the last day and that the complete era is when all believers are taken into His kingdom. It's understandable how one would draw that conclusion, but it's still wrong. Here's why:</span></div>
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<i><span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-ESV-28662"><sup class="versenum">13 </sup>So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.</span></i></div>
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-ESV-28662">So, when this complete thing arrives, prophecy, tongues and knowledge will be gone, but faith, hope and love will still be hanging around</span><i><span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-ESV-28662">.</span></i></div>
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-ESV-28662">Will there be love in the heavenly kingdom? You betcha.</span></div>
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<span class="text 1Cor-13-13" id="en-ESV-28662">But will there be faith and hope? Heck no. Because </span><i><span class="text Heb-11-1">faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen<b> (Hebrews 11:1).</b></span></i></div>
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<span class="text Heb-11-1">And when Jesus is seen, faith and hope give way to sight. This is, after all, why those unbelievers who want to turn to Christ on the Last Day will find that it's too late. Faith and hope in a Jesus who is standing right in front of you, in all His glorified glory, ain't no faith or hope at all.</span></div>
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<span class="text Heb-11-1">So the charismatic gifts will cease before Christ's return, which is something that Zechariah also points out, stating in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=zechariah%2013&version=ESV" target="_blank">chapter 13</a> (how fitting!) of his book that, one day, you will be able to spot a false prophet simply by his claim to be a prophet, a claim he will still have time to repent of. Which wouldn't be possible on the last day.</span></div>
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<span class="text Heb-11-1">So, then, what is this <i>complete </i>thing?</span></div>
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<span class="text Heb-11-1">It's the <i>completion</i>, the <i>fulness </i>of apostolic revelation. In other words, it's the New Testament.</span></div>
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It's important to remember that, when Paul writes these words, not all of the New Testament has been written. And even that which has been was not widely available (or available at all) to most Christians. So, if a congregation wanted to know what to believe about the resurrection, but the explicit teachings of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015&version=ESV" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 15</a> hadn't been written yet, what were they to do? Or if a bunch of divorce happy pagan converts needed to be rebuked for their sin, but their congregation didn't have access to Christ's words in <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2019%20&version=ESV" target="_blank">Matthew</a>, how did God solve that problem? When those Christians looked in a mirror and couldn't see a clear picture of what they were to be and to believe, how did God address that incomplete reflection they were seeing?</div>
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Through the charismatic gifts. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMMDCKpCSbkNnA1wA5yMLSXzOsjhfCEhXunlKdl1dujTQS8N4NYSu2ceV51bYoWk8aibW9zZhmozFfF4qcHSwj8u9EelhaEjhCG4UXLemxmowMWa9fyFW69uh4EGlkTXZLIRUJ2IHsyY/s1600/Dead+Sea+Scrolls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHMMDCKpCSbkNnA1wA5yMLSXzOsjhfCEhXunlKdl1dujTQS8N4NYSu2ceV51bYoWk8aibW9zZhmozFfF4qcHSwj8u9EelhaEjhCG4UXLemxmowMWa9fyFW69uh4EGlkTXZLIRUJ2IHsyY/s400/Dead+Sea+Scrolls.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So God would give people the gift of tongues, where He put His Word directly into people's mouths. And He would give others the ability to interpret those tongues so that the assembly could understand what God was saying and believe it. Likewise, God gave the gift of prophecy, of direct revelation, so that those who received it could speak it to the Church and the Church could know better and more clearly who God was. That's why Paul says, in chapter 14, that <i>the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. </i>And God also gave the gift of testing the Spirits so that the Church would not be deceived by those who would falsely prophesy. And surrounding all of this, God gave the gifts of healing on command and miracles, so that doubters would see that the proclamation coming from those who possessed these others gifts should be heeded.</div>
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So God gave the charismatic gifts to fill in the blank spots until He permanently filled in those spots with the writings of the Apostles. As Paul himself said about these charismatic gifts, <i><span class="text 1Cor-13-11" id="en-ESV-28660">when I was a child, I
spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.</span></i> So, in other words, these charismatic gifts were for the Church in her infancy stage. They were milk. But now that the Church has grown up, through receiving the fulness of the Scriptures, we have moved on to meat. Quite simply, we have the Bible. We no longer need the charismatic gifts. And that's why they have ceased.</div>
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And history backs up this interpretation. Because, after the death of the apostles, there were no claims to the charismatic gifts within the orthodox Christian community. After approximately 100 AD, there simply has been no charismatic presence in the Christian Church, Sacraments-denying early 20th century holiness weirdos notwithstanding.</div>
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So, in summary, the Bible said that the charismatic gifts would go away when the Scriptures were fully written. And when that happened, the charismatic gifts did exactly that. Their purpose disappeared and the gifts disappeared with it. And those who claim to have these gifts today are either deceived or lying.</div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-46418941945230507602012-04-24T11:39:00.002-07:002012-04-24T12:50:05.401-07:00A Lutheran Manifesto<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BAuoCKMd__6zth-2l9HnFknJtdNOq_ls6fIT7Sc0OIWB5xm2c5fZ3Fm5MmC9umcZ4xl5pzLrQ7eJdh5PtwVFugVzDj1LENQA45wzdzPDYPz-Ek-7TM8IwwevlhpONz8X2naAJreMAGs/s1600/british-soldiers-fighting-in-trenches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1BAuoCKMd__6zth-2l9HnFknJtdNOq_ls6fIT7Sc0OIWB5xm2c5fZ3Fm5MmC9umcZ4xl5pzLrQ7eJdh5PtwVFugVzDj1LENQA45wzdzPDYPz-Ek-7TM8IwwevlhpONz8X2naAJreMAGs/s400/british-soldiers-fighting-in-trenches.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I am a soldier in the worship wars. Though I've only been a pastor for a few years, I have already lobbed countless bombs at those who seek to pervert our confession of faith. Though I am but a lowly grunt, I have fired innumerable rounds at those who attempt to inject our fonts and pulpits and altars with the poison of Calvin and Zwingli.</div>
