Some time ago I came across an interesting quote from Martin Luther: "Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly." Luther had a penchant for exaggeration in his writing. It seems like Luther is telling people to go ahead and sin it up. But that's not quite what he's talking about. The paragraph containing this statement reads as follows:
"If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong [sin boldly], but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God's glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner."
The statement sticks out to me because, at face value, it really sounds antithetical to what Luther worked so many years for. Didn't he champion the notion that faith brings repentance? Where is repentance in flagrant sin?
What Luther is really saying is that we should admit we are sinful, accept it, and strive to serve God anyway. We don't always intend to sin. I don't go out of my way to swear when I hit my toe or get angry at someone. I may impulsively act selfish or arrogant. Sin's just a part of life. People react differently to their sinful nature. Some deny they ever sin. Others are hypocritical, claiming to be a godly person but hiding their faults. Others are aware of their sinfulness and stress about it every day. Here Luther says we should accept we are sinful, repent of them, then just plain live life. Your repentance won't be perfect, and at some point you'll fall. You might fall many times a day. That's part of being human. Yet as the quote above says, Jesus's sacrifice covers those sins because we are faithful.
We "sin boldly" when we admit we are sinful. The quote above invites us to trust in Jesus ever more, and continue to pray because of that sinfulness. This, I think, is a healthy and realistic view of ourselves. It brings me comfort to know that, although I continue to sin, I still remain saved. This leads me to continue living a faithful life.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Praying for the Deployed
In a recent church service I got a little emotional during the prayers. It seems to be standard that the church prayers include praying for those who are deployed in the military. When a member of the church congregation goes overseas, their name is put in the church's prayers, where we ask God to keep them safe and bring them home to us. And every week they're prayed for until they return.
It's kind of hard to explain why I felt moved by this. The aim of the church is to be a stable bastion in one's life. The Lutheran church in particular seems to do well at this. It's got robust organization and plenty of programs and activities that help people walk in their faith. Praying for deployed soldiers is the church's way of saying "We're gonna take care of you in whatever way we can until you return to us." The prayer itself asks for the soldier to be returned safely, since that's the desire of everyone in the congregation. It says to the soldier that he/she is in the church's thoughts, hearts, plans and prayers. In this aspect the church acts as that source of stability by extending emotional and spiritual support. And something about all that really moves me.
It's kind of hard to explain why I felt moved by this. The aim of the church is to be a stable bastion in one's life. The Lutheran church in particular seems to do well at this. It's got robust organization and plenty of programs and activities that help people walk in their faith. Praying for deployed soldiers is the church's way of saying "We're gonna take care of you in whatever way we can until you return to us." The prayer itself asks for the soldier to be returned safely, since that's the desire of everyone in the congregation. It says to the soldier that he/she is in the church's thoughts, hearts, plans and prayers. In this aspect the church acts as that source of stability by extending emotional and spiritual support. And something about all that really moves me.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Reading the Augsburg Confession
After I went through the Small Catechism and a Revelation commentary, I found myself without ideas for a devotional. Then I remembered there was an entire book of Lutheran theology called the Book of Concord. So now I'm going through it on its website. First off is the Augsburg Confession! I'm almost done with it so after that, I'll provide a post reflecting what I've learned from it. I'll say this much: despite the older form of English it has, it's not terribly difficult to understand.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Catechism Highlights, Pt 2
I almost forgot to do this! There are a lot of questions to cover, so I may miss some that caught my eye.
105. What is the Christian's proper response to theories of evolution regarding the beginning of the world?
The catechism's way of addressing the issue of evolution is pretty fideistic. It essentially says "The Bible speaks of a young Earth, so that must be true!" It also calls evolutionary theories "scientifically unverifiable."
This implies the LCMS holds to a Young Earth Creationism (YEC) understanding of the world - a literal seven days of creation, with the universe being around 6,000 years old. Although I once held to YEC I now consider myself an Old Earth Creationist (OEC). I accept scientific aging of the universe at about 13.7 billion years old, as well as a very old Earth and evolution. This is due to me mostly being an evidentialist - I go where the evidence takes me. Up until now I haven't seen very much evidence pointing to the viability of a young Earth. I see YEC/OEC as a doctrine of secondary importance, so I don't mention it often nor do I try to persuade others' stance on it.
107. Do people still have the image of God?
According to the catechism, we don't bear the image of God anymore because of sin. We are not the image-bearers that many people like to tell us. By accepting Jesus the image is rebuilt in us but won't be fully completed until after the end of this age.
