The Burr in the Burgh

Pastor Philip Meade, over at The Beast's Lair, is always a fun read.

His recent posts on the historical nature of Christianity and distinguishing Law and Gospel have been very good. His link on The Gospel of Judas was one of the best I've read.

Hoping I'm not going to be creating grief in his life by directing you to him, I want you to read what he wrote about The Purpose Driven Life.

He gives a great example of what I've been trying to say. And he says it much better.

Pastor Scott Stiegemeyer over at "The Burr in the Burgh" has stated rather clearly his stance on Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life." He is receiving some heat for his comments from PDL supporters, not particularly surprising. Pastor Scott certainly doesn't need me running to his defense, not to mention that the fact he is receiving feedback from a worship leader within the Saddleback church. Regardless of if the feedback is positive or negative, his blog is being noticed and making a difference. I have 3 family members and few friends reading mine. I can't wait for someone "high up" to smash my views at my blog. Well, not really. But anyway. . .

I have said before the The Beast's Lair is not a place to throw down judgment, and I want to remain true to that conviction for my blog. Nevertheless, the minister has a responsibility to keep working to find the space between being judgmental and protecting our sheep. I have students and adults under my care at my church, they look to me and frankly expect me to know what is good and what is not. Lot's of times I don't know, something that keeps me awake at night.

With that in mind, here are my concerns with "The Purpose Driven Life." First of all, I don't know anything about Rick Warren, save what I have read from his books and biography. His personal life, convictions, and character are all removed from my knowledge, and so my comments have nothing to do with Rick Warren the man. All I have to go on and process are the words he has written that are being digested and fed to literally millions of people. I also acknowledge that Warren's book is going to be much more scrutinized because of it's huge success, but that is exactly the point. When something is reaching so many people, any responsible minister is going to take a closer look.

My main issue with his book and study sessions that accompany his book are with the presentation of the Gospel, or I should say, the lack of presentation. Here is a quote from Saddleback's Study Guide and Teaching Video for the 40 Day's of Purpose:

"Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ? If you aren't sure of this, I'd like the privilege of leading you in a prayer to settle the issue. Let's bow our heads. I'm going to pray a prayer and you can follow it silently in your mind:

'Dear God, I want to know Your purpose for my life. I don't want to waste the rest of my life on the wrong things. Today I want to take the first step in preparing for eternity by getting to know You. Jesus Christ, I don't understand it all, but as much as I know how, I want to open my life to You. I ask you to come into my life and make yourself real to me. Use this series to help me know what You made me for. Thank you. Amen.'

"If you just prayed that prayer for the very first time, I congratulate you. You've just become a part of the family of God."

Based on this confession, salvation means turning your life from purposeless to purposeful. There is no mention of sin, forgiveness of sin, belief in the resurrected Christ, etc. I by no means think that there is one word-for-word prayer that is the "correct" prayer and unless a non-believer says those exact words, God will not hear. However, the foundation of salvation rests on the blood of Christ and the recognition and forgiveness of sin, not the lack of purpose in a life. Plus, in this salvation prayer, the words "use this series to help me" is beyond belief. Surely in our prayer for salvation, we would ask God first to use the Bible to help us. I appreciate a good Bible study or commentary for help, but not as an addition to a prayer of salvation! Furthermore, in this first lesson of the study that offers this prayer, there is no mention of any scriptures relating to the Gospels. Biblically illiterate people who read this prayer would do so with no knowledge of the cross or God's understanding of sin.

Secondly, I have concerns with Warren's use of scripture, ...

Read the rest of his post by going HERE.

Our Easter celebration this morning was wonderful! The choir sounded quite good. And I always enjoy the Hallelujah chorus. The trumpeter worked his lips to the bone. The smell of easter was everywhere as we had more lillies than I can ever recall having. The sun was shining. The breakfast btwn services was a success. Everything was bright white and gold and shiny and new. Even the big wooden cross from Good Friday was draped in white linen and surrounded by flowers.

But of course the thing that made it so wonderful is the fact that Jesus is alive. What a joy it was to baptize an adult woman today with her husband and three sons standing around her. Indeed she has been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The sermon, well.... I strive to proclaim Jesus Christ clearly.

And then the Eucharist, the foretaste of the feast to come. As a shepherd one of my greatest joys is serving the saints with the body and blood of our Lord.

