Is it funny because of the truth that lies within?
hat-tip to Christ-the-Truth
Filed under: Humor, The Culture | 5 Comments »
What’s in a Name?
Posted on August 28, 2009 by theoldadam
From The-Christian-Post
The sign outside the church would usually read St. Timothy Lutheran Church. But the word “Lutheran” has been covered over and now simply reads St. Timothy Church.
The minister of the Charleston, W.Va., church, the Rev. Richard Mahan, explained his actions to his congregation during service on Sunday.
“I asked that this be done because I’m ashamed. I’m ashamed of what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has done to a church I’ve loved for 40 years,” he said.
Last week, ELCA’s highest legislative body voted to lift the denomination’s ban on noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy.
On Sunday, Mahan used his sermon to teach his congregants, which typically numbers 300 to 400 each Sunday, about homosexuality. He told them, “We welcome the sinner, but we do not welcome the sin. All are welcome, but the sin is not.”
“We have always welcomed gays and lesbians to our church, but according to the word of God, we do not believe they are to be ordained,” he said, according to the Charleston Daily Mail. “I am not speaking out against the gay and lesbian community, but I am speaking out against the ordination of gays and lesbians as pastors and bishops and leaders of the church – and the blessing of same-sex marriages.”
Mahan’s stance was widely supported by his congregation, who gave him a standing ovation during the service.
The pastor urged the congregation to pray about what they should do next in response to the vote. He reassured them, however, that nothing would change regarding the church’s mission in the mean time.
“Let me assure you, nothing is going to change here at St Timothy. Jesus is still the same. The Bible is still the divinely inspired word of God.”
Mahan believes that the vote will split the church and may see a number of individual congregations choose to abandon the ELCA.
Explaining his own convictions, he said, “I love everyone. I love all people. This is just completely contradictory to the word of God. I love homosexuals, have ministered to them, and had homosexuals in my congregation. Nowhere in the Bible does it say you can have same-sex marriage.”
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Do you think this pastor and his congregation did the right thing?
Filed under: ELCA vote aftermath | 10 Comments »
2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly blog
Posted on August 27, 2009 by theoldadam
http://blogs.elca.org/assembly/2009/08/21/bishop-hansons-message/comment-page-1/#comment-170
If you are interested.
Filed under: ELCA Sexuality Vote | 6 Comments »
What’s next for liberalism and for the ELCA?
Posted on August 26, 2009 by theoldadam
What’s next?
How about threesomes?
Why not?
“Hey, those three people really love each other and are committed to each other.”
You, “new Christian”, you tell me on what grounds that society, or the “new church” should stop this from happening.
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Is love the key?
Would it be loving to deny three loving people, who aren’t hurting anyone else, the legitimacy they so yearn for?
And why shouldn’t one or all be allowed to pastor a church?
Could the “Spirit” “lead us there” , as well?
Filed under: ELCA Sexuality Vote | 87 Comments »
“I AM the Bread of Life”
Posted on August 24, 2009 by theoldadam
click here to listen >Sermon-for-the-12th-Sunday-after-Pentecost
By Pastor Mark Anderson Lutheran Church of the Master, Corona del Mar, CA
“Who cares what Brad Pitt says?”
Filed under: Pastor Mark Anderson, Sermon | 6 Comments »
A much bigger ‘Disaster’
Posted on August 21, 2009 by theoldadam
No… not the broken church steeple (split in two) with cross dangling. Not the damage to Central Lutheran Church that the ELCA was using as the church for their Churchwide Assembly held right across the street at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
The bigger disaster was the vote to approve the allowing of practicing homosexual clergy in the ELCA.
This is a disaster of the highest order. The ELCA has now decided to throw God’s Holy Word right out the stained glass window.
Some say that the tornado that hit downtown Minneapolis during the ELCA’s meeting was a message from God. That He was trying to tell them not to abandon His Holy Word. I don’t know if that is true or not. But I do know that the ELCA has abandoned God’s Law in favor of a world pleasing doctrine and that this action will not bode well for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
This will quite possibly split the denomination, as there are many good and faithful congregations and pastors within that denomination.
These pastors and congregations face some tough days with tough decisions ahead. It is not as easy as just packing up and leaving. There are a myriad of legal issues and alternative associative scenarios that will have to be looked at in depth, discussed, and decided upon. And then there will be some that think that this is a good thing, and who believe that nothing ought be done about it.
It is a very sad day for many congregations and pastors in the ELCA and it is a sad day for the church at large.
I pray that the Lord will use this travesty to work some good for His Church and for His people.
Filed under: ELCA Sexuality Vote | 26 Comments »
Another Disaster…
Posted on August 21, 2009 by theoldadam
Click-on-the-videos-to-see-another-type-of-disaster
Some of you will like this stuff.
Some of you will hate it.
Some will be indifferent.
I hate it.
We’ve spoken about this sort of thing recently, so I’m not going to take too much time on it.
Feel free to throw your 2 cents in if you desire. I might also, but I might not. I think it’s all getting to me. I need a vacation.
Another-Lutheran-church…or-Baptist?
Filed under: ELCA Youth Thingy | 11 Comments »
‘Law’ used the wrong way…or ?
Posted on August 21, 2009 by theoldadam
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OK. A lot of law there. Was it a proper usage of the law?
What could he have done differently to make this a better message?
Or, was it great just the way he said it?
Filed under: Law and Gospel | 9 Comments »
Radio preachers
Posted on August 21, 2009 by theoldadam
I did a bit of driving today and listened to a couple of preachers on the radio.
I actually just caught the tail end of one program, in time to hear them advertise their 8 cd series on ‘How to Become More Righteous’.
OK…I didn’t know that was even possible. But I’m saving up for the set.
Then I heard a popular radio preacher speak at length on how we are spiritually dead, so Jesus died on the cross, paid the price for our sin, there’s nothing at all that we need to do (so far so good), and now it is up to us to either accept Jesus or not. OK…
After that, I just listened to K Earth 101 and some 6
0’s music. I think I was better off.
Filed under: Radio Preachers | 16 Comments »
Good old Marty…
Posted on August 17, 2009 by theoldadam
“If God promises something, then faith must fight a long and bitter fight, for reason or the flesh judges that God’s pro
mises are impossible. Therefore faith must battle against reason and its doubts…………. Faith is something that is busy, powerful and creative, though properly speaking, it is essentially an enduring than a doing. It changes the mind and heart. While reason holds to what is present, faith apprehends the things that are not seen. Contrary to reason, faith regards the invisible things as already materialized. This explains why faith, unlike hearing is not found in many, for only few believe, while the great majority cling to the things that are present and can be felt and handled rather than to the Word.”
~ Martin Luther, ‘The Promises’
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“Long and bitter fight”? Huh?
Didn’t Luther realize that we were saved once, way back there at the cross (or when I made my decision) and that now I am on the Christian escalator…constantly moving upward and onward?
Filed under: Luther | 26 Comments »
The Old Adam Lives! 