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And as I look at my fellow soldiers, as I survey the men burrowed in the Confessional trenches with me, I must admit that the deadliest wounds and the deepest scars we bear are not the result of the enemy's attacks. They are nothing more than self-inflicted carnage, the result of our collective frustration and exhaustion, the fruit of giving into our anger and pride and hatred and becoming exactly what the enemy has portrayed us to be in their vilest propaganda. </div>
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And it's time for this to stop. It's time for a strategy change. It's time to fight the worship wars by putting down our guns and picking up our megaphones. It's time to fight the worship wars by leaving the Pseudo-Lutherans with no one left to deceive.</div>
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In our nation, in 21st century America, there is no culture of Lutheranism. The world around us does not know who we are and what we believe. <span style="text-align: justify;">While your average American is highly ignorant of the basic teachings of the numerous religious groups in the world, his ignorance of Lutheranism is far greater than his ignorance of most other Christian-ish groups. Here is a table to illustrate my point:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV45wGXcKcgbriZXM80hGyMhDwl7iIb1-sj5JQ4SVXLFZHSytPDcyfPZ_EJxYtmu8CNGonE0z3sXqhNfrtVIfR3I92jTJ5HtJAksZmL-eaZjzprm95CiDQO6fuZW1aDjMB2onFj1fG9IA/s1600/Catholics+Evangelicals+Lutherans+Chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV45wGXcKcgbriZXM80hGyMhDwl7iIb1-sj5JQ4SVXLFZHSytPDcyfPZ_EJxYtmu8CNGonE0z3sXqhNfrtVIfR3I92jTJ5HtJAksZmL-eaZjzprm95CiDQO6fuZW1aDjMB2onFj1fG9IA/s640/Catholics+Evangelicals+Lutherans+Chart.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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A phony Romanist can't trick the world into believing that the <a href="http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012204160317" target="_blank">Catholic Church has women priests</a> because the world knows better. A false Evangelical can't convince people that his community cherishes the Word and Sacraments because everything else those people have ever seen tells them that the real marks of his church are Starbucks and soul patches. But, with a slate as blank as ours, a Pseudo-Lutheran can get away with pretty much anything.</div>
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And he will get away with pretty much anything until we teach the world who we are, until we teach our children and friends and neighbors to know what a Lutheran looks like and sounds like. And if we want to fill in that blank Lutheran slate, we won't do it by expending all our energy firing shots at the rebels. We won't do it by out-politicking the opposition at the synodical convention. We won't do it by mocking our enemies in secret rooms, in between puffs of cigars and sips of fine scotch. And we won't do it by sniping at the other side from a nest woven together with confessional message boards and blog posts.</div>
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No. If we want to stop the false teachers in our midst from digging their fingers into the toilets of <a href="http://willowcreek.org/" target="_blank">Willow Creek</a> and passing off their findings as compatible with the Book of Concord, then we must teach the people around us to recognize the lie of evangelical form and Lutheran substance. And in order to teach them to recognize that lie, then, when it comes to those who sell it, we must out-confess them, out-proclaim them, out-evangelize them, out-outreach them. We must simply out-work them, both inside and outside of our congregations.</div>
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So when they sing vague, meaningless, mantra-driven,spiritualistic blech, we sing the best of our hymns and we sing them right in the face of the word. We pour those hymns out in concert halls, in youtube videos, at our dinner tables and anywhere else we can fit them until the world knows what Lutheran music sounds like and knows that Lutheran music doesn't sound like a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he32vwlKQPY" target="_blank">horrible, husky voiced U2 sound alike</a>.</div>
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When they teach purpose-driven poppycock, we teach Law and Gospel and we teach this to any set of ears we can find in this world. We teach it, with the aid of the internet, to people starving for the Gospel halfway across the country and on the other side of the world. We teach it in conversations with our friends. We teach it to our neighbors when a couple of Mormons come knocking on their door and we insert ourselves into the discussion in order to show them that our Gospel is so awesome it just swallowed Joseph Smith's gospel in one bite and crapped it out the other end.</div>
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When they teach their youth to talk like hipster-evangelicals, we teach our youth to talk like Lutherans. We brand the Catechism into their memories. We give them the vocabulary of the Scriptures. And we train them to know their theology so well that the pastors of the other churches in town secretly hope their youth group members don't bring any of their Lutheran friends to the next Bible study, lest another 14 year old respond to their denial of baptismal regeneration by tearing them apart in a fury of theological evisceration so bloody it would make Quentin Tarantino nauseous.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5ZIcJKYjRgpHgPW5U2RD-gLB749TESgqrEb5WRGHHsO3jbDCkw6kNeX-scfxgXesn2ZYjSqFvJOCxB6byaTQ0vJpbgvaBVvFikKHglWDVIHMSVA7zhcpO_fByGySOs64CtU-CXFLcm4/s1600/homeless-people.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5ZIcJKYjRgpHgPW5U2RD-gLB749TESgqrEb5WRGHHsO3jbDCkw6kNeX-scfxgXesn2ZYjSqFvJOCxB6byaTQ0vJpbgvaBVvFikKHglWDVIHMSVA7zhcpO_fByGySOs64CtU-CXFLcm4/s400/homeless-people.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And when they embark on gimmicky outreach programs riddled with a theology of glory and a denial of original sin, we respond by reaching out further with our hands filled with big, fat chunks of Lutheran bread. So when they build sleek websites that boast of their faithfulness to God, we build equally sleek websites that make it very clear to people in half a second that Lutherans aren't interested in marketing themselves but in confessing Christ and His forgiveness. When they build coffee shops for seekers where one can learn how to have a proactive faith walk, we build shelters for the needy where sinners can say to themselves, <i>man, when those Lutherans feed me and clothe me and care for me and pray with me and talk with me, they don't tell me about how my suffering will be gone if I just believe more or trust more or obey more. Instead, they tell me about Jesus and His love for me in the midst of my suffering, even as they're trying to take my suffering away.</i></div>
