Sheesh. Seriously?

The skepticism of this generation knows no bounds. I was just flipping through various blogs that have chosen to publish anything about Saddam’s execution. The conspiracy theories are starting to fly.

They allege that the videos are fabrications and that American policy makers are keeping him alive and in seclusion somewhere. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that Saddam was spirited away by US forces already in 2003 and that the man on trial this whole time has been a body double.

I understand that bloggers are the self-appointed, self-important watchdogs of truth and reality. And I accept that I’m likely to be thought simple and naïve for just accepting what I saw on the videos. But c’mon. Throw me a bone here. Or else let’s hear where this secret compound is where Saddam, Hitler, Elvis, and 2Pac are being kept alive while the unwashed masses continue to believe otherwise.

Thank God the internet, digital media, and Photoshop didn’t exist at the time of Christ. Then it was just Pilate asking, “What is truth?” (John 18³⁸) Today it seems to be everybody.

LC XL

Lutheran Carnival XL is up. Check it out.

Saddam is Dead

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?– Ezekiel 18²³

Saddam Hussein has been executed. Most won’t miss him. I certainly won’t. But neither can I bring myself to rejoice in his death any more than I can condone rejoicing in any death. I understand it, but I can’t condone it. And while I can approximate understanding of those who even now are dancing in the streets, it sickens me at the same time.

Would that he would have gone to the gallows with a new faith in Jesus Christ instead of clutching a copy of the Qur’an.

His deeds were deemed by authorities to be worthy of death. Even a death such as that is tragic. Yet the greater tragedy is the eternal death suffered by those who die apart from Christ.

Whose line is it anyway?

Or, Why not simply point-click-preach?

A lament.

I’ve just gone fifteen rounds on the topic of internet sermon resources, and I’m just about shot. I’m done with it. But I’m not going to sleep tonight until I get this off my chest.

I say I’m done with it because the upshot of this final round had me “taking the stand,” as it were, in defense of a preacher doing his own exegesis and his own homiletical development (this after I’ve also lately been asked to defend the Lutheran position on the Office of the Public Ministry; the icing on the cake for me is that these are sticking points between me and another LCMS pastor). You know what the funny thing is? My arguments have been sound, Biblical, and Confessional. And I’m oh-for-two.

A little help?

The long story made short is that the guy who was slated to author our website bowed out at the 11th hour, and our congregation is website-less. We need to get one up and running, and want to have a decent offering. So any ideas?

It’s largely fallen to me, but I haven’t written a website for several years, the last time being before CSS became the norm. I’m muddling through the info at W3 Schools, but it’s a real muddling through it. We’re using free software from metadot.com to cobble it together.

So are there free customizable templates out there? The ones at metadot are good, but not quite what we’re looking for. Or perhaps I just need to find some smart people and use them. Anyway, if you’ve got any guidance, drop me a comment.

New Digs

Our building program is complete, and I’m in my new office. So basically this means that my life is in one big state of upheaval.

My books are almost as far away from my office as they can be.
The office is not wired for ethernet access yet, so my access to the church server is cut off.
The phone system is not reaching me here.
With the furniture in, my space is about 1/3 less than what I was in.

But I have a window finally. I can actually see something other than walls when I’m in here. That’s pretty nice. And I’m hopeful that the other issues (save that of square footage) will be resolved in the next weeks.

It’s Advent. Christians wait, right?

Deepest Sender

I’m trying Deepest Sender for the first time. Forgive the spurious post.

Contemporary Worship

This kind of thing is why contemporary praise and worship will ultimately implode and fail God’s people completely:

Formal language and “perfectly read” prayers are not recommended for contemporary worship. People appreciate the touching sincerity of informal prayer. “Heartfelt” prayer also teaches/models simple prayer language that anyone can use at home, in the car, the office, etc.

This was a footnote in a contemporary order of service that was mis-forwarded to me in an email. Let’s take a look at the underlying assumptions:

Prayer is ultimately directed at people

Prayer is primarily interested in emotional appeal.

Prayer is simply better when it’s less eloquent.

Biblical fear of God ought not to enter the equation.

“Formal” and “heartfelt” are mutually exclusive descriptors.

Praying as our Lord taught his disciples to pray is neither touching nor sincere.

Contemporary worship does, in fact, have rules–or at least rules of thumb: the more order there is, the less “heartfelt” the worship may be.

Worship is to be appealing and instructive to people. Forget about all that transcendence of God stuff and those sacrament thingies.

A silly pastor I must be. I always thought God heard prayer, and that he acted for, in, and upon his people in worship.

Edit: This is not to go and denigrate extemporaneous prayer. Certainly it is as valid and as heard by God as is the Our Father. But I do take exception to the assertions that are made in this email. It ain’t about how good you feel when you hear the pray-er pray. It’s about the mercy and grace of the Triune God who hears and answers prayer. And any prayer, prayed in faith, is pleasing to God (1 Pet. 3¹²).

Word Alone

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting one of the leaders of the Word Alone movement within the ELCA. It was a pretty phenomenal conversation, and one that I hope to continue in the near future.

We think we have problems in the LCMS. Well, we do. We’ve got pretty significant problems. In the case of the ELCA, in terms of its public statements of doctrine, it is difficult to consider them to be Christian at all.

I don’t have space or time to go into all their difficulties, for they are many. But consider Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson’s assertion that there are “two irreconcilable, but equally valid interpretations of Scripture.” Basically, one is that Scripture is Law and Gospel and normative; and simultaneously (and irreconcilable with the first) Scripture contains gospel (lower case g intended), and the rest of it is the historical record of how to apply that gospel in a given social context. Hence, homosexual acts (or any other societally sanctioned behaviors) are not condemned by Scripture.

I don’t line up 1:1 theologically with Word Alone, but I applaud and support what they are about. And to be quite frank, if you’re not praying for reform in the ELCA and other sideline denominations who buy into this kind of heresy, then start. There are faithful Christians in the ELCA who have chosen to stick it out and work to combat these false teachings. With the official leadership as it is, they’re fighting an uphill battle and could use your prayers.

Perspective Check

“Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ· εἴ τις θέλει ὀπίσω μου ἐλθεῖν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἀράτω τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθείτω μοι.” Matthew 16²⁴

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” Matthew 16²⁴

So what’s your cross? Is it the guy in the next cubicle over who continues to badmouth Christians around the water cooler? Maybe it’s your neighbor with the “I’m pro-choice and I vote” bumper sticker. A malady of the flesh, perhaps: carpal tunnel syndrome?