Two views of the Bible

Another interesting article from VirtueOnline. This doesn't just apply to the Episcopalians. It has a lot to say to us Lutherans. It explains why people reading the same Bible can come up with such different ideas about what is expected in the Christian life.

GOD AND THE BIBLE IN THE NEW EPISCOPAL RELIGION

By Peter Toon6/26/2006

All Christians claim that the Bible (the One Canon with Two Testaments) is fundamental to Christianity. Without the Bible it is probable that there would be no Christian Religion at all in the world today.

Yet there are within the Christian Church throughout the world a variety of doctrines and views as to what authority the Bible should have in the Church, and how it should be interpreted. Within what we may call the Anglican branch of the worldwide Church, two basic approaches to the Bible, which have been present for a long time, have come into open and severe conflict over the last few years. And the focus of the controversy has been what the Bible says about "human sexuality," specifically whether the church should bless a union of two people of the same sex/gender, who claim to be living in a covenanted partnership and ordained a person in such a "relationship."

Let us call one view the "traditional" and the other the "radical" and describe them in general terms, recognizing that within each category there are variations, from mild to extreme.

Click on the title to read the rest.

---Katie

Americans with No Abilities Act

I found this on FreeRepublic. It is from an unknown source, but is apparently circulating as an e-mail in D.C.

WASHINGTON, DC - Congress is considering sweeping legislation, which provides new benefits for many Americans. The Americans With No Abilities Act (AWNAA) is being hailed as a major legislation by advocates of the millions of Americans who lack any real skills or ambition.

"Roughly 50 percent of Americans do not possess the competence and drive necessary to carve out a meaningful role for themselves in society," said Barbara Boxer. "We can no longer stand by and allow People of Inability to be ridiculed and passed over. With this legislation, employers will no longer be able to grant special favors to a small group of workers, simply because they do a better job, or have some idea of what they are doing."

The President pointed to the success of the US Postal Service, which has a long-standing policy of providing opportunity without regard to performance. Approximately 74 percent of postal employees lack job skills, making this agency the single largest US employer of Persons of Inability.

Private sector industries with good records of nondiscrimination against the Inept include retail sales (72%), the airline industry (68%),and home improvement "warehouse" stores (65%) The DMV also has a great record of hiring Persons of Inability. (63%)

Under the Americans With No Abilities Act, more than 25 million "middle man" positions will be created, with important-sounding titles but little real responsibility, thus providing an illusory sense of purpose and performance.

Mandatory non-performance-based raises and promotions will be given, to guarantee upward mobility for even the most unremarkable employees.

The legislation provides substantial tax breaks to corporations which maintain a significant level of Persons of Inability in middle positions, and gives a tax credit to small and medium businesses that agree to hire one clueless worker for every two talented hires.

Finally, AWNAA contains tough new measures to make it more difficult to discriminate against the Nonabled, banning discriminatory interview questions such as "Do you have any goals for the future?? or "Do you have any skills or experience which relate to this job?"

"As a Nonabled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, MI due to her lack of notable job skills. "This new law should really help people like me." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

"It is our duty as lawmakers to provide each and every American citizen, regardless of his or her adequacy, with some sort of space to take up in this great nation," said Senator Ted Kennedy.

---Katie

How to Make Your Very Own Jesus

From VirtueOnline, "The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism"

How to Make Your Very Own Jesus

by Daniel J. Phillips

For ages, people have found Jesus to be an uncomfortable figure. He claimed honors belonging properly only to God (John 5:22, 23), held Himself out as the only solution for sin (Matthew 20:28), and accepted worship as God (John 20:28). What's even more threatening, He backed up these claims by a succession of unequaled miracles (John 15:24), climaxing in His own bodily resurrection (Matthew 12:39, 40).

Like many of Jesus' other ideas, these claims are clearly "incorrect," politically and socially. Worse still, they're unpopular!Not to worry! If you don't like the Jesus of the Bible, you can make your very own "Jesus." Here's how to do it, in six easy steps.

Begin with demolition work. First, paint the Gospels as fundamentally unreliable, unhistorical, and biased. Now, this will mean rough going, for several reasons. If you are to pull this off, your audience has to be unaware of the last hundred years of New Testament (NT) studies. Otherwise, they will know that every attempt to discredit the NT has failed miserably. They will remember that archeological, linguistic, and historical studies have systematically shown the NT to be factually reliable in every testable area. If they know the facts, it could hurt your theories. So. . . .