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So this is what we do. When the Pseudo-Lutherans speak, we speak louder to our friends and neighbors. When they yell, we shout to the public. When they shout, we scream to the world. And we don't stop screaming until God gives us what we need-a culture of Lutheranism, a world where people who have never even set foot in one of our churches know what a Lutheran looks like and sounds like, and a world where people understand that the only reason a Lutheran doesn't preach or teach or worship or act like a Lutheran is because he's not a Lutheran. </div>
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So we can either spend the rest of our lives firing on an enemy we'll never hit, or we can let him shoot himself in the foot by letting the world call into question his doctrine and practice. We can either keep piercing ourselves with our own ricocheted bullets, or we can teach the world to walk away from that enemy when he tries to sell them a Lutheranism that isn't real.</div>
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I've already torn my flesh apart enough doing the former. It's time to try the latter.</div>
</div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-78953770807818884302012-02-13T15:24:00.000-08:002012-02-13T15:24:35.932-08:00What Oscar could learn from Grammy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://static.webdunia.com/mwdimages/thumbnail/image/izizi//mywebdunia/UserData/DataF/funfair/images/oscar_statue_award.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://static.webdunia.com/mwdimages/thumbnail/image/izizi//mywebdunia/UserData/DataF/funfair/images/oscar_statue_award.jpg" width="260" /></a></div>
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<i>Disclaimer: Every post I've ever written to this point deals with theology. This post does not deal with theology at all. It deals with movies, which I love almost as much as I love theology. The only reason I'm posting it here is because I couldn't think of anywhere else to post it, except as a note on facebook. But that would have been lame.</i></div>
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Unless your name is Colin Firth or Natalie Portman, the 83rd Academy Awards left a really bad taste in your mouth. Producers seeking to reach a younger demographic selected fresh-faced actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host the program, and the result was generally viewed as disastrous-a tedious, rambling mess of a program that dropped 10% in ratings from the year before and was labeled as the worst ceremony ever by 57% of responders to a Fox News poll.</div>
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Producers of the 84th Academy Awards, which will take place on February 26 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, are obviously hoping not just for a ratings recovery from last years debacle, but for a genuine viewership boost as well. And in order to accomplish this, they've turned to Oscars legend Billy Crystal, who will be returning to host the show for the ninth time.</div>
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But as great as Crystal will surely be, the most his presence at the Oscars will accomplish is dramatically improving the twenty or so minutes throughout the four hour show where the host is featured. To use a cinematic analogy, using Billy Crystal to improve the Oscars is like sprinkling a handful of clips from the original <i>Star Wars </i>into <i>The Phantom Menace</i>. Just like with <i>Episode I</i>, the real problems with last year's (and virtually every other year's) Academy Awards are much deeper. And if the producers wish to solve those problems, they'd be best served not by looking to Billy Crystal for salvation, but by looking to the Grammy Awards for inspiration.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGxn3e4UwZnIX_LoNKr690gLteOBwWJb7CaPEZH7-w-wR55toNiTBA0iLt9ntcKebtU9bbpgS4W8gz91Aynd5eucJjPSQ3A2zmAlzdOhi35Zeq8PUBbVek-oP3CmTNdG3ra6DzsAJoLY/s1600/Bjork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAGxn3e4UwZnIX_LoNKr690gLteOBwWJb7CaPEZH7-w-wR55toNiTBA0iLt9ntcKebtU9bbpgS4W8gz91Aynd5eucJjPSQ3A2zmAlzdOhi35Zeq8PUBbVek-oP3CmTNdG3ra6DzsAJoLY/s400/Bjork.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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I recognize that it's a bit of a strange thing to say. The Oscars are a highly polished production, with far more pretty and far less weird than the Grammys, Bjork's swan dress notwithstanding. And there are plenty of things that the Grammys do horribly, horribly wrong. Like not locking Nicki Minaj in her dressing room after yesterday's dress rehearsal. </div>
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But as goofy as the Grammys can be, there are a few things they get absolutely, positively right. And if the Oscars would follow suit, their ceremony would improve dramatically, both in terms of ratings and in terms of sheer audience enjoyment. Here are two of those things.</div>
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Thing 1: Don't give out so many awards in the televised ceremony.</div>
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Question: What do <span class="entry">Mikhail Gorbachev, Hillary Clinton and Tia Carrere have in common?</span></div>
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<span class="entry">Answer: They're all Grammy winners, for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, Best Spoken Word Album and Best Hawaiian Music Album respectively.</span></div>
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<span class="entry">Would you like to know why you didn't know that? Because they don't give out those awards during the televised ceremony. And would you like to know why they don't give out those awards during the televised ceremony? Because nobody cares who wins these awards.</span></div>
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<span class="entry">And nobody cares who wins Best Sound Editing or Best Original Non-Acoustic Score for a Documentary-Short Subject either. So do what the Grammys do. Give out those trophies at another ceremony, and reserve the big awards (acting, writing, music, directing, maybe cinematography, and certainly best picture) for the televised one. Do this and you'll cut out about two hours of intolerable filler. Those two hours can be replaced with some kind of content that normal human beings actually find entertaining (see below) or they can just be subtracted from the show altogether and we can all get to bed at a reasonable hour.</span></div>
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<span class="entry">Thing 2: Have the nominees show us why they were nominated for something in the first place.</span></div>
