I think I know why Surprised by Joy is not spoken of as much as other works by C. S. Lewis. It’s his defense, apologetic, explanation, or toleration of homosexuality. Having leveled such a charge I surely must put up or shut up. Continue reading
Do I think we’re the only one’s going to Heaven?
We practice closed Communion not because we think we’re the only ones going to heaven but because there is only one way to heaven. Continue reading
Posted in Missouri Megatrends
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Was it ever really a laughing matter?
“Vice is a monster of so frightful mien / As to be hated needs but to be seen;/ Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, /We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” Alexander Pope wrote that in the early 18th century, but it seems we didn’t learn that lesson by the 20th century, and neither do I think we took that exact path. Continue reading
Posted in General
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You’re Standing in the Wrong Line
The Revered Doctor Norman Nagel was a pastor in post-WW II England. He said of those standing in line at churches to get help for physical needs that they were standing in the wrong line. That sounds harsh, but just because something sounds harsh or even is harsh doesn’t mean it is untrue. Continue reading
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The Voyage of the Damned
This is the title of a 1976 movie and 1974 book based on a true WWII era event. A ship with over 900 Jews sailed from Germany to Cuba in 1939 because of the rising tide of anti-Semitism. Cuba wouldn’t receive them neither would the United States. Eventually some European countries accepted some but the book suggests that some 600 ended up dying in concentration camps. I pair this book with another written by Rev. Dr. John Warwick Montgomery titled Damned Through the Church.
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Ever learning, but…
You know when a person says something and then says “but” that he is about to modify, and usually in a bad way, what he has just said. You would think “ever learning” has got to be a good thing. Not so says St. Paul in 2 Timothy 3:7. He speaks of those “ever learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Continue reading
Posted in Contemporary Worship, Families
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Justin Long-Lived
That wasn’t his nom de guerre. Martyr was. There was a reason for that. He was an apologist not a satirist. About the same time Justin Martyr was making a defense for the Christian faith Juvenal was satirizing the Roman Empire. Justin was martyred for his apologetics; Juvenal might have been exiled, but he wasn’t murdered. I watched a Lutheran satire on Mormons. It is spot on regarding the point of attack, but I still wish I hadn’t watched it. Let me tell you why. Continue reading
Posted in For Anyone who dares, For Pastors Only
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The Real Plasticity of the Text
The Reverend Doctor Jeffery Kloha has been pilloried for asserting the plasticity of the New Testament text. I don’t agree in general with his paper that makes the argument and I don’t agree with how he reaches the following conclusion, but he is right. People have a “plug and play” (My illustration and words not his.) mentality in regard to the Scriptures Continue reading
Posted in Ablaze, Contemporary Worship, Missouri Megatrends
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A Little Yeast, a Little Hole, a Little Pregnant
What do yeast, holes, and pregnancy have in common? There really is no such thing as a “little” of any of these, and if nothing is done they will only get bigger. Sane people want the mother to grow bigger and bakers depend on the yeast growing, but everyone knows the Little Dutch Boy was right. His quick reaction stops the hole in the levee from getting bigger. We didn’t act in time to stop syncretism. May we act in time to stop gay marriage. Continue reading
Posted in Families, Missouri Megatrends
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Where Have you Gone Joe DiMaggio?
So Simon and Garfunkel lamented in their 1968 song. Having read the biography of the Yankee Clipper, Mickey Mantel, Ted Williams, and Stan Musial, history can have all of them save for Stan the Man. My lament is for the deaconess who wrote a VBS curriculum on the first century church in 2000 and the Reformation era in 2001. Where have you gone whatever your name is? Continue reading