Second, flash some impressive academic degrees.

Click on the title to read the rest.

[NOTE: written as an article for a daily newspaper, skewering "the Jesus Seminar," its pompous pronouncements, and its book The Five Gospels, by means of parody.]

I found the article entertaining and sadly true. This could have been written for the ELCA as well.

---Katie

Are you happy with what you see in the new hymnal?

If not, here is a suggestion from a fellow freeper:

To all ELCA Freepers: Freep the "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" liturgy/hymnal!

Please do two things--the first easy, and the other hard:

1. There is a petition circulating around in orthodox ELCA circles, concerning the bogus "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" liturgy/hymnal. Please copy it into your own e-mail, and sign it with your own real name and congregation. Send it to the "Renewing Worship" committee at Renewingworship@elca.org You may also wish to "cc" Presiding "Bishop" Hanson at bishop@elca.org There may be others, such as your synodical bishop, you may wiish to "cc".

Do it ASAP!!!!

You will get a form letter-like reply that you will not like. And you may not like the idea of promoting "RW" under any circumstances--I sure don't! However, as with most Freeps, the idea is to fill these people's e-mail boxes with as many of these messages as possible, to demonstrate the breadth of opposition to "ELW" and to its feminazi, anti-Trinitarian contents.

Here is the message for your e-mails:

To: the Renewing Worship Team of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Augsburg Fortress Publishers.

We, the undersigned concerned pastors, musicians, and lay leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in order that we may in good conscience promote the new hymnal Evangelical Lutheran Worship in our congregations, ask the following of the ELCA Renewing Worship Team and Augsburg Fortress Publishers:

1. to refrain from altering the Psalter (e.g.., changing from the third person to the second person when referring to God in order to avoid the masculine pronoun "he)." We desire that the Psalter in the Lutheran Book of Worship be retained in this new book.

2. not to delete the address "O Lord, Holy Father, almighty and ever-living God" from the ancient Eucharistic proper prefaces.

3. to remove options which allow for blessing (with the exception of the Aaronic blessing before the dismissal at the conclusion of the Eucharist), absolving, etc. in any name except that of "The Father. Son, and Holy Spirit."

If these simple and modest requests are met, we will gladly promote this new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in our churches. If not, we will refrain from promoting this new book and urge others to do the same.

Sincerely, (Your real name, and congregation)

2. Here is the hard thing to do, but very, very important: Please do everything you can to see that your congregation does NOT order "Evangelical Lutheran Worship", or use ANY materials from it. Speak with your pastor, church council, organist and worship committee--whoever is in charge of this. If your council or pastor has already decided to order or use "ELW", ask for a reconsideration. It is central to the Christian faith that we worship in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and accept no other subsitutes!!!! The feminazi, bogus, and heretical "ELW" goes against all of this.

We can win! If sufficient numbers of congregations don't order "ELW" or its associated electronic materials, it will bankrupt Augsburg-Fortress, and the ELCA mis-leaders will have to listen to us!!!

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I ask you to take this information into consideration.

---Katie

Time to leave?

More from Mark D. Roberts (regarding church unity and the current controversies in the mainline churches):

So many Christians today, especially of the American evangelical variety, seem to have forgotten Jesus's prayer in John 17. They leave churches for trivial or ill-considered reasons. They split churches as if God didn't care about keeping them together. More shocking still, sometimes they even strive to hurt the churches they have left. These are profound tragedies, not to mention profound sins.

I have often been asked why I've stayed in the PCUSA for so long, given the many crazy and unhelpful things the denomination has done over the years, especially through General Assembly votes. My answer has different components. Partly I've stayed because I believe that God has called me to the PCUSA. Partly I've stayed because I've hoped that I could make a difference for good in the denomination. And partly I've stayed become of a firm belief that since God cares so much about the unity of the church, so should I.

It seems to me that, in light of a biblical theology of salvation, Spirit, church, and Trinity, Christians should strive energetically for church unity. Unity is both a result of what Christ has done on the cross and a testimony to the world of this accomplishment. Thus one should leave a church, or split a church, only in extraordinary circumstances, and only when there are solid biblical reasons for doing so, and only after an extended season of prayerful, scriptural, and communal discernment.

Click on the title to read the entire article.