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Whenever a community convenes to give itself awards, that community brings with it a noxious cloud of self-important pomposity. And if one is not a part of this community or does not desire to be a part of it, the only chance this community has to make that cloud dissipate is to convince people that these awards are being given by true artists in appreciation of true art. And the best way to do that is to let people see the people giving and receiving these awards put their art on display.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWAHH92slOvx3E6JmmXdg8QeXr2R_5hNVbYLbMG8wLcM51_ulMb63Rc9PfzYBtKltfHiFDANzCaITRmWYquSEI_bj6gc6GnpbPK0XSnQaFmrn1QyJJYSfydT3CaEibM8UXs3flkkhIB8I/s1600/Adele.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWAHH92slOvx3E6JmmXdg8QeXr2R_5hNVbYLbMG8wLcM51_ulMb63Rc9PfzYBtKltfHiFDANzCaITRmWYquSEI_bj6gc6GnpbPK0XSnQaFmrn1QyJJYSfydT3CaEibM8UXs3flkkhIB8I/s400/Adele.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Grammys get this right. Because a Grammy is an award for musicians. And when you watch the Grammys, musicians actually perform their music. For example, last night, Paul McCartney performed with a Bruce Springsteen, amongst others. And as these two Grammy winners joyfully made music together, that made the audience think, "wow, this guys really love music, and so maybe these awards are about the purity of art, and not just self-congratulation." That performance also made people think, "wow. I bet Bruce Springsteen's amp hasn't actually been turned on for the last 30 years." Likewise, Adele performed her award winning song <i>Rolling in the Deep</i> last night. And that performance made people think, "wow, what a great singer and what a great song. I can totally see how people want to give her awards for that."</div>
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But the Oscars don't do this. When you watch the Oscars, which are awards for film makers, you never see people make film. You never see writers write or directors direct or actors act (except when they act happy after losing). Even when the acting nominees are listed before giving out those awards, producers often won't show clips of the performances that are supposed to be so worthy of an award. And the only time we see fellow nominees interacting with each other is when they praise the work of the other people they totally just beat for an award, which comes across as a rather passive-aggressive form of rubbing it in, even if it's not intended that way. So the result is that the Oscars basically tell people, "what we're doing is super duper really important and worthwhile and you should totally watch us praise each other for doing that stuff, but you should just take our word for it that it's worthy of praise, since we're not actually going to show you why."</div>
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So here's the Grammy-inspired solution to this problem: Have the film makers make film. </div>
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Have each of the screenwriting nominees write a segment of the show, even if it's only a minute or two long. Have each of the directing nominees direct a short in the show-whether it's the segment for the Honorary Oscar winner of the night or that awful <i>In Memoriam</i> segment where we clap louder for some dead people than we do for others because we're super sad that they're dead and we're only a little sad that those other people are dead.</div>
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And have the actors act. In particular, have them act in pre-taped segments poking fun of their own movies. Not only does this help dissipate the noxious cloud of pomposity by showing that these folks don't take themselves too seriously, it will also make the show much, much more entertaining Think about it...you weren't that bummed when Eddie Murphy dropped out as host this year because you weren't sure that his monologue would be all that great. But if his departure meant that you would no longer get to watch a skit involving Eddie Murphy and Minnie's chocolate pie, you would be covering yourself in sackcloth and ashes for the next six months. As well you should.</div>
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So there you have it. If you want to make the Oscars better, if you want to improve the entire ceremony, beyond the few minutes that the host is cracking wise on stage, that's how you do it. If you want to ensure that the show will still be great even if the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS0-inBTfPc&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL4BB4CBBE52A300C7" target="_blank">monologue bombs</a>, it's not hard to accomplish. Cut the filler. And fill its place with the art you're praising. </div>
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<![endif]-->the moral superiority of the Academy three years after the Academy gave a
standing ovation to a guy who <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk" target="_blank">couldn't
collect his Best Director award in person </a>because he drugged and raped a 13
year old girl. Because that makes it really hard to take you seriously.</div>
<br />Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-43714476287231699262011-12-20T10:52:00.000-08:002011-12-20T11:15:47.386-08:00How Sweet It Is to Be Mocked by You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXKLOLHc51resMDvUjoev6f9RqMVn0R3okCPbs3g5Bf0Z-wBIQYKa8sjp2n5HhQquo4JdW_1GFcU92D84vkpDDznXyRr4qZKxD3QTSucPCG93g016XBvb_TTgTVGFQ2m1eEsWqcuPU_w/s1600/SNL-Tebow-Jesus-628x347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXKLOLHc51resMDvUjoev6f9RqMVn0R3okCPbs3g5Bf0Z-wBIQYKa8sjp2n5HhQquo4JdW_1GFcU92D84vkpDDznXyRr4qZKxD3QTSucPCG93g016XBvb_TTgTVGFQ2m1eEsWqcuPU_w/s640/SNL-Tebow-Jesus-628x347.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Pat Robertson is right.</div>
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My fingers still hurt from typing that, but it's true. At least in this very specific instance.</div>
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Last weekend, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_night_live" target="_blank">Saturday Night Live</a> <a href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/311565/saturday-night-live-tebow" target="_blank">aired a sketch</a> where Jesus comes to visit <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tebow" target="_blank">Tim Tebow</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Broncos" target="_blank">Denver Broncos</a>, the highlights of which were Jesus asking the Broncos QB to tone down his public displays of faith a notch and telling the rest of the Broncos that, if he's going to keep helping them win, they need to stop playing terrible football for the first three quarters of the game. </div>
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So the sketch was pretty sacrilegious concerning Christ and pretty rough on His sheep Tim Tebow. And that made televangelist (and cuckoo-bananas false prophet) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Robertson" target="_blank">Pat Robertson</a> mad. While discussing this sketch on whatever "Christian" channel he's on, Robertson <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pat-robertson-blasts-snl-tebow-skit-anti-christian-011804389.html" target="_blank">had this to say</a>:</div>
