Apart from Jesus Christ, God might as well be the devil

Posted on April 22, 2010 by theoldadam

.divine light by Amelia PS

I get them all the time from well- meaning friends and family.

You know, the e-mails with the beautiful photos and flowery descriptions of God and His handiwork. The cutsie sayings and wonderful advice on living and giving and caring and sharing. The wonderful graphics with angels and mountains and redwoods. The admonitions to stop and smell the roses before it’s too late. The advice to not take things for granted and to be grateful for all the wonderful things and people that God has given us. All of that may certainly be true…and we certainly ought be grateful. And there is encouragement and good lessons in many of those e-mails. I am grateful for that and those that would share this encouragement with me.

But what about the wrath of a God who is pretty ticked off about what we have done with those gifts He has given us? What about the wrath of God who has given us up to our sin? What about a God who tells us that “the wages of sin is death“? What about a God who is deadly serious about our insistance on replacing Him with a god that we form from our own hearts and minds? That God might as well be the devil as far as we are concerned. Apart from the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus the Christ, and the forgiveness of sin that He gives to us, that God would have us suffer the full consequences of our rebellion.

Once in a while those e-mails have something of Jesus in them. Once in a while they speak of the cross of Christ and the mercy and love that He has for us. And for that I am grateful. Once in a while they do not contain the promise of blessings if you pass the e-mail on to 10 people in 10 minutes, and return it to the one who sent it to you…and for that I am also grateful (nothing worse than “Christian” superstition).

But God did send us His Son. God is loving and merciful. God did give Jesus all power and judgement over creation. God did answer Jesus’ prayer to forgive us by raising him from the dead. The one who died for us, is the same One who will judge us. For that I am greatful.

So, if your looking for something to do, apart from passing on those nice e-mails about a loving God and His beautiful creation…then I would advise you to repent of your sin and believe, be baptized, regularly take and eat His body which was broken and given for you. Drink His blood which was poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Trust in Him when He says that He forgives your sins, all of them. Cast off the yoke of slavery which is the religious project of trying to prove to God, yourself and others that you are serious about God. Realize that deep down you really aren’t all that serious about God (not all that often anyway)…but realize that He is serious about you. Serious enough about you to take the only action that would suffice for you…and that is to die for you, and to forgive you all your sin.

Do all the good in this world that you can do. Just do not connect it to God’s forgiveness for you.

Realize the truth of what Martin Luther said, that “the good that you do will not save you, and that the evil that you do will not condemn you…because of Christ Jesus”.

 

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.Photo by Amelia PS  and Flickr

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

How can I be sure???

Posted on April 19, 2010 by theoldadam

.BillyGraham03_Eve2_176 by tru64dude

From-our-friend-David-at-Five-Pint-Lutheran

 

 When were you saved?

On what day and in which hour did your life change?

Well you know that if you cannot recall a day that you became a believer you cannot know that you are saved, don’t you?

These questions can plague a believer to the point of distraction and doubt about salvation. They are based upon some concern for others by those who believe he or she had some part in salvation by making a choice. Some, who will deny free will, maintain there must be a point of time to which one can point for proof of salvation.

“We are not to look back to our conversion for assurance, but we must go to the Savior again and again, every day, as though we had never been converted.”   

  Read-the-rest-of-the-post-here

 

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Can God grab a hold of someone at a Billy Graham Crusade (or any crusade)?

I say, YES!

Can that person have any assurance in that decision that they made to accept Jesus into their heart as their personal Lord and Savior?

I say, NO!     No assurance there.

 

What do you say?

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Thanks, David, at http://fivepintlutheran.blogspot.com/ !

 

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Filed under: Assurance, Free will | 25 Comments »

Good post on true faith vs. false faith

Posted on April 15, 2010 by theoldadam

From http://defendingcontending.com/   September 19th 2008 - Cause It's Only Money by Stephen Poff

 

There is a good post on what is true faith vs. false faith on the blog, ‘Defending. Contending.’  blog.

Genuine-or-false-faith-by-Steven-Cole

There is a sermon (it’s really a Bible study, Evangelicals never seem to understand the difference) by Pastor Steven Cole of Flagstaff, AZ that goes through all of this with the goal of helping us to know true faith from false faith. I don’t really think he accomplished what he set out to do. In fact I think he may just have poured a little more gasoline on that fire.

At least they are asking the right questions.

They are coming up with the wrong conclusions…but at least they are asking the right questions.

 

What do you think?

