pastor, France is not Serbia
thoughts on violence and terrorism
In the wake of the horrific terror attacks in Paris on Friday, Christian pastors had a difficult situation to face last Sunday.
- All rightly called out these evil deeds for what they were
- Most rightly pointed out that Christianity also has its share of sinful atrocities in its past
- Some wrongly placed Christian . . .
charade: war on Christmas
yep, it's the most wonderful time of the year
In the beginning was a Starbucks coffee cup with snowflakes on it. Then the snowflakes went away, and all hell broke loose.
And so it began...the annual charade of the 'war' on Christmas, where every year Christians who otherwise spend the rest of their year not terribly concerned about hard calling of the Christian life find . . .
despise the sins...not the brother who commits them
The Devil cunningly induces us – instead of irritating us against himself – to notice our neighbors’ sins, to make us spiteful and angry with others, and to awaken our contempt towards them, thus keeping us in enmity with our neighbors, and with the Lord God Himself. Therefore, we must despise the sins, the faults themselves, and not our . . .
responding to persecution
St. Ignatius and ISIS
Pray continually for the rest of humankind as well, that they may find God, for there is in them hope for repentance. Therefore allow them to be instructed by you, at least by your deeds. In response to their anger, be gentle; in response to their boasts, be humble; in response to their slander, offer prayers; in response to their . . .
"your sins are forgiven"
on the blessing of absolution
The most comforting words of the entire Gospel come on the lips of Jesus to the paralytic man in the beginning of Matthew 9:
Have courage, son, your sins are forgiven.
When we hear these words, we must hear them as though Christ himself has spoken them individually to us. As Bishop Laache reminds us, it is because . . .
Posted in: theology
on worry and faith
For two of the last three Sundays, I have spent time on the subjects of worry and faith--once in the lectionary readings for chapel services and once by request to our youth Sunday School class. The text from the lectionary is Jesus' very familiar teaching from St. Matthew:
“No one can be a slave of two masters, since either . . .
Posted in: theology
Review of God’s Word Translation — the New Testament (Part 3)
28 March 2019 Update: Since publishing this initial post, I have since revisited and changed some of my opinions on how God's Word translators chose to render traditional theological terms. On the translation of "justification" see here...and on the translation of "grace" see here.
In this third post . . .
Posted in: theology