What is really difficult for me in all of this is that our senior pastor has suggested that those of us of a more traditional bent would be happier in the LCMS. Yet we have been happy here, in a rather conservative ELCA church. Now we have a pastor seemingly committed to making sure we are not a rather conservative ELCA church, but more in line with what you would find in Chicago or New York. Those who don't like it are welcome to leave and many have. Now we are in serious financial trouble. What I want to know is where is the concern for unity in all of this?

---Katie

Local Option in the PCUSA?

Pray for our Presbyterian brothers and sisters.

From markdroberts.com:

This is a blog post I was hoping and praying I wouldn't have to write.

It looks like my denomination, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., felt envious over the recent attention given to the Episcopal Church as it faces the possibility of schism. Thus we decided to get our fair share of the spotlight by acting rather like the Episcopalians. Even as recent actions by the national leadership of the Episcopal Church has brought that denomination to the brink of division, so have recent actions of the General Assembly of the PCUSA.

Today's General Assembly cast two historic votes. The combination of these votes looks almost schizophrenic to anyone not familiar with the peculiar dysfunctionality of the PCUSA. On the one hand, the General Assembly voted by a strong majority (405-92) to leave the so-called "fidelity and chastity" section of our constitution intact. In plain language, the Book of Order of the PCUSA states that all ordained officers in the church must practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" (G-6.0106b). This is a standard that, until today, every leadership body in the church was expected to apply without exception to every leader and potential leader. Period. This is what the General Assembly reaffirmed with a resoundingly favorable vote.

Then there's the other vote. The same General Assembly voted by a 298-221 margin to accept a portion of the Peace, Unity, and Purity Report (PUP Report) that allows governing bodies certain leeway in how they apply the standards of the Constitution. To put it in a nutshell, the rules state clearly that persons who engage in sex outside of marriage may not be ordained. But, according to today's action of the General Assembly, leadership bodies are now free to decide whether they must follow the rules or not. So, on the same day we Presbyterians reaffirmed the rules with a strong positive vote, and then voted to allow people not to follow the rules. See what I mean? It's almost schizophrenic.


(Do you hear the ELCA saying "Me too! Me too!"?)

Click on the title to read the entire article.

---Katie

This could be an interesting read.

This is Dr. Mohler's column:


A New Exodus? Americans are Exiting Liberal Churches

Monday, Jun. 12, 2006 Posted: 9:21:20AM EST

"We have figured out your problem. You're the only one here who believes in God." That statement, addressed to a young seminarian, introduces Dave Shiflett's new book, Exodus: Why Americans are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity. The book is an important contribution, and Shiflett offers compelling evidence that liberal Christianity is fast imploding upon itself.

Might be worth adding to my reading list...click on the title.

---Katie

The New Hymnal

From a newsletter I receive:

'Think long and hard'before buyingnew ELCA hymnal

by Pastor Scott Grorud
Reclaim Resources committee member
Lutheran CORE liaison

This fall, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is publishinga new hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. A promotional packfor the new hymnal recently was sent to all ELCA churches. Besides sample hymns and liturgies, it included bulletin inserts, newsletter articles, offering envelopes and other material to promote and raise money for the purchase of the new hymnal. The overall tone of the kit was one of breathless anticipation and a sense of inevitability about purchasing it for our churches.

There are, however, many reasons to think long and hard before investing any church's offerings in this new hymnal. It is telling, forexample, that the new ELCA hymnal's planning guide says that the hymnal's title is "rich with meaning and purpose for the church today." Yet, the paragraph on "evangelical" speaks mostly of how easy the hymnal will be to use and the paragraph on "Lutheran"describes only the diversity of sources and resources included in it. Neither paragraph explains or applies the actual meaning of those important terms, which is curious indeed.

It is also a concern that relatively few ELCA members have seen the final content of Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The 2005 Churchwide Assembly approved only the process leading to the new hymnal. The book itself was not available for review at the time. Final texts for the hymnal were not made available until after the Church Council meeting in November, but unless one knows where to look for them on the ELCA web site, they are not easily found. A small sample booklet was included in the preview kit, but it is not possible to view the entire contents and apparently won't be possible until October. It seems unwise to begin raising money for a hymnal that has not been fully and carefully examined.