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<i>If this had been a Muslim country and they had done that, and had
Muhammad doing that stuff, you would have found bombs being thrown off!</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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Now, aside from "bombs being thrown off" not making any prepositional sense, Pat Robertson is right. Islam does not take kindly to <a href="http://landmarkreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/behead-those-who-insult-islam2.jpg" target="_blank">mockery</a>, especially <a href="http://www.zimbio.com/Kurt+Westergaard/articles/f82SjdzAPZS/Danish+Artist+Kurt+Westergaard+Nearly+Killed" target="_blank">concerning its chief prophet Mohammed</a>. And had SNL done a skit mocking the Koran, the prophet and/or Muslims the way they mocked Christianity, I'm sure that somewhere in the world, you would have found some bombs being thrown off in some form or another. So it's not as though SNL's lack of Islam-mocking sketches is born from a genuine appreciation of the religion. I sincerely doubt that the head writers at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GE_Building" target="_blank">30 Rock</a> haven't asked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Sudeikis" target="_blank">Jason Sudeikis</a> to dress up as Allah's prophet because they genuinely respect the beliefs of 1.6 billion Muslims throughout the world. Rather, any respect they give to Islam is born out of fear of violent retaliation, the same fear that caused<a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/entertainment/15063/comedy-central-censored-south-park-say-creators" target="_blank"> Comedy Central to wimp out</a> of showing a depiction of Mohammed in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park" target="_blank">South Park</a> episode a number of years ago.</div>
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And while respect born from fear may be an acceptable thing if you're <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiberius_Caesar" target="_blank">Tiberius Caesar</a>, it's not worth squat if you're a pope or a prophet or a Presbyterian. So, as Christians, the fact that we're not given the same respect as Muslims shouldn't make us angry. Instead, that should make us happy, very happy. Because that means that people view the Church precisely the way Christ said they'd view her-as something lowly and meek, something that can be mocked with impunity. It means that people expect us to do exactly what Jesus told us to do when they strike us-to turn the other cheek. </div>
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And as someone who very frequently fails to act in a Christ-like manner, it's pretty comforting to see that, somehow, the world still expects me to be exactly who Christ says I am. It's a great reminder that neither my sins nor SNL sketches can stop Jesus from being Lord of His Church.</div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-34201871539159005612011-12-02T09:35:00.001-08:002011-12-02T11:36:53.966-08:00Zach Wahls is messed up. Here's how.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FSQQK2Vuf9Q?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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I've seen this video floating around facebook quite a bit the past day or so. If you haven't seen the video, watch it. If you already have, just to refresh your memory, the YouTube video summary says exactly this: <i>Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the
strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6
in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came
to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.</i></div>
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In many of the facebook threads I've seen linking this video, those sympathetic to his cause have asked the same question.<i> How can you possibly disagree with him? </i>People want to know.<i> After watching this, how can you possibly believe that being raised by a gay couple is harmful to children?</i></div>
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Easy. By hearing what Mr. Wahls says. By merely listening to the words that come out of his lips. Because when I do that, it's quite clear that being raised by two women has, for lack of a better phrase, really messed him up. Here's how:</div>
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<br />
30 seconds into his speech, Mr. Wahls informs us that he and his younger sister are full blooded siblings because his biological mother was artificially inseminated twice with sperm from the same anonymous donor. And how does he feel about that? <i>That's something which is really cool for me</i>, he states.</div>
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So, to dial things back a bit, Mr. Wahls' biological mother wanted to be fruitful and multiply and raise her children with another woman. This, however, was problematic for her because, per the natural laws of the God who made the heavens and the earth, it takes man parts and lady parts in order to make a baby, and neither she nor her lesbian partner had such man parts.</div>
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So to remedy that problem, what did Mr. Wahls' biological mother do? She went to a sperm bank. And by doing so, however indirectly it may have been, she encouraged a man to take the precious gift of life that God put into his loins and spill it into a cup. She took the gift of fatherhood, the sacred title that our Father in Heaven blesses men to share with Him, and she mocked it. She looked at the titles <i>husband </i>and <i>father</i>, and said, <i>I don't want your love. I don't want your sacrifice. I don't want your guidance or your courage or your care or your forgiveness, and I don't want to cherish you as one flesh with me. All I want is something very specific from your sexual organs. And I'll give you money for it, if you'll agree to just go away once we're done.</i></div>
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That's what Mr. Wahls' biological mother did. She paid money to sexually humiliate another human being. She paid a man made in God's image to give her what God Himself had told her she could not have as long as she lived contrary to His law. Though she never saw this man's face, and though he may have left his "donation" willingly, she treated the father of her children like a prostitute. </div>
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And what does her son, Zach Wahls, think about all that?</div>