 

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TThanks to Stephen Poff and Flickr for the photo.

     http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenpoff/2870710191/

 

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Filed under: Faith | 2 Comments »

In Bondage to Self-Definition (aka, ‘sin’)

Posted on April 11, 2010 by theoldadam

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By Pastor Mark Anderson

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Who am I?  This most basic of questions demands a response and Full of Hot Air by Josh Sommersevery human being makes one. Humans answer this question largely by determining their own identity: I am who I choose to be. Yet our insistence on taking life into our own hands is easily distorted and becomes defining of what the Scriptures call ‘sin’ – that willful insistence on resolving every issue down to what I want.

The culture says that we are bundles of largely unrealized wonderfulness only inhibited by the myriad injustices foisted on us by others (who are, apparently, not so wonderful).

The Bible reveals God’s assessment of the human to us. The defining word regarding what it means to be human does not rightly derive from us but the One who created us…from God. And God says we are willful sinners, deserving of His wrath, in need of repentance and forgiveness. Small wonder humans flee from this God of wrath for all they are worth, preferring to “re-imagine” God in kinder, gentler forms.

If, however, there is no need to talk about the wrath of God, then there is not much need to talk about the sin that incurs the wrath. But this avoidance is no answer to the real problem of sin and all it’s consequences.

Christianity is incoherent without the idea of sin. There can be no good news of the Gospel without first understanding the bad news of sin. The mission of Jesus makes no sense if we remove such concepts from out thinking.

Jesus made it clear that the reason he came to earth was to save sinners. For example, as he said in all three Synoptic Gospels: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”. Take away the doctrine of sin and we take away the doctrine of the Incarnation. Indeed, we take away the entire message of the New Testament.

Because we are born in the darkness of sin, we assume our blindness to be life in the light. But Christ has come to give us the new birth that we might walk in the “true light”, Christ Himself. When we persist in our self-defining intransigence, we remain in our sins. When Christ opens our eyes by His amazing grace, we see ourselves as God sees us…as sinners in need of His mericful love and forgiveness.

 

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It seems to me that there is a great problem with many Christians, and in so many churches that have long ago passed the problem of sin ( when they accepted Jesus), and have moved on to other, more important things.

I think that our sinfulness needs to be front and center, all the time, otherwise forgiveness (the gospel) just…goes away, and the religious life of ‘doing’ takes over.

What do you think?

 

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. Thanks to Josh Sommers and Flickr for the artwork

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Pastor's Perspective, Sin | 3 Comments »

God given faith

Posted on April 7, 2010 by theoldadam

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Here’s a sermon that I have posted here before, but I believe it is worth posting again: Veni Sancte Spiritus by Lawrence OP

 

I hope the link works and I hope you can invest 20 minutes or so when you get the time.

I think it’s worth hearing again and sharing with friends, relatives, and an enemy here and there if you can get them to.

 

Thanks.

 

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Filed under: Faith | 3 Comments »

Faith and Art

Posted on April 5, 2010 by theoldadam

Please check out Howard Nowlan’s piece at http://wwwjustifiedsinner.blogspot.com/

 

Howard thoughtfully explores how God may use art to help keep us in His faith.

 

Thank you, Howard!

 

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Filed under: Faith and Art, Howard Nowlan | 7 Comments »

Happy Easter!

Posted on April 4, 2010 by theoldadam

I hope you all have a wonderful and joyous Easter!

Easter-EmptyTomb by Donut_Diva

Your friend and brother in Christ Jesus,

 

      – Steve

Filed under: Easter Sunday | 8 Comments »

Good Friday

Posted on April 2, 2010 by theoldadam

Well, it didn’t seem too ‘good’ for Jesus, or his followers, did it?The Beginning of a New Era by Sergio ···

What often appears to be good to us, isn’t… and what appears to be just awful…in reality and quite often in hindsight…is good. God’s ways are not our ways. His ways are opposite our ways.

A totally innocent man beaten very badly, and then staked to wood and left to suffocate and bleed to death. All because of me…and you…and every person who has ever lived.

That’s good?

Ah…yes it was.  Yes it is.  It is better than good. It’s the single most important event (along with His ensuing resurrection) that the world has ever know or ever will know.

It’s where God declared the war between Himself and sinners, that is every single person on the planet, to be over…once and for all. “Father forgive them…”

By His gracious mercy and love, He has declared you to be righteous for the sake of His Son, Christ Jesus. You. Little ol’ sinner, not much of a believer, you.

