Cross+Wise

Faith Alone on Issues Etc.

I'm constantly playing catch-up on Issues Etc., but I just finished listening to the hour with Pastor Steven Parks on "Faith Alone." (Audio) Does anyone know if Pastor Parks is blogging? And if not, why not?! He always answers objections to true Christian teaching smartly and winsomely -- maybe because he used to hold many of those same objections himself.

On the same day (in Hour 1), Pastor Richard Stuckwisch dealt with the subject of "children as idols." It was a great discussion -- you can catch the wonderful blog post that sparked the discussion here.

Technorati Tags: Issues Etc., Sola Fide

Issues Etc. on the Shroud of Turin

The September 12th episode (Hour 2) of Issues Etc. featured a discussion of The Shroud of Turin.  Todd Wilken asked listeners whether they believed the shroud to be the true burial shroud of Christ -- or a fake.  A couple of callers said they believe the shroud if fake, because God wants us to take Him on faith.

It sounds like a good response on its face, but I think it misses a key point of Christianity.  The faith of Christianity is not a blind faith, devoid of factual support. Rather, it is a faith based on facts, as John Warwick Montgomery likes to point out, and as today's episode of Issues Etc. reiterated.  God does not really want us to merely "take Him on faith."  If that were the case, there would have been no need to place a historical Jesus into our world.  No need for 500+ witnesses to his resurrection.  No need for eyewitnesses to record the events of his life, before and after death.

I think the best response Christian response to the Shroud of Turin question is not, "It's fake, because God wants us to take Him on faith." 

It is, rather, "The shroud may be authentic, and if it's proven to be, I'll add it to the other historical evidence, which has already convinced me that Jesus -- the man who lived 2,000 years ago -- rose from the dead. The strong evidence for His resurrection from the dead tells me His other claims were pretty reliable, too."


Technorati Tags: Issues Etc., Shroud of Turin, Christianity, apologetics

The absence of patrons

From a NY Times article on the absence of truly beautiful music in the modern church:

One reason that less important music is being written for churches is that composers have other things on their minds: among them, making a living. Churches were once the center of life, and centers of wealth and power as well. Composers thrived in their employ in times when public concerts barely existed. The rich commissioned liturgical pieces as their personal upscale rapprochements with God. What money for composers circulates today is largely in secular hands.

Would a church body like the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod be well-served to serve as patron to young, smart, talented musicians -- not ditty-writers, but real musicians?  Adopt them out of the Concordia University system and let them make a living composing Christ-centered, beautiful music?  Is the LCMS doing something like this already?


HT: Incarnatus Est

Friend or Foe?

Read John 10:1-11

In 2^nd grade, my son and his friends enjoyed playing spy games. Secret passwords and special handshakes helped them distinguish the good guys from the bad. For spies of all ages, identifying friend and foe is vitally important.

We often act like 2^nd-grade spies in our spiritual lives, using our own elaborate criteria to distinguish good from bad, or truth from lies. We measure a church by the size of its sanctuary, or the pep in its praise.

When our own sinful condition clouds our judgment, we need not rely on secret signs to be certain of truth. Jesus gave us a foolproof way to distinguish spiritual friends from spiritual foes. "He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep," He said. “I am the door.”

The Gospel of Christ – that He lived, died and rose again to overcome death for us – is the only standard by which we can judge truth. It is the only standard for measuring a church. It is the “power of God for the salvation of all who believe.” No matter the outward appearances, where Christ’s Gospel is proclaimed, there is salvation.

Lord, teach us to judge truth only by the measure of Your Gospel. Amen.

Measuring Up

Matt. 7:15-23
Psalm 119:57-64

“Many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’” Matthew 7:22

All of us like to hear a word of praise. We want to know we have measured up.

But Jesus knows our measuring stick is too short. We love to measure our own love. We strive to measure our own striving. Our own efforts to measure up will always fail.

Jesus warns that many will hold up their own works as the measure of their lives. For them, the Ruler of the Universe will deliver an unwelcome measurement: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23)

We may be tempted to despair: “I have not ever prophesied, or cast out demons, or done mighty works like the hypocrites Jesus mentions. How can I measure up?”