P.S. If any of yinz have a photo of the church from this morning, please ship it to me.

Hey, go check out the scribblings of the brothers at Fide-o. Look around awhile and you'll see their section on Saddleback Church. That's Rick Warren's. Since Mr. Richard Abanes is now on record calling me a bunch of names, it was comforting to see I haven't been his only target.

As you can see, Abanes calls me a witch-hunter, a liar, small-minded, unloving, unChrist-like, hate-filled, arrogant, ignorant, evil, fanatical, sectarian and damaging to the Body of Christ. All in one comment. Not to mention an embarrasment to my denomination.

The thing is, in all honesty, he is right (not necessarily in the ways he meant it but even so). I don't deny any of it. That's what is so wonderful about Jesus and His cross. And that's why Rick Warren's book The Purpose Driven Life is so pointless. It's not just that Warren distorts and misapplies the Bible over and over and over. It's not just his false teachings. It's also what he doesn't say. There ain't much gospel there folks and w/o the gospel, your life has no purpose.

I'm sure that Rick Warren means well. I don't question his intentions or motives. I challenge his words.

While there are hundreds of websites condemning The Purpose Driven Life and articles too numerous to cite, I like what Pastor Gary E. Gilley of Southern View Chapel in Springfield, IL had to say in his short review:

when every third page of a book presents either an unbiblical, or at least a biblically unsupportable idea, there is not much sense bothering to read it. And that would be my suggestion - don't bother.

The torture and murder of Jesus Christ is one of the strangest events in all of human history. How utterly embarrassing this must have been for the first disciples....

Jesus was a mysterious figure in his day. Some people believed that He was the One sent from God who would set everything right. Others believed he was a dangerous fraud. But I suspect that for many average Joe Israelites, the jury was still out. A lot of them probably thought, “Well maybe he is the Savior. Let’s wait and see what happens.” And for those many who were in the mushy middle, the death of Jesus on the cross must have been supremely disappointing. Crucifixion was such a shameful way to die that the average Jew at the time would have thought that God surely would not allow a righteous man to suffer innocently that way. The fact that He did not save Himself and the fact that God did not come to his aid was proof positive, for many, that Jesus may have been a lot of things, but the Messiah he was not....

You know about His sufferings because you’ve seen it in movies, heard about it in sermons and read it in the bible for yourselves.

He was arrested and falsely accused. His friends abandoned him. The guards mocked him and spat on him. They ripped his beard off his chin. They struck him with rods and with their fists.

Then came the flogging, the terrible brutal torture with the scourge. Long leather straps with bits of metal and bone so that it catches the skin and shreds it like paper. After a good thorough lashing, Jesus’ flesh hung off his back in quivering strips of bleeding meat.

Then came the crown of thorns pressed hard upon his brow. And the Romans always crucified you naked, adding insult to injury. So they nailed him up, bare and bleeding, in between two thieves. And they left him there to die.

Only his mother and one or two others were there to comfort him. But what kind of man wants His mother to witness His execution. Her presence there probably brought to Jesus more grief than solace.

But all of that – as terrible as it most undoubtedly was – was nothing. That was a piece of cake. All the Romans could do was poke and jab His body. It’s not what happened before the cross that hurt Jesus the most. It’s what happened ON the cross. For there God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. The anguish of having to bear the weight of the guilt of every sinner’s sin far overpowered the nails and lashes. And God despised His Son. He poured out His vengeance and wrath onto Jesus. And for those moments while he hung there, suspended between earth and sky, Jesus of Nazareth was the most cursed human being of all time.

As you return home this evening, take a moment and think this over very carefully. It is because you lied, that Jesus died. It is because you were unkind that Jesus suffered. It is because you are selfish that Jesus bled. It was because of you. You did this. It’s your fault. ...

In a sermon on the death of Christ, Martin Luther wrote, “You should deeply believe, and never doubt, that in fact you are the one who killed Christ. Your sins did this to Him. Therefore, when you look at the nails being driven through His hands, firmly believe that it is your work. Do you see His crown of thorns? Those thorns are your wicked thoughts.”

But don’t despair. No one did anything to Jesus that He did not allow them to do. He gave Himself into death for our salvation. He submitted to these sufferings willingly, to pay for your sins, to satisfy the wrath of God, and to spare us from going to hell....