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<i>That's something which is really cool for me</i>.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ve7NM2h4O3Ro7tSUvJ5X8aTxwuXg4w_uCIGRfgXNqus37krIgMoYjeKFaRRVSdKhoBLfAKeYLWNZS_tgWCzTg94BzCTgvHZmNi70_5E8eI9_xEM5M8xomv8RpPXak4DWASFGq7H72B4/s1600/zach-wahls.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ve7NM2h4O3Ro7tSUvJ5X8aTxwuXg4w_uCIGRfgXNqus37krIgMoYjeKFaRRVSdKhoBLfAKeYLWNZS_tgWCzTg94BzCTgvHZmNi70_5E8eI9_xEM5M8xomv8RpPXak4DWASFGq7H72B4/s320/zach-wahls.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i style="font-family: inherit;">Th</i><i>e sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character</i>, Mr. Wahls says later in his speech. And I have no doubt that he wants that to be true. But it's not true. Because, in service of their sexual orientation, the two women who raised Mr. Wahls told him that men are entirely disposable once they've been harvested of their seed. They spent 19 years proclaiming to their son that a man's faithfulness to his offspring can be purchased for nothing more than fifty bucks and a pornographic magazine. In every day of his life, Mr. Wahls two "mommies" taught him that women have every right to humiliate men, to pimp them out, to demean and shame them if it suits their purposes. </div>
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And in the end, he believed them.</div>
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So, while Mr. Wahls may be very polite and articulate, while he may be intelligent and dignified and a million other things that nobody has ever said that children of gay couples can't be, he doesn't respect men. He doesn't value fatherhood. And he doesn't understand the horrors of glorifying yourself by shaming your neighbor. And he doesn't do those things precisely because he was raised by two women.</div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com83tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-79405567246311322192011-11-26T09:36:00.001-08:002011-11-28T16:12:28.729-08:00In Defense of Shyamalan Preaching<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gv4tlvp-JxbiwOUlc6IpOlZUjZLfvsi98GsFWqKN_Fs1uHUbukcrXed0oUwwTCBk2tcZvAzUQRIt9vDb3zRzV1hofHGNS8jZhAJ-v-nbKuRfpeM1g4bxLLxHuY6wKQqVwx5-sdbHm_s/s1600/M._Night_Shyamalan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2gv4tlvp-JxbiwOUlc6IpOlZUjZLfvsi98GsFWqKN_Fs1uHUbukcrXed0oUwwTCBk2tcZvAzUQRIt9vDb3zRzV1hofHGNS8jZhAJ-v-nbKuRfpeM1g4bxLLxHuY6wKQqVwx5-sdbHm_s/s400/M._Night_Shyamalan.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Back in 2004, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0796117/" target="_blank">M. Night Shyamalan</a> released his movie <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368447/" target="_blank">The Village</a></i>. And I went to see it because, like most of the nation at that time, I had not yet fully realized that Mr. Shyamalan was a one-trick-pony who was going to make increasingly horrible movies financed with the credit that is our increasingly begrudging continued respect for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/" target="_blank"><i>The Sixth Sense</i></a>.</div>
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This one-trick that Mr. Shyamalan rode to fame was the plot twist, especially towards the end of the movie. So, in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167404/" target="_blank">The Sixth Sense</a>, Bruce Willis was really dead the whole time. In <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217869/" target="_blank">Unbreakable</a>, Bruce Willis was really a superhero the whole time. And in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286106/" target="_blank">Signs</a>, Mel Gibson was really Bruce Willis the whole time. I think. I never actually saw Signs.</div>
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So by the time <i>The Village </i>came out, we all knew how this guy's movies worked. Something was not going to be as it seemed. Crazy twisty twists were going to happen and we would have to reevaluate everything we'd seen in the movie thus far. And, like most people in the theater that day, because I knew that a twist was coming, I immediately went into <i>The Village</i> trying to figure out what it would be.</div>
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And figure it out I did in the first five minutes. You see, the setup of <i>The Village </i>is that a bunch of old timey people are living in an old timey town and are all afraid of a bunch of monsters living in the woods. And so, before the <a href="http://screenwriting.wikia.com/wiki/Inciting_Incident" target="_blank">inciting incident</a>, I thought to myself, "oh, the twist is obviously that they're only pretending to live in old timey times and the monsters are just made up to scare the kids away from the modern world." </div>
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And once I figured that out, watching the remaining 103 minutes of <i>The Village </i>became a virtually unbearable experience. It was like having to sit on your couch for an hour and a half while all of your friends and family gathered in your room, turned off the lights, then turned them back on and shouted "happy birthday" to commence the surprise party you knew they were throwing for you the whole time.</div>
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So the moral of the story is that if your audience knows you're going to pull the rug out from underneath them, you'd better make sure that they don't know precisely how you're going to do it. At least, that's the moral of the story when it comes to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-act_structure" target="_blank">three</a> or <a href="http://andyrutter.com/5-act-structure/" target="_blank">five</a> act story structure. And that's why, in great part, M. Night Shyamalan is a really terrible filmmaker.</div>
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But when it comes to two part sermon structure, when it comes to Law and Gospel preaching, I don't think this rule applies so much. In fact, I think there's great value in being a Shyamalan preacher. Because unlike the job of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28genre%29" target="_blank">thriller</a> filmmaker, the job of a pastor isn't to take you someplace that you never imagined you'd go. His job is to take you exactly where he takes you each week: to the cross of Jesus Christ.</div>
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Look at it this way:</div>
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<a href="http://www.mnemosyne.org/mmw/fullsize/mmw_10c23_026r_min_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.mnemosyne.org/mmw/fullsize/mmw_10c23_026r_min_1.jpg" width="298" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A pastor is preaching on the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021:33-46;&version=ESV" target="_blank">Parable of the Tenants</a>. And the setup, he tells us, is that <i>we are all tenants of God's vineyard who have sinned against the ones God has sent to collect His fruit. God sent us pastors to harvest from our hearts repentance and faith by preaching the Word to us. But we abused them by refusing to turn from our sins and treating our pastors cruelly. And in doing all of this, we, as tenants of that vineyard, are guilty of having killed the Master's Son.</i></div>
