David T. Koyzis offers some remarks (with helpful links) on the lectionaries used in various churches. One thing I’ve observed regarding common homiletics and the effect short readings have on our Scriptural interpretation. We are all quite familiar with exegetical methods and pastoral lessons . . . . Continue Reading »
Ok, so my rant about Beth Moore was, well, imprecise. But there is one characteristic of Moore’s efforts that her critic missed, and it is one which is pervasive among many teachers. While in her case it dove-tailed very nicely with the word-faith approach, it expresses itself quite . . . . Continue Reading »
Ten years after it appeared, we still continue to hear that the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification was a “breakthrough” between the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran Church. The media loves to perpetuate this myth. In fact, the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of . . . . Continue Reading »
The last time we mentioned that if Joseph had never been sold into slavery, he would have never been in a position to become what he became.And the wily atheist — the one who admits, btw, that even he might be willing to suffer for the sake of something, like being part of the 60 million who . . . . Continue Reading »
A sermon by my colleague, Rev. Dr. Benjamin Mayes, on this day of St. Matthias, Apostle and Martyr.Unremarkable MatthiasIn the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Dearly Beloved:Matthias is unremarkable. We have his feast on our Evangelical-Lutheran church year calendar simply . . . . Continue Reading »
Frank Turk at Evangel is doing a short series on theodicy. I asked him how/when he would connect his discussion with Job and got the following response.Job is where everyone goes. I think the Scripture pretty much screams out from about every third page an answer which we don’t need Job to . . . . Continue Reading »
I came across a very perceptive and fascinating comment from a young man who has come out of the house church/Emergent church movement into Lutheranism. No, this is not a shamless plug for Lutheranism, but rather, for the purpose of this blog site, it is a fascinating look into what a growing number . . . . Continue Reading »
So we’re at the place where we can say a couple-four things from the existential side of the problem of evil:[1] from the perspective that pain exists, and we perceive it, we as human beings (you could say “people”) have an urge to do something about it when we see it.[2] that urge . . . . Continue Reading »
Last time I left you off with something like this — The problem is what to do about pain. See: the common argument here — which John Loftus plainly used to dismiss God — is that all pain ought to be stopped whenever possible. A universe with suffering in it precludes the Christian . . . . Continue Reading »
The problem is what to do about pain. See: the common argument here — which Loftus plainly uses to dismiss God — is that all pain ought to be stopped whenever possible. A universe with suffering in it precludes the Christian God (he says), so the onus is now on John or anyone else who sees pain to stop pain.
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