My prayer is that each of every one of you will be able to go home tonight with the assurance that whatever you may have done, whatever lies upon your conscience, that you have been reconciled with your Heavenly Father. ...

This is one reason the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod (LCMS) is not in fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Oh, certainly the LCMS has problems of its own. There is no flawless denomination. But the spirit of a church body can be discerned not only by what it teaches, but also by what it allows.

People who believe in biblical inerrancy and oppose womens ordination (on biblical grounds) are not welcome in the ELCA. But goddess worshippers and gay activists are.

Go to Her Church.Org, the website of Ebenezer Lutheran Church in San Francisco. You can read all about their goddess worship, their goddess rosaries, the Gay/Lesbian promotions, etc.

There are still biblically sound pastors and people in the ELCA, to be sure, but the tolerance of these theological extremes suggests that, as a church body, they've sold their soul.

In the picture at the top, devotion is paid to little pagan fertility goddesses. Yahweh commanded Israel to slay all the Canaanites because he knew that His people could be easily lured into practicing local fertility rites, such as temple prostitution. What God condemned is now being endorsed in this ELCA congregation.


And I'm not sure what the lower photo is supposed to communicate. It appears next to text stating that homosexuality and practicing homosexuals are embraced in their communion.

[A Word on Homosexuality: Both the Old Testament and the New Testament clearly and repeatedly condemn homosexuality as sinful. It is contrary to God's created plan for humankind. I don't believe it is a more damning sin that hetersexual lust, fornication or adulterty. But it is certainly not less. A person who has homosexual temptations and recognizes his or her sin and seeks God's pardon through Christ is indeed welcome at our church. The impenitent are welcome also but with the hopes that the Law of God will enlighten them and drive them in humility - with all other sinners - to the cross of Jesus.]

OK, one more final post about the Gnostic Gospel of Judas.

Over at Mere Comments, I found this disturbing set of statistics. The question is: "Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?"

Only 36% responded yes. Only 50% of those who've attended church recently said yes. You can see the details for yourself here.

Even though it gets recited just about every Sunday in many-if-not-most American churches, people don't believe the Creed. "I believe in the resurrection of the body." And I contend that one reason is because pastors do not preach it clearly enough. We preach the gospel as if the point is just to save your soul.

Interestingly, when God created Adam and Eve in His image and likeness, He did not just create spirit beings. When the eternal Logos came to redeem humanity, he became flesh and arose in the flesh. And the apostle (1 Cor 15) clearly teaches a resurrection on the Last Day.

If you believe that the REAL you is your soul/mind/spirit and that your body is just a shell or dispensible container, then guess what, you are a gnostic. If you believe the soul is what matters and the body is unimportant, guess what, you are a gnostic. If you believe that eternal life consists of remaining disembodied forever, yep, you are a gnostic. The Christian religion, however, confesses the resurrection and glorification of the body, that you will live forever as body and soul.

But the fact that so few church goers know that is, at least to great degree, a failure of the clergy, the shepherds who are called to feed Christ's flock with the truths of his word.

Here is a test. St. John said to test the spirits.

1. Did your pastor clearly preach the bodily resurrection of Jesus on Easter?


2. Did your pastor make the connection between the resurrection of Jesus and your own resurrection?


3. At funerals, does your pastor consistently preach about the resurrection or does he just talk about Aunt Mildred's soul?

I had decided not to waste any more time blogging on the Gnostic Gosepl of Judas. I fully concur with The Beast that if Christians would pay more attention to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, then Judas would be less an issue. But I like the title from Daylight so much that I couldn't resist.

Darrell at The Southern Conservative posts his views after seeing the television special about this Gospel of Judas. I agree with Darrell that Christians ought to read - or at least become familiar with - some of these ancient gnostic texts. Not because they have any spiritual value but because of their historical importance.

In our time, when people are eager to reject established sources of authority, when victimization is in vogue, when minds are unusually open to conspiracy thinking, Christian people must know more about the origins of Christianity and the development of the Biblical cannon. If pastors, scholars and especially average lay people do not become more conversant with these issues, then crap writers like Dan Brown and historical revisionists will carry the hour. And practically speaking, that could equal souls lost.

Dr. Elaine Pagels of Princeton University has been asserting for decades that there were numerous competing theologies in the early period of the Jesus movement. And through political machinations, the so-called orthodox party managed to suppress its competitors, including Gnosticism. And ever since then, the church has been tyrannized by Dead White European Males, the dreaded D.W.E.M.S. Or so the theory goes.

