NOTE: The piece below was recently written for my local paper, The Huntington Beach Wave. In the true spirit of Christian thinking and writing, I have done nothing original here. Although the words are mine, the idea was taken (and unashamedly so) from my good friend and professor, Dr. Rod Rosenbladt of Concordia Irvine. After all, all theology is plagiarism.  The piece that I have titled “Basic Christianity” was originally a lecture given by Dr. Rosenbladt at Concordia Irvine under the name “Christianity in Five Verses.” (Basic Christianity also happens to be the title of another wonderful little booklet by   More…

Note: This is the third and final installment of a three part series submitted and published in Huntington Beach’s local paper, The Wave. Part one was primarily an existential argument diagnosing and treating our need for Jesus’ resurrection. Part two outlined (in bare-bones fashion) the historical argument for Christianity. Part three narrows the focus directly on the resurrection, using what Gary Habermas calls “the bare minimum facts” approach. You can learn more about the details of his argument (among other things related to apologetics) at www.garyhabermas.com and in his excellent book, “The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus,” co-authored by   More…

Growing up my dad always used the old Wendy’s commercial line, “Where’s the beef?” when coaching basketball (balance, eyes, elbows, follow-through). Now, Dave Thomas was thinking economically (not theologically) when he came up with that world-famous slogan. But that’s the phrase that came to mind Sunday night as I watched the fifth and final installment of The History Channel’s The Bible. That little question, “Where’s the beef?” not only works well on squirrely junior high boys at basketball camp or for selling people a greasy hamburger (and don’t forget that Frosty!). But “Where’s the beef?” is actually a profound theological   More…

NOTE: This article is part two of a three part series that is being printed in my local Huntington Beach, CA paper, the WAVE. In the first column I addressed the defense of Jesus’ resurrection primarily from an existential perspective (i.e. What do I need?) In this second column, I address one of many factual cases made in the defense (apologia) of Christianity’s central claim: Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead for you (This method is also popularized and well documented by apologists such as John W. Montgomery). This is basically a boiled down version of an   More…

NOTE: About a month or so ago, I came across an opportunity to write a bi-monthly column in the Faith and Values section of our local paper the Huntington Beach WAVE, a subsidiary of the Orange County Register. It’s included as an insert in the weekly paper (every Thursday) and available across town as a stand-alone periodical. The first couple of posts were sermon reviews / previews which allowed for a 425 word summary of a recent sermon. After the initial posts and the editor’s encouragement to continue writing for them on a regular basis, I decided to launch a   More…

 Call me a skeptic, but when The History Channel started it’s advertising campaign weeks ago for their latest debut mini-series THE BIBLE (which premiered on 3.3.13 – ooh spooky!), I knew right away what was going to happen. Either they would hire some two-bit historians, the usual parade of higher-critical, liberal scholar hall-of-famers, or they would fill their theological glass full of the best and brightest in American pop-Christianity. In the end the result is really the same however. The former destroys any objective claim Christians can (and should) make for the historicity of the events in the Bible by   More…

‘The view of all serious historians of antiquity of every kind, from committed evangelical Christians to hardcore atheists is that the oldest and best sources we have for knowing about the life of Jesus are the works of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John” – Bart Ehrman[1] In part 1 of this series we unpacked the question, “what is truth?” along with sound methods of establishing the rationality of various religious truth claims. In part 2, we established that the historical/legal method of empirical and evidential apologetics is the best means of arguing positively in defense of the Christian faith while   More…

This catchy title piqued my attention on Facebook recently. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this blog post.  I found – to my delight – some candid observations about the way Christians minister to youth in the church. This article is well worth reading, whether you have kids or not. I’m thankful the author wrote this article. He wrote down many things I’ve thought about over the last few years. Sadly, I don’t know much about him, only that his name is Marc and he has a blog titled, marc5solas, and that he comes from an American Evangelical background.   More…

I like ice cream. Rocky Road happens to be one of my favorite flavors, but really, anything with walnuts, almonds or peanuts will do. On the other hand, I realize that someone else may really love sorbets or fruit-flavored ice creams or, strange as it may sound to me, not like English walnuts on everything. There are even people who don’t like ice cream. And that’s perfectly fine in the ice cream shop where everything is a subjective matter of taste. There is no right or wrong. The person who has a peanut allergy is not churned into an ice   More…

Harvesting stem cells from human embryos to cure diseases.  Cloning human embryos for organs and tissues.  Bearing children in order to harvest their stem cells for another’s benefit.  Having the technology to pick and choose your infant’s physical characteristics – would you like blue or brown eyes, blonde or red hair?  It sounds like a dystopian nightmare straight out of George Orwell’s 1984, but it’s not.  It’s reality, painful, shameful reality. The holocaust of the unborn goes further and deeper than the abyss of the abortion mills; it begins at the very foundation of life, at the cellular level in the   More…

“Wherever Christ builds his Church, the devil builds a chapel.” This often quoted Luther saying still bears true today. Each and every generation must fight for the truth, confess the saving Gospel and proclaim with Luther, “Here I stand; I can do no other.” We proclaim this in the liturgy, from the altar, the pulpit, the Bible class, the fellowship hall, and in the hands of mercy. Every generation of Christians must learn anew what the Lutheran confession of faith is, what we believe and why we believe it. For every age of the Church will also have to contend with   More…

There aren’t a whole lot of reasons this Southern Californian can think of to head off to St. Louis, MO for a few days in early January. But there is at least one good reason: UNWRAPPED. And apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good reason. There were over 80 colleges and universities represented, roughly 400 attendees (students, campus pastors, laity and pastors), gathered together because they share a common interest in the welfare and spread of campus ministry across the synod. We’ve all heard the statistics. We know students fall away from the faith in   More…

+ Name and Circumcision of Jesus – January 1st, 2012 + Text: Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 2:21 Theme/Outline: Jesus is circumcised, fulfilling the Law for those who are cut off from God by sin. Jesus is named, Savior (The Lord Saves) to place his name upon us and make us his children. THE NAMING AND CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH YOUR SALVATION. “Savior Is As Savior Does” In the Name of the Father and of + the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. That’s no typo. You read the bulletin right. Today the church celebrates   More…

And now for something completely different. Some people do their nails while watching TV, others read the paper. I often sit around and ponder anything from the profound depths of Lutheran theology to the hazy heights of the Misty Mountains. Yes, that’s right. I may not be a redneck (well, the jury’s still out on that) but I am definitely a Lutheran nerd. So, to all you fellow Lutheran nerds out there, the noobs, the wannabes and the white wizards, this one’s for you. And if you have any contributions, by all means, join the fun. This is not an   More…

“Keep the Merry…Dump the Myth.” According to a recent Fox News article, that’s the message the New Jersey chapter of American Atheists being shared with visitors in Times Square this Christmas, er sorry, winter solstice celebration season. In recent years, various forms of atheist “evangelism” have become like Aunt Mable’s fruitcake: a regular scheduled holiday staple (my apologies to all fruit cake lovers and Aunt Mables out there). Not only that, the frequency of these messages have increased both in the size and scope with particular antagonism toward Christianity. According to Silverman, a private donor gave over 25k for the   More…