Messages

1

Your Turn / Re: ELCA vote opens door to nixing conscience protections for same-sex marriage

« on: August 19, 2022, 05:21:33 PM »

Interesting article.  Many believed that "bound conscience" was a joke and would never last.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/elca-opens-door-to-nixing-protections-for-gay-marriage-opponents.html

The first thing to jump out at me from the article was Michael Schulte‘s repeated strawman reference to being told one is damned to hell. None of the four positions described in the 2009 Statement says anything about being damned to hell.

2

Your Turn / Re: The culture war we should be fighting

« on: July 11, 2022, 05:00:01 PM »

I agree that economic justice should be at or near the very top of our list of Christian social issues, as it is throughout Scripture, and that public policy has a large role to play. Among public policies I support are
1. Eliminating licensing and similar hurdles to entry into markets that are ripe for participation by ambitious low income people.  Prime examples are limitation on issuance of taxi medallions and licensing of occupations with no health or safety concerns, such as barbers, hairdressers, and manicurists. The excuse for these hurdles is public health and safety; their real purpose is protection of existing businesses against competition from hungry new players.
2. Widespread availability of school tuition vouchers, so the poor can have the same ability as the rich to send their children to good schools even when the local public school is crappy (which is more frequently the case in poor neighborhoods than in rich).
3. Before bellyaching about corporations, remembering that a corporation purchases goods and services and pays salaries and wages before earning the first dollar of profit. This is a good thing, not a greedy thing.
4. Provide effective and professional policing in poor neighborhoods as we do in rich neighborhoods.

3

Your Turn / Re: Study Bibles

« on: March 28, 2021, 02:57:48 PM »

I have a fairly large collection of "study" Bibles, but neither of the Lutheran Study Bibles.


I believe that the first one I got was The Jerusalem Bible when I was in Jr. High. The KJV Thompson Chain Reference was used at Concordia, Portland. I've never liked the KJV language, so got the Thompson Chain Reference in NIV when it came out. Other study Bibles in my library.


The New Catholic Study Bible, Jerome Edition, TEV
The Learning Bible, CEV
NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups
The Access Bible, NRSV
The Harper Collins Study Bible, NRSV
The Interpreter's Study Bible, NRSV
The Orthodox Study Bible, based on NKJV
The Jewish Annotated New Testament, NRSV
The Jewish Study Bible, JPS
The Torah: A Modern Commentary, JPS
The Haftarah Commentary, JPS
The New Oxford Annotated Bible, NRSV
The CEB Study Bible

The Didache Bible, from Ignatius Press, does a nice job tying Scripture to doctrine, with its study notes based on and cross-referenced to the Catechism of the Catholic Churce.

4

Your Turn / Re: A Concern for "Morality" in our Land, or not?

« on: January 26, 2019, 08:57:41 AM »

Is your view of abortion the only morality you care about?  Are you concerned about the personal morality of our top leaders? Are you concerned about the corporate morality, and yes there is such a thing, that is harming so many people?
Are you concerned about the morality of leaving our neighbors to suffer and die, especially those who are asking for our help and seeking refuge in our land?
I guess not, because I never hear any concern for that.

So, Simon Wiesenthal, is the Holocaust the only morality you care about? Are you concerned about the personal morality of the top Nazis? About the greed of the German war profiteers enriched at the expense of ordinary people? Are you concerned about leaving the residents of war zones to suffer and die when their livelihood and land have been ravished? I guess not, because I never hear any concern for that.

5

Your Turn / Re: No Longer "Skating Close to the Edge"

« on: January 24, 2019, 06:36:17 PM »

Steven, as the actual day approaches I have no profound words to offer.  I trust that you know, as your congregation does, what a faithful shepherd Zion has had from the very start of your ministry.  As for the possible call . . . . . hmm . . . . . I wonder whether it is the possibility that I am aware of . . . . . it will be interesting to learn as things unfold.   

6

Your Turn / Re: Luther on Prager U

« on: December 28, 2018, 05:17:04 PM »

As a generalization, there tends to be "popular" presentation and "academic" presentations. As an illustration, much of the critiques I've read against the MBTI are criticizing the "popular" books and understanding. There are also "academic" books and journals that contain social science experiments at the college level and higher.


That's also true in theology. It's likely that should our lay people be quizzed on the finer (academic) points of theology, they would fail. Popular books like the Left Behind series or The DaVinci Code or The Late Great Planet Earth from a generation ago, are popular and present popular theologies. They use common language rather the technical terms that better When Hal Lindsey writes a commentary on Revelation, I do not expect it to be an academic treatise like the Hermeneia series or The International Critical Commentaries.

I see Dr. Cornils's presentation to be a popular presentation of Luther; not completely technically accurate, but designed for a pretty uninformed audience.

I disagree with the premise that it’s ok for a “popular” presentation to be inaccurate because the hearer/reader is not equipped to handle the full “academic” version. Part of any expert’s tool kit is the ability to explain material in his/her field to a non-expert in such a way that the hearer receives accurate albeit less than exhaustive information. Two examples: (1) My doctor communicating with me regarding my medical condition; (2) My responsibility in my pre-retirement profession to communicate financial matters to those who were not expert in finance.