Dr. Albert Mohler offers this very lucid treatment to help us know fact from hype. But let's be clear here. NO ONE is saying that this newly translated text was actually written by Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. NO ONE is even saying it comes from the apostolic era.

Apparently, there is some reference to the Gospel of Judas in Irenaeus which would put it from the late second century. These gnostic texts all seem to date from the late 2nd or 3rd century. And while some of these texts may have circulated quite a bit, none of them enjoyed anything close to a widespread reception from ancient congregations.

In order for a book to have been welcomed as Scripture in ancient Christian communities, it had to have bona fide apostolic origin. In other words, was it TRULY written by an apostle or a close associate of the apostles? That was the fundamental criterion for the reception of a letter or text. Those pseudapigraphic texts like the Gospels of Thomas or Judas simply did not meet the test.

Uncommon Descent is the Intelligent Design weblog of Dr. William Dembski and friends.

You may have heard - and certainly will be hearing more - about this alleged "Gospel of Judas." This is really much ado about doo doo. From what I understand, the "Gospel of Judas" is just another old gnostic pseudapigraphic text. Judas didn't write it any more than Thomas wrote the gospel of Thomas. Gnostics were people who held to a varied set of heretical teachings. There were numerous such sects in the early centuries of Christianity.

Common themes in gnostic texts include:

• The Highest God did not create the world, some lower deity or emanation of God did.
  
• The material world is evil
• Only spirit is good
• Thus, gnostics tended to promote celibacy because the body doesn't matter.
• Some went the opposite direction and lived licentiously because the body doesn't matter.
• Women were often denigrated. The "Gospel of Thomas" states that a woman (Mary Magdalene) must become a man in order to be saved.
• The Logos (eternal only-begotten Son of God) was not incarnated. The true God could not become a man because the material world is evil.
• One theory was that Jesus was not truly human, he only appeared to be flesh and blood.
• Another theory suggested that Jesus wasn't any more divine than you or I.
• Because the material world is intrinsically evil, Jesus did not rise bodily from the grave.
• Because the material world is evil, Christians do not receive His body and blood in the Eucharist.
• Because the material world is evil, salvation means being set free from the body.
• Because the material world is intrinsically evil, you will not rise bodily on the Last Day.
• The word Gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge (gnosis). Gnostics held that Jesus passed on certain teachings only to a few. And these secret teachings are passed along only to the worthy. So only those ascended masters, the enlightened ones, who posseses this secret knowledge gain the highest salvation.

I was reading LCMS news maven, Miss Mollie Ziegler, at Get Religion and discovered a very helpful website called Quack Watch. I'm not a doctor and so I'm not qualified to evaluate all of the information on Quack Watch. But I do believe people need to do a bit of level-headed research before embracing so-called alternative medicines and therapies. It's amazing how much quasi-voodoo superstitious nonsense people will accept. Such things as Reiki, therapeutic touch, chakras, aromatherapy, reflexology, past lives therapy and so forth are bewitching legions of otherwise reasonable Americans.

I'm doing some serious thought these days on topics related to bio-ethics. And this afternoon, I've been pondering the internal process involved in making a tough ethical decision. Tell me, if you are faced with a difficult ethical decision - such as the Terri Schiavo case - which of these factors are most important in how you arrive at a decision:

• How will this affect me?
• Will I be burdened or inconvenienced?
  
• What do I want?
• What do I think the person would want?
• What is the financial cost?
• Does God's Word provide any guidance?
• Is one decision more in line with traditional Christian living?

You need to read this movie review by Dr. Angus Menuge over at The Pearcey Report.

John and Nancy Pearcey run the Pearcey Report webzine. I just discovered it and will be adding it to my daily read list. You must read Nancy Pearcey's book Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity.

I still love this stuff. Buy an egg every couple of months or so. Here you can get me a giant five pound blob.

One of my favorite characters in the Chronicles of Narnia is Reepicheep the mouse. Well, guess who's going to be his voice for the Prince Caspian movie. See here.

Hi all,
Today we had a very successful seminar on Intelligent Design with Dr. Angus Menuge of Concordia University, WI. Turnout was delightfully higher than expected and people came from all over the city, as well as some from Ohio.