The future is wide open for you now. The present is wide open for you now. You have an unbelievable treasure awaiting you in Heaven that is beyond description, and you will do nothing at all to aquire it. For He has done all that is needful…on the cross..and in your baptism. That is real freedom! The freedom that God has purchased for you with the blood of His only Son. Free for you… very costly for Him. That’s the love of a wonderful Father.

Of course, He had to die before He could be raised again…as do we, for we are not greater than our Master.

But the darkness will give way to Light and Life in a few days as our Savior’s prayer is answered by His Father.

If that is not ‘good news’…then I don’t know what is!

I pray that the Lord will give us faith, and keep us in His faith that we might believe it, until He pulls us up out of that grave and raises us to everlasting life with Him in Paradise.

 

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Maundy Thursday

Posted on April 1, 2010 by theoldadam
( from Lutheran Church of the Master’s monthly publication, ‘The Mast’)

Traditionally in the Christian Church, this day is known as Maundy SEU 18 by { angie }Thursday. The term ‘Maundy’ comes from the Latin word mandatum (from which we get our English word mandate), a verb that means “to give”, “to entrust”, or “to order”.  The term is usually translated to “commandment”, from John’s account of that Thursday night.  According to the Fourth Gospel, as Jesus’ and the Disciples were eating their final meal together before Jesus’ arrest, he washed the disciple’s feet to illustrate humility and the spirit of servanthood.  After they had finished the meal, as they walked into the night toward Gethsemane, Jesus taught his disciples a “new” commandment, that was not really new  (John 13:34-35) :

 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also ought to love another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

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This post is a replay of last year’s Maundy Thursday posting.

How have you done in the area of ‘loving one another’ since last Maundy Thursday?

Have you humbled yourself and taken on the qualities of the lowest slave in the household, to serve others in love at the expense of your own position in life?

I haven’t.   At least not very often and not for very long and not probably not for the right reasons.

 

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Filed under: Maundy Thursday | 9 Comments »

Exactly why there had to be a ‘Good Friday’ in the first place…

Posted on March 30, 2010 by theoldadam

Photo: Davenport residents upset over Good Friday change

 

From-ABC-News.go.com

 One week before the most solemn day in the Christian year, the city of Davenport, Iowa removed Good Friday from its municipal calendar, setting off a storm of complaints from Christians and union members whose contracts give them that day off.

Taking a recommendation by the Davenport Civil Rights Commission to change the holiday’s name to something more ecumenical, City Administrator Craig Malin sent a memo to municipal employees announcing Good Friday would officially be known as “Spring Holiday.”

“My phone has been ringing off the hook since Saturday,” said city council alderman Bill Edmond. “People are genuinely upset because this is nothing but political correctness run amok.”

Edmond said the city administrator made the change unilaterally and did not bring it to the council for a vote, a requirement for a change in policy.

“The city council didn’t know anything about the change. We were blind sided and now we’ve got to clean this mess up. How do you tell people the city renamed a 2,000 year old holiday?” said Edmond.

It didn’t take long for the city the resurrect the name Good Friday. Malin was overruled today and the words “Spring Holiday” disappeared.

Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus was crucified and died. Christians celebrate his resurrection the following Sunday, Easter.

The Civil Rights Commission said it recommended changing the name to better reflect the city’s diversity and maintain a separation of church and state when it came to official municipal holidays.

“We merely made a recommendation that the name be changed to something other than Good Friday,” said Tim Hart, the commission’s chairman. “Our Constitution calls for separation of church and state. Davenport touts itself as a diverse city and given all the different types of religious and ethnic backgrounds we represent, we suggested the change.”

News of the change could not have come at more significant time in the Christian calendar. News of the name change spread through the town on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, becoming a topic of conversation at church services throughout Davenport.

“If you deny the idea of Good Friday then you have to deny Easter,” Monsignor Robert Schmidt told ABC affiliate WQAD.

Hart said the commission had no plans to change the name of Easter Sunday, because it fell on a weekend and government offices were already closed. The commission, he said, discussed changing Christmas, but decided enough other religions celebrate Christmas too. Hart, however, could not name one.

The religious right has attacked town governments that have removed public Christmas displays, calling such practices a “war on Christmas.”

City employees, beginning with local police, feared the name change would violate their union contracts with the city, which specifies Good Friday as an official municipal holiday. Employees that work city holidays are paid time and a half.

Read-the-full-story-here

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Nothing…absolutely nothing, shocks me or surprises me anymore.

 

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Filed under: Renaming 'Good Friday' | 17 Comments »

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