7

Your Turn / Re: Luther on Prager U

« on: December 27, 2018, 05:34:23 PM »

We were given a link to a video purporting to say some things about the impact of Luther and the Protestant Reformation, and where do we immediately and persistently go? Three pages into this, I cannot stop remembering the following, which has been attributed to Socrates, Eleanor Roosevelt, and who knows who else: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”  There, now everybody (except George Rahn) can be offended.

8

Your Turn / Re: Luther on Prager U

« on: December 27, 2018, 05:23:33 PM »

I have encountered the name before, but I'm not sure where. Although he is pictured on the Wartburg site clerically garbed, his name does not come up in a search of the ELCA clergy roster.

The Wartburg website identifies him as a member of the ELCA Church Council, yet he is not on the Church Council directory.

https://directory.elca.org/Pages/index.aspx/churchwide/church-council

From the Church Council Minutes of November 2017 as part of an en bloc election of people to boards:

To re-elect to the board of directors of Wartburg Theological Seminary for a six-year term ending in December 2023: The Rev. Stephen J. Cornils and the Rev. Kathryn A. Kleinhans.

The "ELCA Church Council" under his (and other) names, probably indicates that they are elected to the board by the ELCA Church Council.

I'm sure your right about that, but the Wartburg website does leave one to conjecture.

Watching the video, he simply identifies himself as being from "Wartburg Theological Seminary." The implication, I think, is that he is on the theological faculty there, or at least is somehow on the staff. But he is neither; he's merely on their Board of Directors. That troubles me. I strikes me as a bit dishonest.

Does anyone else feel that way?

Unless the seminary gave him permission to say that, I agree.

Umm, the Board governs the seminary. The seminary does not “give permission” to a Board member to do or say anything.

9

Your Turn / Re: Luther on Prager U

« on: December 26, 2018, 11:19:54 AM »

A little scrolling around the internet teaches us that Dennis Prager is a long-time commentator and columnist and that "Prager U" is one of his online "projects." His columns suggest that he is Jewish, a strong-strong supporter of Israel (and thinks that modern American Jews do not support Israel enough), believes that the current president is the "best friend Israel ever had," deplores the "destruction" of the Miss America Pageant, is a strong Trump supporter and is on the far right on other current social issues.  It appears that one of his columns has nasty things to say about the Southern Poverty Law Center. Others can read and come to their own conclusions.

I had thought we were being asked for reactions to the video.  Silly me.

10

Your Turn / Re: Luther on Prager U

« on: December 26, 2018, 11:14:15 AM »

Three statements jumped out at me:

1. Luther was flawed.  Well, of course he was.

2. An indulgence was like a Get Out of Hell Free card.  No, it wasn’t. One could describe it as a Get Out of Purgatory Free (or quicker) card,  I suppose.

3. Luther taught the autonomy of the individual under God. (I’m paraphrasing, but that was the gist).  No, he did not. Luther recognized three authorities to whom all are subject: Family, Civil Government, Church. 

11

Your Turn / Re: Benne on Bolz-Weber

« on: December 15, 2018, 10:25:39 PM »

Pastor Bolz-Weber (who, BTW, I believe, has a name that deserves respect and should not be minimized to a set of letters).

FDR, JFK, LBJ, and RFK are others who have been similarly disrespected.

12

Your Turn / Re: Lutheran Orthodox Church?

« on: November 26, 2018, 03:28:31 PM »

My father never made any claim about the apostolic succession other than mentioning it a few times as being a point of interest.  He said that since the Swedish Church, as a body, left the Catholic Church, the apostolic succession came down to him through the Swedes and the Augustana Synod.

Eugene Crowner

He was a bishop?

13

Your Turn / Re: Lutheran Orthodox Church?

« on: November 23, 2018, 05:11:47 PM »

A good source for all things Lutheran is http://www.pastorzip.org/uslutheranlinx.html

I had not thought to look there, but should have. My goodness, there are a bunch of bodies with “Lutheran” in their name.

14

Your Turn / Lutheran Orthodox Church?

« on: November 23, 2018, 12:01:01 PM »

Does anybody have useful information about or experience with this body?  I recently became aware of it, but have been unable to learn anything useful, such as where the nearest congregation might be.  The web site says to e-mail to ask, but I am just peeking right now. The main thing I have learned is that there are more than a dozen archbishops. I presume therefore that there must be quite a few congregations.

15

Your Turn / Re: What's Next For the ALPB?

« on: June 18, 2018, 02:53:44 PM »

Thanks you, Steve. You are one of hundreds of Lutherans (lay and ordained) who have given themselves, their time, and their possessions for a hundred years in order to make the ALPB what it is. God has blessed American Lutherans through the hands of the many like you.

Peace, JOHN

Steve is a bit younger than I, so I am sure he has not given to ALPB for 100 years.