We are just now in the process of building our church website and will very soon have Dr. Menuge's powerpoint presentation available for viewing there.

One favorite quote came from C.S. Lewis who talked about chronological snobbery. I heard it somewhere said that just because it's newer doesn't mean it's truer.

Take a look at one of my favorite Lutheran blogs: What You Do, Do Quickly, from whom I shamelessly have "borrowed" the image to the left. I just think it aptly illustrates a sad indictment against major streams of contemporary Christianity: the blight of cross-less-ness.

It stuns me when I listen to highly respected Christian preachers on the radio or television who preach and preach and preach, but fail to mention the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I catch Charles Stanley when I'm in the car and when I do, I always listen. He's a gifted communicator, in my opinion. Gives lots of good biblical advice. He just doesn't preach the gospel very much - at least from what I have heard. (Maybe I just tuned in on the wrong days). Oh, he mentions God A LOT. He's very God-centered, to be sure. But there is a diff between being God-centered and being Christ-centered. A few days ago, I listened to one of his sermons and thought afterwards that any Mormon could have delivered that message. That was a really good Mormon lecture on ethics. And we wonder why most evangelicals, in surveys, still think that you basically get to heaven by faith plus works. Come to think of it, can you really be called an EVANGELICAL if you don't understand forensic justification? What then is the "evangel?"

You see, if you ask a person what the main message of Christianity is and they say it's something like:

• Love. Love God and love your neighbor.
• Following Jesus.
• Being totally committed to Christ in everything you do.
• Believe in God and follow His commandment

Does this worry anyone besides me?

I urge you to go read this very fine post by The Beast. And please, write him an encouraging comment. He has, in my opinion, expressed clearly the way God's accusations and God's promises work together. Judgment and Mercy. Wrath and Grace. And how one w/o the other is lame.

He also picks up on one of the greatest blights on the American church: the Church Growth Movement. We are all in favor of the church growing. I didn't become a pastor because I want the church to shrivel and die. I take the mission of the church very much to heart, believe you me. But true spiritual growth is often not quantifiable. You can't count it. As one of my professors, tongue in cheek, said, "Numbers is not the only book in the bible." Sometimes, right preaching of the Word will cause the number of believers to increase. Other times, it will drive them away. After all, the cross is an offense to natural man.

As Mother Theresa said, "We are called to be faithful, not necessarily successful." And those who water down the message in order to put butts in the pews are not helping anyone. I tell people that we have got to get over this obsession with the A B Cs of church life (Attendance, Buildings, and Cash).

Let's keep the message straight. Let's get the message out. And then let's let the Holy Spirit do his job. Let God be God.

This is priceless.

Mark Twain once said that everyone complains about the weather but nobody does anything about it. As Frederica Mathewes-Green says in this recent piece in Christianity Today, instead of trying to change the weather, maybe we should pay more attention to sheltering a few individuals from the storm.

Christians in America are so caught up in fighting the culture wars, that they risk losing a much bigger battle. Whether Roman Catholics or Evangelicals, we talk about overturning Roe and cleaning up prime-time T.V. but think too little about humility and grace. Instead of focusing on something as amorphous as "the culture," perhaps we should concentrate on serving our neighbor through our vocations.

I support many of the causes typically espoused by traditionalist Christians in these so-called culture wars, but FMG has a point. Let's not miss the trees for the forest.

A Baptist youth minister with a penchant for gruesome horror movies. Right on! I enjoy the blog of Philip Meade over at The Beast's Lair and wish he would post more often. And one question I'd pose is this: Why do so many contemporary Japanese horror flicks (and their American re-makes) center on murdered children? (Ie. The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water, Three Extremes)

I am currently reading the book Mr. Vonnegut wrote after swearing never to write another book. "Wait right there," you say. "Why is a Christian, conservative, hawk reading an atheist, liberal, pacifist?" Quite frankly, I enjoy Vonnegut's dark sense of humor. He's a pessimist about human nature and so am I. I seldom agree with him on the big stuff: Religion, politics, morals. But I often agree with him on the small stuff, much of which is really big stuff.

My favorite line so far: We are here on earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different. And to that I say, "Amen." I do think that he's got a point here. People who are always "on a mission" scare me. God put us here to live our lives, not to revolutionize the world. I don't say this to celebrate mediocrity, but to hallow the mundane. 9 times out 10, the ordinary is more important than the extraordinary.