A more important reason to question the purchase of the new hymnal is that it introduces practices that are not consistent with Lutheran theology and worship. For example, a new communion service offers a rite of thanksgiving for baptism as an alternate (!) to confession and forgiveness of sin, but includes not a word about either sin orrepentance. It reflects a theology of baptism that is far removed from the confessional call to drown our sinful selves daily in repentance and rise to new life in Christ.

Some of the Psalms in the new ELCA hymnal have been recast significantly, largely to avoid masculine language for God. Psalms that were written as declarations of what God has done have been"re-translated" into second-person prayers addressed to God, which significantly changes their meaning and purpose. Some hymns and the second article of the Apostles's Creed have also been altered for the same purpose. The latter change is particularly harmful, becauseit disconnects the second article from the first, undermining theTrinity in service to a feminist ideology.

The emphasis on eucharistic prayers, included even in the proposed service of the Word, reveals how the direction of worship has been changing in recent worship resources, starting already in the Service Book and Hymnal and continuing with each new hymnal and supplement. More and more, liturgies emphasize our offering of thanks and praise to God, rather than God's Word coming to us to justify the ungodly.

Since the new ELCA liturgies were first proposed, some of the most egregious elements, such as blessing the water in the baptismal service and a gender-neutral marriage service, have been removed in response to criticism. Unfortunately, some of what remains is stil ldeeply troublesome, but not as obvious to see."

There is, fortunately, a good alternative to the ELCA's EvangelicalLutheran Worship. Reclaim Resources, which began as a Word Alone hymnal task force, but is now separately incorporated, is producing worship resources that are solidly Lutheran and confessional. A preview booklet was distributed at the Word Alone convention this spring and was very well received. This summer,Reclaim will publish a larger, introductory edition with the full Holy Communion service, orders for baptism, weddings and funerals andnearly 50 classic and contemporary hymns that teach the faith. This edition could stand alongside the Lutheran Book of Worship as a supplement. Meanwhile, Reclaim Resources continues working to publish a full hymnal as soon as possible.

For more information, see www.reclaimlutheranworship.org or write to Reclaim Resources,P.O. Box 8202, St. Paul, MN 55108 or call toll free at 800-590-6001.

If your church suddenly begins raising money for "the new hymnal,"ask your pastor or worship committee the pertinent questions. Is anyone going to examine it before mass quantities are purchased?Do you know the liturgical, theological and ideological principles that drive it? Is this the wisest use of the church's money at this time? Have other worship resources been considered? Does Evangelical Lutheran Worship faithfully uphold confessional Lutheran convictions about worship and how God works through his Word?Answering those questions should create a profound reluctance to invest in this hymnal.

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Nah. The only question my senior pastor is concerned about is "Is the what the ELCA wants us to do?" If the answer is yes, then we will do it. Of course, I have not figured out how he is going to force people to pay for it, but I suppose there are methods to do that.

As for the alternate choice of the hymnal from Reclaim Resources? Not a chance. It is associated with Word Alone, an organization that our senior pastor has described as a "cancer on the church."

---Katie

It's that eminent domain thing again.

Are you getting tired of hearing about what is happening in New London, Connecticutt? Probably not, because it is not the habit of our media to focus on things that really could affect our lives.

Here's what Boortz has to say:

It finally happened. The namesake of the landmark Kelo vs. New London, Connecticut eminent domain decision finally got thrown out of her house. Since last year, five of the families from the original lawsuit have cut a deal with the city and agreed to give up their homes and leave. That left only two, of which Susette Kelo was one.

The New London, Connecticut City Council voted on Monday to give them the boot. This makes way for a large private development that will include a shiny new convention center, hotel and condominiums. The city can now do this because of the Supreme Court decision, which ruled in their favor. Local governments can now seize your property at will. For Susette Kelo, this is the end of private property rights. Ain't America great?

Yet, do we read much about the Kelo decision in the mainstream media? Certainly not enough. We have headlines about gay marriage and abortion instead. Just ask yourself....what has more potential impact on your life: a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage that will never be passed, or the ability of your local government to take your property, hand it over to a private developer with good political connections, and put you on the street? Remember: it doesn't matter how long your house has been there. This neighborhood in Connecticut was just fine...it was not blighted. But along comes a developer promising the city more tax revenue...and well, there goes the neighborhood.

No wonder politicians love government schools. Where do you think the dumb masses come from that can be so easily led and manipulated?

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I guess as long as people think their property is safe, they aren't going to pay any attention.

---Katie