All Posts
| Post date | ||
|---|---|---|
| Why Does God "Allow" Suffering? | 12/16/2010 - 21:51 |
How a God of love allow us to experience so much suffering? To put that another way: (1) God is love. (2) God uses our suffering to draw us closer to Him. (3) Wouldn't it be more loving for Him to simply relieve our suffering? There are two theological points to be... |
| Feelings and Actions | 12/16/2010 - 21:37 | When dealing with abstract ideas, the key is to bring the abstractions down to earth. As long as ideas, like 'love', are floating around 'up there' or 'out there' somewhere, they various elements of the abstraction won't come together. "Love" for example has to go from being a... |
| Feelings and Actions | 12/16/2010 - 21:37 | |
| Powerful Words with Legal Definitions | 09/24/2010 - 08:49 |
It has been reported this week that another church figure is being accused of sexually abusing young members of his congregation. The "bishop" had an apartment off the back of the church with a bed which is claimed as the scene of his crimes. |
| I DO always think I'm right when I argue. | 09/22/2010 - 20:19 | Recently I was accused of always thinking I'm right in an argument. Excuse me? Why would I argue if I didn't think I was right? If I think I am wrong or even if I might be wrong about something I don't argue about it. Do you? Oh, I suppose some people will always take... |
| My Name | 08/07/2010 - 10:22 | I've never thought of "re-naming" myself. Now that I think about it, I've always accepted my name as one of those unchangable things that God made me to be: male, a preacher's kid, the third and last born of the family, etc. I've not particularly liked or disliked my... |
| "God Bless You!" | 08/06/2010 - 15:26 | Some pastors and church workers seem to feel the need to end every conversation or email with some sort of blessing: "God bless you!" "Blessings on your day!" "God bless!" or just "Blessings!" I don't really have any... |
| Future Topics | 08/06/2010 - 11:07 | This entry is more a note to myself than for anyone else. But feel free to see what other broad titles are on my mind: |
| I Need to Write | 08/06/2010 - 11:02 |
There's a lot happening behind the scenes in my work which has my mind spinning with questions and considerations. I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in at least two weeks because these things spin around in my head, keeping me from the random thoughts and dreams of sleep. |
| The Responsibility and Authority of the Pastoral Office | 08/06/2010 - 10:49 | We Lutherans, myself included, believe that Ordination to the Office of the Holy Ministry does not confer any special grace, ability, or power on the one being ordained. Rather, it is to be a recognition that God the Holy Spirit has put or brought this man into this place and time and... |
| I'm Critical | 08/06/2010 - 09:10 | I'm a critical person. To many, it seems, that's a bad thing. I shouldn't question the activities, motives, or intentions of others. It makes me come across as, well, critical. In today's society, we should give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Even among us... |
| Looking for Wisdom #4 | 03/02/2010 - 13:10 |
Wisdom has two or three parts. |
| Looking for Wisdom #3 | 03/01/2010 - 13:14 | One should not ever come to think "Now I have become wise." The preacher tells us, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." Wisdom has a beginning but no end because we will never become equal to the Wisdom of the Lord. Even after millenia in heaven... |
| Looking for Wisdom #2 | 03/01/2010 - 11:26 |
The Churchman tells us "The beginning of Wisdom is the fear of the Lord" Now, I've got to puase and deliver my standard speech about that word "fear" before we go any further. If we misunderstand that word, we'll never understand this verse. But if we... |
| Looking for Wisdom #1 | 03/01/2010 - 10:40 | There's a whole genre of Biblical Literature (that is, parts of the Bible) which are generally of the Wisdom type. The Book of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, certain Psalms, parts of the prophets especially but also glimpses of it in Jesus' teaching as well as in the letters of the... |
| The Sacramental Word | 02/23/2010 - 21:40 | By "sacrament" we Lutherans mean those things used at certain times and places where God has promised to meet us and deliver His forgiveness, new life, and eternal salvation. These are the "means of Grace" or the earthly instruments which convey God's blessings. He... |
| What does the future look like? And how will we get there? | 10/15/2009 - 14:42 | I have in mind of picture of myself laying on the warm Gulf of Mexico beaches of Orange Beach in the the Florida panhandle. It's February in Minnesota. Actually, it's February everywhere, but in Minnesota that really means something. It means days in a row of temperatures below... |
| Does he really believe that the sky is not blue? | 10/07/2009 - 08:55 | If I make an assertion that the sky is blue (which ought to be obvious to nearly everyone), there will invariably be someone who takes that as evidence that I believe the sky to be some other color. Even if my statement is in print - in black and white - someone is bound to... |
| Delivering the Goods | 09/25/2009 - 15:36 |
"Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, AMEN." When the Pastor says those words - or something like them - at the beginning of the sermon, what is that all about? Sadly, this is not a... |
| Are all opinons created equal? | 09/25/2009 - 08:44 |
We live in a relativistic culture. You have your opinions and I have mine. According to our culture, our opinions are supposed to be just as valuable and worthy and valid (true) as anyone else's opinion. |