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So that's the scenario that the pastor presents. That's the setup. But because the pastor preaching this is a good pastor who won't walk out of the pulpit until he preaches the forgiveness of sins, the twist comes in. <i>And yet</i>, the pastor tells us, <i>through this very same death, the Son forgives those who put Him to death. Through the blood that those wicked tenants force out of His veins, the Son erases their wickedness, undoes their despising of the preached Word and the preaching office, and gives them the right to join Him in His everlasting vineyard.</i></div>
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So who saw that coming? Who expected that twist in the story? Well, pretty much everyone who's heard this guy preach before. They know that his story isn't going to end with sin ruling the day. They know that his movie isn't going to conclude until Christ has drowned the sinner's sin in His blood. They know that the sermon won't end until the twist occurs where the sins condemned become the sins forgiven. And they know all that because that's what the pastor does every week. Just like M. Night Shyamalan in <i>The Village</i>, his writing is really predictable and anyone who's paying attention already knows where he's going long before he gets there.</div>
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And that's exactly how it should be. Because the Gospel is always different forms of the same story with the same twist and the same ending. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to the Jews when <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:29-30&version=ESV" target="_blank">John identified Christ as the Lamb</a> whose blood would cause the wrath of His Father to pass over the sins of His people because that's the plot twist they'd heard every single time they celebrated the Passover. It shouldn't have come as a shock when <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011:49-52&version=ESV" target="_blank">Caiaphas prophesied</a> that Christ's death would forgive the sins of the world since that was the big reveal that had already been revealed a bagillion times throughout the Old Testament. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%203:1-16&version=ESV" target="_blank">Nicodemus shouldn't have been caught off guard</a> at the twist that God would save people through faith in the Son of God lifted up and made into sin for them because that's exactly the same twist God used when He had Moses lift up the Bronze Serpent in the wilderness. So, to put it quite simply, if God's preaching is this predictable, ours should be too.</div>
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Granted, the same thing that happened to me when I went to see <i>The Village </i>is bound to happen when pastors preach in such a predictable manner. People will get bored, roll their eyes, and mentally check out because they already know where their pastor is going. But that's not a preaching problem. It's a listening problem. We only do that because our sinful nature will take any chance it gets to close our ears and ignore the Word of God. Boredom is perhaps the most frequently used name on Unbelief's fake ID. </div>
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But if ever a pastor encounters this reaction to the predictability of his preaching, he ought to consider it a blessing, a wonderful cross to carry, because it means that he's preached the Gospel so much that people just assume he's going to do it again. If our world is facing a dearth of good filmmaking, M. Night Shyamalan is certainly not the answer. But if our world is facing a dearth of good preaching, and it certainly is, a few more Shyamalan preachers would go pretty far in turning that around.</div>
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Peace out, cub scouts. </div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-28451701173402854632011-11-02T10:03:00.000-07:002011-11-02T10:03:15.583-07:00Save ULC! Director's Commentary<div style="text-align: justify;">
I don't have anything terribly insightful to say about this video. I suppose the best I could do is link back to <a href="http://thehighmidlife.blogspot.com/2011/04/church-buildings-and-children.html">this post</a> I wrote when this issue was first rearing its ugly head in the internet world. But aside from that, please continue to keep all those involved in your prayers. Pray that the Minnesota South District's Board of Director's may repent of breaking the <a href="http://www.cph.org/t-topic-catechism-ten.aspx">ninth commandment</a>. Pray that Christ may continue to feed His sheep through the Word and Sacrament ministry of University Lutheran Chapel. And pray that Pastor David Kind and his flock may rejoice to know that they have been counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Christ.</div>
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Also, my flock and I are <a href="http://pancakesforulc.wordpress.com/">making pancakes for ULC</a> this Sunday at 8:00 am. Anybody in the neighborhood is free to join us.</div>
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<br /></div>Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-79201655339736852182011-10-05T23:21:00.000-07:002011-10-05T23:22:32.417-07:00For Max<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk17-2gCZJFfZgbtvgAcQIHA3D1ywNv4iTW0RuG0oqIig_W9xyxKaTb5cV-By-6CPYkF4NlGlkyFBBIWuEc4LzcHomiF3B1wTCqY55wozNFoGPSOXgmaXWzugLykaHVJgeeE6djvBOd8/s1600/Resurrection_Raffaelino_del_Garbo_1510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCk17-2gCZJFfZgbtvgAcQIHA3D1ywNv4iTW0RuG0oqIig_W9xyxKaTb5cV-By-6CPYkF4NlGlkyFBBIWuEc4LzcHomiF3B1wTCqY55wozNFoGPSOXgmaXWzugLykaHVJgeeE6djvBOd8/s400/Resurrection_Raffaelino_del_Garbo_1510.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday my cousin died in a car accident. It's utterly heartbreaking for a multitude of reasons. Nonetheless, this is a sonnet I wrote for him, clinging as tightly as I can to the words of <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thessalonians+4:13&version=ESV">1 Thessalonians 4:13</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Max</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Today the wicked one approached my
eyes</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">To steal, with news of violent death,
my tears</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">His serpent stomach hungered for the
prize</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Of tasting on his tongue my liquid
fears</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And so he tossed at me this horrid word</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Of final breaths from you, my kin and
friend</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And with that word, despair in me was
stirred</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">And sorrow started flooding without
end</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But right before the foe could fill