I suppose I probably miss Vonnegut's point and am just reading him through lenses of my own, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

• Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel.
  
  
• Evangelization takes place when and where God's threats and promises are correctly expounded.
  
  
• The Law of God accuses sinners.
• The Law must be expressed in a way that truly convicts people of their sinfulness. Our basic problem is not that we are broken, hurting, lost, confused, or unhappy. Our basic problem is that we are proud rebels against God.

• The Gospel is not simply that God loves us or that He can help you with your problems.
  
• The Gospel is justification. There are a number of biblical ways this can be expressed but should include: the blood sacrifice of Jesus, propitiation, forensic justification, forgiveness, reconciliation, imputation of righteousness.

• Any human attempt to dress up the Gospel to make it more appealing is doomed to fail and damage (or even murder) souls, though it may well boost church attendance.
  
  
• Reliance upon principles of group dynamics to lead people to Christ is manipulative and detracts from the power of God's Word.
  
  
• God alone deserves the glory and credit when a sinner believes.
  
  
• Saying the evangelist deserved zero credit does not mean Christians should not strive to speak the truth clearly, lovingly, firmly, fearlessly and with respect.
  

As you may have heard, a movie about the Blessed Virgin Mary is being made called Nativity. I just found out that 16-year-old Keisha Castle-Hughes will play the role of the Mother of God, Mary of Nazareth.

You may remember her from Whale Rider.

Another good Breakpoint article by Charles Colson. Do you believe that the universe and human life are the result of blind chance and purposelessness? How very unscientific of you!

OK, so we're not sorry? Actually, I think this is a positive development. It's good to read some historical balance for a change. On the Crusades.

Today is the Third Sunday in Lent and our Gospel reading was Jesus chasing the merchants and money changers out of the Temple in John 2.

It's really the only text from the Gospel that show Jesus becoming truly angry, even violently so. Other places show him to be annoyed or irritated or brash, but not like this.

Zeal for God's house consumed Him.

Today, our Sunday school kids - in conjunction with this lesson - built a model of the Second Temple. You can get them here.

I don't exactly agree with every sentiment expressed by Charles Krauthammer here, but I do appreciate his basic point. If gay marriage is deemed permissible, then our society has no basis to outlaw polygamy.

A new HBO program, Big Love, is about a modern, suburban, renegade Mormon, polygamous family. I haven't seen it. It's brand spanking new. But according to Krauthammer, it is sparking discussion.

Gay marriage proponents will note that traditional marriage has two components:
1) Two individuals
2) Opposite gender

They propose that the #2 component is arbitrary. But if that is the case, then who can say that #1 is not arbitrary as well?

And quite honestly, while I believe that Natural Law indicates marriage should be one man and one woman, there is a whole lot more historical precedent for polygamy than there is for gay marriage.

I'm a day late, I know. I actually wanted to post something about March 15 and the assassination of Julius Caesar, but didn't get around to it. Happily, fellow blogger and Lutheran cleric, the Rev. David Petersen, had a good post. Go here.

Chuck Colson has a good Breakpoint post about the autistic high school kid in New York who amazed the nation with his superior feats of basketball prowess recently. Here's a link.

I agree with Colson that we are living in a moral vacuum that is undermining the intrinsic value of human life. That sucking sound you hear is a child's brain being sucked out by the instruments of an abortionist.

With the advent of genetic screening, parents can now conceivably (pun intended) eliminate children from the womb who have defects or issues they don't want to deal with. The Netherlands is already blazing that trail for us.

Jason McElwain, all American boy, is autistic. What if he'd never had the chance to be born because some doctor convinced his parents their life would be better to abort the pregnancy and just try again?

Why aren't you more outraged by the holocaust taking place right now in our nation and around the world. How many wonderful, talented, beautiful people were not born today because they'd been dilated and curetagged? Every human being is precious. Every human being is valued in the eyes of God.

We must not evaluate a person on the basis of what he can or cannot do. We must not determine the relative worth of a human life on the basis of how productive we expect him or her to become.

If human life is reducible, in the end, to an economic commodity, then why are we wasting all the organic material that gets scraped from thousands of wombs everyday? At least the Nazis were consistent. To them, the Jews were not persons. So why not turn their hides into lampshades? We don't balk at using the skin of cows to make belts and shoes. What's the diff? If the fetus truly is just a blob of tissue, why don't we saved all the aborted whatevers and grind them up into nutritious cat food?

