Gun control seems to be a big topic politically in our nation.  Among the fallout from the horrid shooting in Newtown, politicians have set their cross-hairs on guns again.  This is certainly a topic by which people can very passionately disagree, but I have been trying to think of some theological things in regards to the ownership and use of firearms. You can see in the graphic to the right, others have already started to mine the depths of Scripture to find answers.  In this case Luke 22:36 is cited. He said to them, “But now let the one who   More…

If you’re looking for the opposite of what Gene Veith describes as The Spirituality of the Cross, here it is!  Since dross rhymes with cross and, in as much as dross is waste matter, I think “The Spirituality of the Dross” is a fitting title for what our students are being taught. One of our students thought he would attend the spiritual wellness seminar offered on campus.  He returned to my study with high delight and placed into my hands a worksheet for “Developing Spiritual Wellness”1 (You may find a pdf copy here).  I read it.  I laughed.  He knew   More…

Associate Editor’s note:  This article is a guest article by Rev. William Foy, pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, IN.  He was my wife’s pastor and is also the godparent of my second child.  As a former officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, pastor, husband, and father he is well-qualified to give comment on this current event. Are women just men with a few different biological parts? Can or should women be welcome to fill all of the vocations of men with the exception of the ones that they cannot due to biological impediment? Is Christ’s sacrifice   More…

There’s a popular view on love and free will that I regularly encounter. It goes something like this: In order for love to be genuine, the agent has to have the ability to choose not to love. Unless there is freedom of one’s will to either love someone or hate them, it isn’t really love. I’ll call this the Genuine Love Principle. This principle is regularly called upon to support claims on a variety of subjects. Something like it was behind Western culture’s shift away from arranged marriages to marriages based on mutual choice. Many Christians, most notably C. S. Lewis (for whom a   More…

B: “Well, we don’t really agree with you. You see, we don’t add to the Scriptures. We only use the original King James Version. And we don’t add the idea that Baptism can save.” Me: “That’s very interesting. I also believe that Scripture shouldn’t be added to, and I would say also that it shouldn’t be subtracted from either. That’s why I believe that baptism does also now save us, not the removal of the filth from the flesh but the answer of a good conscience toward God, by the resurrection of Christ. Just as He says in His Word.”   More…

nota bene: This sermon was preached on October 28 for the High Plains circuit Reformation festival, at King of Glory Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The sermon is based upon the gospel reading from St. Matthew, chapter 11. Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of   More…

Associate Editor’s Note:  With this post we want to introduce a series of articles written by Pastor Joseph Abrahamson, a personal friend who grew up not far from me and also then served a parish not far from where I first served.  The series is called “Redeeming Holy Days from Pagan Lies” and will focus on the true history behind some of our holidays (holy days) and how pagans and even some Christians help promote the lies. There is a lot of new mythology about Halloween that has been invented to claim that Halloween is a pagan holiday. It is   More…

Often I hear well-intentioned Christians talk about prayerfully considering major decisions going on in their lives in such a way that sounds like they are waiting for God to talk to them specifically.  This waiting can finally end for them when they feel right or actually hear something from “God”.   As an example, people often waiting for God’s voice on what kind of car to purchase.  This is an over-spiritualization of our prayers, which in the end soils prayers and decision making. What does it mean to prayerfully consider something?  What should a good Lutheran do in regards to   More…

This is a post by Peggy Pederson found at lutheranchurch.ca and was published in the magazine The Canadian Lutheran for Sept/Oct 2012. The full edition can can be found here.   On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral. If that hammer could have announced the seismic changes to come in Europe and the Christian Church, its echoes would have shook the world. Today, however, it is hardly more than a whisper. For many Protestant churches, it has been like the “telephone” game, where a little was added here, a little changed there,   More…

I must admit that like most of America I watched every moment of the Women’s team and individual gymnastics. What these women are able to do is simply amazing to say the very least. I know Aly Raisman did at least 14 back flips before landing back on the balance beam. I can’t seem to keep my Durango in between the white and blue line, but these 17 year old girls can land one toe on a dime. It was quite inspirational to watch our American ladies represent our fine country, however no one won the hearts of America Like   More…

Humans have always loved to simplify complex theories and ideas with nicknames.  Physicist Fred Boyle referred to the theory that the universe expanded from a singularity with the derogatory phrase “the Big Bang.”  Einstein referred colloquially to the phenomenon of “quantum entanglement” as “spooky action at a distance.”  In 1993 physicist Leon Lederman wrote a book to explain another idea in physics, the Higgs field.  The concept, originally named for British physicist Peter Higgs, needed a splashier name: the “God particle” was born. Of course the Higgs field and the elementary particles that presumably constitute it, Higgs bosons, don’t have   More…

Typically I write for Brothers of John the Steadfast on apologetics, an area of special interest. However, in this article I take a brief diversion from the regular scheduled apologetics column to report on another area that is near and dear to my pastoral formation and ongoing work in the community. And this is no unnecessary diversion. Apologetics and campus ministry have a symbiotic relationship. A great many conversations I engage in at local campuses (UCLA, Goldenwest College, etc.) employ apologetics to some degree or another. Furthermore, recent events in Lutheran campus ministry nationwide – i.e. the sale and desacrilization of ULCMN - cannot   More…

Associated with the Lutheran Hour Ministries is a self-described “totally unique” youth community “…where teens (and recent survivors of teenhood) get together online and in person to make a life-changing impact on their generation with the love of Jesus Christ” (on-line source). This community is called Five14. Five14 was brought to my attention by a pastor who received the Lutheran Hour Ministries newspaper, “The Lutheran Layman.” What caught this pastor’s eye was Five14’s advertisement for an August 11th “Christian concert” to be held in Chesterfield, Missouri. This same event is also being advertised at the Five14 website found at http://www.lhm.org/   More…

In his sermon given at the funeral of Duke John of Electoral Saxony (John the Steadfast), Martin Luther stated, “a prince is also a human being and always has ten devils around him where another man has only one, so that God must give him special guidance and set his angels about him.” (Luther’s Works, vol. 51, p. 236)  While the Lutheran Reformation revolved around the theological rediscovery of essential biblical teachings (i.e. justification by faith), political events played a major role in the Lutheran Reformers’ temporal success.  Most likely, Dr. Luther would have gladly embraced martyrdom in 1521.  However,   More…

Note: This article was originally written in February, 2012 shortly after the PSW Board of Directors placed the ULC at UCLA on its sale list. Sadly, the latest news from the ULC at UMN is heartwrenching; their last service will be held this coming Sunday, June 24th, 2012. Lord, have mercy on our campus ministries and the pastors and people involved. There is a pernicious myth being fed to the people of the Church lately. It has been used by many church bureaucrats past and present (probably future too) to initiate, support and promote the latest trend in church-growth a-Sacramental “ministries”. And most recently it has also   More…