Our answer is always in Christ, who measured up to God’s perfect law. He suffered and died for us on the cross. We are buried with Him in our Baptism. We rise again with Him, measuring up by His perfect life and His all-sufficient death.

Lord, strengthen our trust in Your salvation, won for us when You measured up on the cross. Amen.

Remaking Santa in the Shape of the Cross

"He's making a list, and checkin' it twice.
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice."

The debate resumes every December: should Christian parents teach their children about Santa Claus? Supporters of Jolly Old St. Nick often point to the original St. Nicholas. At Incarnatus Est, you can read a defense of Santa from Pastor Paul Gregory Alms.  At Burr in the Burgh, Pastor  Scott Stiegemeyer suggests going without the man in the red suit.

Fictional characters teach us something about the world.  The question for Christians is what a gift-bearing Santa Claus teaches us about the ultimate gift-bearer, Our Savior Jesus Christ. Just as C.S. Lewis conveyed a message of sin and salvation in Narnia; just as Flannery O'Connor explored good and evil in "A Good Man Is Hard to Find;" the Santa Claus mythology has come to speak broadly to our culture on questions of justice and grace. In Christian terms, that's Law and Gospel. Santa Claus has great potential to teach us about Christ at Christmastime, but too often, he is teaching us something else--something far worse than crass consumerism.

Unfortunately, even for Christians, our popular notion of Santa is that he's more law-giver than gift-bringer. He's "gonna find out who's naughty and nice." The implication is clear for our kids: naughty boys and girls don't get Santa's gifts.

In many ways, what's happened to Santa Claus is symptomatic of what's happening in churches. The gift of the Gospel is often turned into Law.  Our gift of forgiveness is predicated upon our good behavior. Naughty Christians don't get Gospel gifts. It's no wonder our Santa Claus story has become so weighed down with moralism; our Christ story has become that way, too.

But we needn't cast Santa Claus aside, despite the way we've mucked up his story. Because inside the legend lies a universal theme that points straight to the Savior. Let's remake Santa, as gift-giver first. No more threats to our children about lumps of coal in their stockings. No more warnings, disguised as questions: "Have you been really good this year?'

Instead, let our Santa Claus be like our Christ. Let him bring toys, freely and lovingly. Let him forgive our children's sins as Christ first forgave us. Let him act unilaterally to shower our children with gifts, as Christ acted unilaterally to shower us with salvation. If Santa exists, let him teach our children about something worthwhile; let him teach our children, and us, about Christmas.

Rain on the Righteous & Unrighteous

Cyberstones has words of wisdom regarding Hurricane Katrina, especially for those who are eager to blame the destruction solely on God's judgment of a wicked city.  An excerpt:

So in that same mercy God sends warnings. He would use the violence of this fallen world to call us to repentance, to change our mind, our attitude, our hearts. He would teach us vulnerability and dependency. He would turn us from ourself to Him. If He must, He will even make us as the beggar Lazarus rather than lose us. He did not send His Son to die in vain. He will get what He paid for. He will get you. For the violence of hurricanes is incomparable to the violence of Hell that He endured on the cross to win humanity from death. And the separation of body and soul, of loved ones, this hurricane has brought is only temporary.

I encourage you to check out the rest of the post.

The Geico Gospel?

The satire site Horn+Swoggled has a new article that examines the question of just what kind of Gospel many popular churches are preaching.

Fallen Levees, Fallen Man, Fallen World

New Orleans is devastated. Water has breached the city's levees. It pours into the streets. Mud, snakes and alligators settle in formerly manicured neighborhoods.  Homes are submerged. People are desperate. In their desperation, some have turned selfish and violent.

TV cameras capture pictures of looters, walking off with televisions they almost certainly will never be able to watch, and expensive appliances they will almost certainly never be able to use. Even a children's hospital is not safe, in these primitive conditions. Men guard their property and their families from men with guns, with guns of their own. A New Orleans resident, Art Depodesta, tells the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he's disgusted, because "The whole U.S. is looking at this city right now, and this is what they see."

Commentators express amazement that a sophisticated U.S. city could descend so quickly into chaos. But ultimately, the state of New Orleans is no different than the state of the world: fallen, sinful, and cut off from God. A disaster of these proportions brings to mind the words of St. Paul: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." (Romans 8:22)

The answer in this time of trouble is not the shallow "gospel" of a Jesus who waits for us to unlock his power. Nor is it the promise of prosperity, which rings so shallow in the depth of such suffering.