his cup</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Your Savior claimed the tears upon my
face</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">He seized them as His own, then filled
them up</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">With promises of bloody hope and grace</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Yes, still my stream of tears for you
is long</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">But now I cry with Easter in my song</span></div>
Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-183399120970948505.post-83563336007893065852011-09-20T11:46:00.000-07:002011-09-20T11:46:31.411-07:00Overdue Director's Commentaries<div style="text-align: justify;">
Frequently, my wife tells me that I need to write on my blog more often. When she does, I tell her that I write a commentary on all of my videos, so I am usually posting at least once a week. She then says that doesn't count. I say yes it does, even though I know she's right. And because she has gradually succeeded in convincing me that writing director's commentaries on the Lutheran Satire videos isn't real writing, I've gotten behind in doing it. So if you've been upset by that, don't blame me. Blame Katie.</div>
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I love you, honey.</div>
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Anyway, I'm a few videos behind. So here's some lickedy split catching up:</div>
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1. Things Your Lutheran Pastor Totally Loves: The Feast of the 156th Fruits (Ep. 9)</div>
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So, if your congregation needs things, and you want to give your congregation those things, make sure you give nice things and not semi-toxic garbage. Otherwise you end up treating the church like a ratty hand-me-down wearing, nose picking, red-headed step brother. And that's not a good thing.</div>
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Also, on a side note, the final joke in this video is probably my favorite Lutheran Satire joke of all time. </div>
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2. ...and you lost me.</div>
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If you're a politically conservative fellow like me, and if you've ever watched those presidential debates between all those fringe third party candidates, you've probably experienced having <a href="http://www.constitutionparty.com/">the Constitution party</a> pull the rug out from underneath you. So the Constitution candidate will be talking about limited government that respects the free market and you'll think, "yeah, that's right." And then he'll display a firm grasp of economic principles that is entirely lost on most Democrats and Republicans and you'll think, "man, this guy is awesome." And then he'll give an impassioned speech about the need to defend the rights of the unborn, and you think, "dude, I'm totally becoming a member of the Constitution Party." And then he'll say, "and that's why we need to force public school teachers to lead prayers for Israel every day after the Pledge of Allegiance," and you think, "yeah! That exactly...wait, what?" This is pretty much what happens to me every time I'm ready to sign up for the High Church Guy Club that many of my dearly beloved Lutheran pastor buddies belong to.</div>
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3. The "How To" Show: How to Start a Cult (Ep. 6)</div>
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This is pretty much how the Mormons, the JW's, the Branch Davidians, etc... rolled into existence. And if you want to roll as they rolled, this is how to do it. But please don't roll as such. Because if you do, you'll probably get killed by an Illinois Militia or the United States government. Oh, and you'll also go to hell.</div>
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4. The "How To" Show: How to Have an Official Position (Ep. 7)</div>
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Lightly inspired by the cremation debate, the point of this video is that the only way to truly solve issues of controversy is: </div>
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1. To learn what God's Word says about an issue.</div>
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2. To say what God's Word says.</div>
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3. To encourage those who have adopted practices in violation of that Word to repent and receive absolution.</div>
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But when your goal is to say something that sounds sort of God-ish without offending anybody and then pretend like you've genuinely addressed the issue, you just end up with really stupid theology.</div>
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Also, for the record, I believe that spinning cats around by the tail is cruel. If you find an unwanted cat in your presence, either call your local humane society or shoot it in the face.</div>
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5. The "How To" Show: How To Be a Biblical Scholar (Ep. 8)</div>
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A few years ago, some "Biblical Scholars" got the tinglies in their tummies when <a href="http://www.physorg.com/news63367761.html">this story</a> came out, attempting a "scientific" explanation behind the miraculous story of Jesus walking on the water. "You see," these scholars said, "research shows that, occasionally, it can get cold enough for the Sea of Galilee to freeze. So what might have happened is that some water froze, and Jesus was walking on a flow of ice, and the disciples saw it and they were all like:</div>
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And so the idea got around that Jesus had miraculously walked on water because people who lived a long time ago were superstitious idiots and not smart, rational people like me. So, uh, yeah." Granted, it takes way more blind faith to believe that Jesus just happened to be around during one of the four times that it got cold enough for the Sea of Galilee to freeze, and that he somehow walked out on an ice flow without getting hypothermia or slipping and falling into the water and dying, and that his disciples were so dumb that they couldn't figure out that he was standing on that frozen water stuff. But, of course, the job of a Biblical Scholar is not to say reasonable things that are backed up with actual evidence. The job of a Biblical Scholar is to reject the Word in favor of anything else, no matter how stupid anything else may be.</div>
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And yeah, I spelled "alma mater" wrong. I tried to fix it and repost the video, but I have a stupid PC and I can't get the battery to charge anymore, so my video editing computer is dead and if it bothers you that much, send me some money to buy a Mac.</div>
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Ok. I'm caught up now. Bye.</div>
<br />Pastor Fienehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14701830939108213662noreply@blogger.com4