No Pietists Allowed

CIGARS, COGNAC, BEER AND OTHER PLEASURES OF LIFE

(Blog posts of pleasure edited and reviewed by Pastor Rossow)

What’s a pietist?

A pietist is someone who takes all of the fun out of life in the name of religion. They believe that they are pleasing to God because they do not smoke, drink, gamble, play cards, dance, (and if they really thought about it they would probably outlaw golf – did I tell you about the time I spent $300 on a round of golf?).

Jesus was often accused of licentiousness by the pietists of his day. In Matthew 9:11 we read And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” In John 2:1 ff. we see that Jesus first miracle was turning water into wine so that the wedding celebration at Cana could go on. (Of course the pietests say that he only did that because they drank wine in that day instead of water because it was safer to drink the wine which had been purified by the alcohol. If that’s the case then why didn’t he turn wine into safe water for them to drink?)

Lutherans know how to enjoy the gifts God has given to us without guilt. Of course, this does not mean that we have license to abuse the gifts. We encourage you to enjoy the gifts of creation judiciously.

Please help us learn to better enjoy the gifts of God’s creation by sharing your comments on the posts below or send us your own post at [email protected] and we will post it for you.