In fact, Jason McElwain reminds us that every human person is a wonderful creation of God. Bless his heart!

I've never watched the popular South Park cartoons but I am familiar with them. Well known singer and outspoken Scientologist, Isaac Hayes, supplies the voice for the chef character for the animated show.

Now I've read that he is quitting the show because it spoofed his faith, Scientology. That's fine. I don't blame him for that. But when he said the following, I coughed out my coffee:

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins...."

Matisyahu is a member of the Lubavitch hasidic Jewish sect in Brooklyn, New York. This is the group that, several years ago, proclaimed that their leading rabbi, Manachem Mendel Schneerson, could be the Messiah. He's dead now.

This young man is now making it big in the top 40 music scene with his unique blend of reggae/rap music and yiddish. His musical influences include Bob Marley, Phish, and Rabbi Schlomo Carlebach.

He sings about G_d and the messiah, as he understands them. Very interesting. Nice beat too.

A new survey conducted of teenagers in Australia shows that most view God as a "butler," someone to be called on when a need arises. This sounds strikingly similar to the moralistic, therapeutic deism which Christian Smith describes in his book Soul Searching : The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers . I blogged about this a few months back. See here.

The thing is, I don't believe teenagers are all that unique in this regard. I think most American adults also believe that these are the basics of Christianity:

• God loves you.
• God wants you to be nice.
• God wants you to be happy.
• God is there to help you when you have a problem.

Please use the comment feature to answer the question: Is is a sin to teach false doctrine? In this case, don't send me private emails. I want to see what comments you will post. Keep it brief please. Thanks much.

Do you remember the unique way that Glassport Assembly of God church celebrated Easter in 2004? This Pittsburgh area congregation put on a community Easter pageant at a local stadium. Families from all around brought their young 'uns to see Easter bunnies and brightly colored chicken eggs.

Then in the midst of the drama, actors came out with whips and beat the Easter Bunny to death, causing quite a stir from the 3 and 4 year-olds etc. in the audience. It seems the church wanted to make the point that we should be commemorating the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus instead of bunnies and eggs. And the point is a good one. Their hearts were in the right place. . . . sort of.

But there probably would've been a better way. All this did was make their church look like a bunch of jerks.

Story here.

I want to direct you to a blog I just discovered. It's called Wretched of the Earth. The blogger is a missionary in Bangkok, Thailand. And the post I read today, Jesus Is Not a Nicer Buddha, is right on the mark.

He notes the temptation to "sell" Christianity on its practical worth. It's this line of thinking: You should be a Christian, because Jesus helps you with your problems. Or you should be a Christian because God'll make you happy, help you have better relationships, give you techniques for managing stress and so forth.

What about, 'you should be a Christian because Christianity is true?' God does help us with our problems. True. But your main problem is not that you are "stressed out." Your main problem is that - apart from Christ - you are going to die and go to hell. Christ is not the supreme advice giver. He is not your therapist. He is the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world. That should remain the focus. True evangelical preachers and missionaries know that the doctrines of sin and grace, thoroughly and winsomely presented, are the only message which will save. And as long as we live in this world, we need to hear that message.

Jason, over at Theology Geek, makes some interesting comments. As a man in the pew who listens to sermons every week, he reminds us preachers what we're about.

There's a lot of bad preaching out there, not that I speak as the master. But some observations:

1) You can't preach God's Law properly without offending people. If people don't get their feelings hurt, you haven't done it right. If people don't want to throw stones at you, try harder. Woe to you when all men speak well of you.

2) God's law condemns us all. My job as a preacher is not so much to rail against the evils of society. It's to slam the evils of the people sitting right in front of me (and including myself every step of the way).

3) If you hear me preaching the law and you say, "tell 'em Rev," then either I'm not doing it right or you're not listening. I'm talking to you.

4) I am not in the pulpit to give you advice or tips for living. Too many sermons are just ethics lectures.

5) A sermon that does not proclaim the cross as its central theme is NOT a Christian sermon.

6) If I do not preach about sin, hell, cross, justification, atonement, and forgiveness in every single sermon, I should be taken to the proverbial woodshed.