The answer -- the only truly relevant answer in the face of flooding and looting and death -- is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for sinners. It is the flood of baptismal grace that washes away our sins; it is Christ's victory over death, won for us on the cross; it is the certain hope of an eternal life with God, in a new creation, free from the groaning caused by sin.

The depth of our suffering is surpassed only by the depth of God's love. As we respond to ease the earthly suffering of those devastated by Hurricane Katrina, may God allow the certain hope of salvation within us to shine for those who need it. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be a beacon in a darkened city, and in our darkened world.

Update: Territorial Bloggings points out that LCMS World Relief has begun posting updates on its relief efforts for Katrina victims. Their website includes a "Give Now" button, for those who want to donate money to the effort.

Lutherans Welcome

I was searching for a Lutheran website on Google this week, and I noticed an advertising link that read, "Lutherans Welcome."  The tag line?  "Practical, casual, and biblical!"

Aside from the ordering of the adjectives ("Biblical" is third, behind "practical" and "casual?"), the advertisement bothered me for another reason. If the church in question--Full Life Community Church--is Christian, as I assumed, then its placement of an ad titled, "Lutherans welcome," indicates one of three things:

1. Full Life is Lutheran.
2. Full Life believes Lutherans need "saving" from their own churches, and must be lured away for their own good.
3. Full Life is intentionally engaged in a practice that I would call "sheep stealing"--encouraging fellow Christians to leave their own churches to attend another, without any indication that those Christians are even dissatisfied with their own church.

I emailed "Pastor Dan" at Full Life Community Church to address my concerns with him.  He responded, but in my view, he failed to address any of the substantive issues I raised.  Unfortunately, he would not give me permission to post the email exchange at this site.

Pastor Dan's blog, however, give a good picture about the "Gospel" he is proclaiming at Full Life Community Church. It speaks of Jesus as the answer to life's problem--but is full of presciptions for Christians who want to earn God's gifts, including forgiveness!  Here are just a few examples (emphasis mine):

From Aug. 15:  He gave the Golden Rule because one of the laws of the spiritual universe is that you reap what you sow.

From July 18: Do you want to be protected from harm? Do you want to be secure in a strong fortress? Do you want to be safe and unafraid in this world of danger? Protection is found in God alone. You can be surrounded by body guards and not be safe. The only truly safe people in the world are those who are godly, those who are following God’s purpose for their lives. Nothing can deter them from fulfilling God’s mission for their lives as they release God’s power of protection.

From July 4: We're all going to get hurt by people, we don't have a choice in that. Our choice is how to respond to those who hurt us. Forgiveness opens the door to living in freedom. Our forgiveness of others releases God's forgiveness toward us.

From June 27: God has a purpose for your life, but it will never be accomplished unless you receive God's resources, God's provision. So you must present your proposal to God to see if He will approve your project. You present your proposal in prayer. If you are asking in line with God's will, the objectives of the Kingdom of God, Inc., you will receive the required provision.

Full Life Community Church is by no means alone in these kinds of teaching. But unfortunately, it is specifically targeting Lutherans for membership (and, it turns out, Baptists, Methodist and others). In  its zeal to reach disaffected church members with a relevant Gospel, it has forgotten what the Gospel truly is.

What is it? It is the good news that Christ lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose again to win victory over death for us. It is the good news that Christ has won our forgiveness. It is the good news that the Christ's gift of forgiveness is delivered to us in the water of baptism, and in His body and blood in His Supper. In short, it is the Gospel preached at many of the churches from which Full Life Community Church seeks to lure new members.

I invited Pastor Dan to respond here. If some of you have struggled in churches that confuse Law and Gospel, perhaps you will share your experiences here. It's quite possible that he doesn't know how Christians struggle with doubt when left to rely on their own "commitment" or "decision" or "obedience." A Gospel that relies on our own actions is no Gospel at all.

Thank God for the finished work of Christ, who won our salvation free and clear, before we knew Him, committed to Him, decided for Him, or obeyed him.