7) It's not about you. It's about Jesus. One of the errors of Rick Warren is that he claims that worship is primarily about you doing something for God. He actually says that it's not supposed to be for you to get something out of it. It's so that you can do for God. What a load of manure! Worship is Primarily about God serving us with his grace through Word and Sacrament. Our response of praise is secondary. It's about what God does, not what you do.

8) Sermons that mostly talk about Jesus as our example are toxic. Jesus did not come to show me how to live. He came to be tortured to death because of me and in so doing, to destroy the work of the devil.

9) The gospel is not a means to an end. We don't preach the gospel so that we can get on to something better, like morality.

10) The gospel is not just for unbelievers. I used to be involved, as a teen, with Youth for Christ and went to weekly Saturday rallies. The leader once told us that we should go bring our non-Christian friends because otherwise we're just preaching the gospel to a bunch of Christians. Even at 16, I thought, "What's wrong with that? I need it too."

[And before anyone flips, I do believe we should be bringing non-Christians to church.]

11) The cross is not just for special occasions, like Good Friday and evangelism. It's for every sermon.

12) A person who get tired of hearing about justification needs to go back to theses 1-4.

Guilt is more than a feeling. You can be guilty whether you feel it or not. Preachers often think that guilt is a feeling that we are supposed to eradicate. Well, yes and no. A lot of the time, it is our job to make people feel guilty. And that's a good thing. We comfort the terrified and terrify the comfortable.

The fact is that every person stands guilty before God. We are all - apart from Christ- objects of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Though this is not a popular message in our churches, it is the truth.

Some popular diluters of the faith, such as Rick Warren, will say that "God doesn't expect you to be perfect (Purpose Driven Life, p.92)." But that contradicts the clear words of Jesus Himself. "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48)." It is part of our fallen nature that we want to reduce the demands of God's law, to soften it. Why? To make it seem like we can attain God's favor on our own - even if we give lipservice to sin and grace.

"Gloom, despair and agony on me..." (a special prize to whomever can identify the source of that line)

Ash Wednesday is useful because it graphically proclaims our mortality. "I am nothing but dust and ashes," Abraham said (Genesis 18:27). Earth to earth. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. All who sin must die. This is the curse on the Adam in all of us.

We are sinners not because we commit sins. But rather, we commit sins because we are born sinful. Unless we drive this point home, the crucifixion of Jesus seems like overkill. Why did Jesus have to die? Because at that moment, bearing your sin and mine, he deserved to die. Was the Father unjust by slaying an innocent man? No. Jesus had to die because on the cross He became the vilest sinner on earth. "He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21)."

Your justification is not just a legal fiction. You are righteous and holy on account of Christ. But in this life, you are also a sinner. It's a paradox, I know. I'm cool with that. So let's have a good lent. No one likes to consider his sinfulness and mortality. But we need to do that so that we can make sense of the cross. Not that your self-mortifications make you holy. But the Crucified One is your holiness.

I don't like Rick Warren's book, The Porpoise Driven Life. I'm sure many people have found some helpful insights in it, but that does not excuse its many flaws. First, he relies heavily on lousy paraphrases of the Bible instead of reliable translations. Second, he frequently distorts and misapplies biblical texts. Third, he has an erroneous- and dangerous - belief about worship. Fourth, he managed to write a book about the Christian life without much Christ in it. It's not sufficient to toss in an occasional reference to Jesus. Warren's whole program is man-centered and thus skewed. I really do not like his book.

If you need to know what your purpose is, let me give you a word: vocation. Dr. Gene Veith has written well on this matter. Here's a good appetizer.

For more, get this book:



But Rick Warren aside, tomorrow is the beginning of the solemn season of Lent. If you are searching for meaning, don't waste your time with Christianity-Lite, go to sound biblical content. Find a church that proclaims God's warnings and promises accurately and consistently.

Books I'm Reading:

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

It's a clever sci-fi story set in the 21st century. The premise is that intelligent life is discovered in a nearby galaxy and the Jesuits send a mission. She's a good writer and it deals with some serious theological and ethical questions.


Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A fun read about a boy from India, the son of a zookeeper, who decides to adopt every major world religion for himself. Lots of perceptive nuggets about God and zoology.


Movies I'm Watching:
The Butterfly Effect

Much better film than I expected. Deals with the quandry of time travel. What would you change if you could go back? And the unintended consequences. Has interesting implications from chaos theory. The idea that even the smallest action can, over time, have huge and unpredictable ramifications.