108. How does the universe still depend on God? and 110. What does God do to take care of me?
One of the questions I've been wondering is, how active is God in my daily life? Or in general, just how much involvement does he have? Does he oversee and care for every single detail, or does he let us decide how the paths of our lives will go? The answers to 108 and 110 suggest that God sustains the physical world (by digging a bit into the grammar of the Greek it seems to be a passive thing) and he provides for and defends his followers. In his foreknowledge, God established the universe in a way that, through natural occurrences and human action, that his will would be done.
140. Has Christ redeemed only you?
A shock to my system: Christ has redeemed everyone, not just believers. This notion, called universal atonement, is a bit foreign to me. I suppose while everyone is redeemed, not everyone is saved because they lack faith.
213. For what do we pray in the Second Petition?
The Second Petition is the line "Your kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer. I have long thought this was a petition for God to bring the end time sooner. Under Lutheran teaching, God's kingdom is already present. So in saying this we ask that the already present kingdom may be further edified.
215. What is the good and gracious will of God?
Christians today seem to obsess over knowing what God's will for their lives is. Who do they marry? What country should they be a missionary in? What should be their major in college? There are books and sermons on discerning God's will, even though he has shown himself generally tight-lipped in talking about it until we need to know.
The answer to this question is nicely summed in three phrases: obedience, evangelism, and proper instruction. How the specifics are worked out are left to God and man's free will.
218. How is God's will done in our lives?
Answer: when God defeats plans which oppose his, keeps us following godly behaviors, and supports us throughout our lives.
226. What does God want us to do for those who sin against us?
The answer to this is a real challenge for me to carry out. We are to forgive them and do good to them.
249. If Christ has already won forgiveness and salvation for us and gives us all this by grace alone, why do we still need baptism?
Apparently I'm not the first one who thought saying Jesus alone saves, but then adding baptism, seemed wonky. This is the closest the catechism came to answering the objection I had to Lutheran doctrine. Jesus alone saves, but it's distributed in baptism. I am not entirely sure this satisfies my objection.
269. What special authority has Christ given to His church on Earth?
This introduces a doctrine called the Office of the Keys. Honestly it's something I could devote an entire blog post to. In short, ministers can withhold divine forgiveness from unrepentant people, and it will be as effective as if God himself were denying them forgiveness. It is a bit weird but also understandable. Pastors work in the place of Christ and act on his authority.
292. Do all communicants receive the body and blood in the Sacrament, whether or not they believe?
I wonder how this applies not toward unbelievers, but those churches that don't believe the wine (or grape juice) and bread really are the body and blood of Jesus. It would appear that they still really are taking Jesus's body and blood, even though their official doctrine says it's just symbolic.
105. What is the Christian's proper response to theories of evolution regarding the beginning of the world?
The catechism's way of addressing the issue of evolution is pretty fideistic. It essentially says "The Bible speaks of a young Earth, so that must be true!" It also calls evolutionary theories "scientifically unverifiable."
This implies the LCMS holds to a Young Earth Creationism (YEC) understanding of the world - a literal seven days of creation, with the universe being around 6,000 years old. Although I once held to YEC I now consider myself an Old Earth Creationist (OEC). I accept scientific aging of the universe at about 13.7 billion years old, as well as a very old Earth and evolution. This is due to me mostly being an evidentialist - I go where the evidence takes me. Up until now I haven't seen very much evidence pointing to the viability of a young Earth. I see YEC/OEC as a doctrine of secondary importance, so I don't mention it often nor do I try to persuade others' stance on it.
107. Do people still have the image of God?
According to the catechism, we don't bear the image of God anymore because of sin. We are not the image-bearers that many people like to tell us. By accepting Jesus the image is rebuilt in us but won't be fully completed until after the end of this age.
108. How does the universe still depend on God? and 110. What does God do to take care of me?
One of the questions I've been wondering is, how active is God in my daily life? Or in general, just how much involvement does he have? Does he oversee and care for every single detail, or does he let us decide how the paths of our lives will go? The answers to 108 and 110 suggest that God sustains the physical world (by digging a bit into the grammar of the Greek it seems to be a passive thing) and he provides for and defends his followers. In his foreknowledge, God established the universe in a way that, through natural occurrences and human action, that his will would be done.
140. Has Christ redeemed only you?
A shock to my system: Christ has redeemed everyone, not just believers. This notion, called universal atonement, is a bit foreign to me. I suppose while everyone is redeemed, not everyone is saved because they lack faith.
213. For what do we pray in the Second Petition?
The Second Petition is the line "Your kingdom come" in the Lord's Prayer. I have long thought this was a petition for God to bring the end time sooner. Under Lutheran teaching, God's kingdom is already present. So in saying this we ask that the already present kingdom may be further edified.
215. What is the good and gracious will of God?
Christians today seem to obsess over knowing what God's will for their lives is. Who do they marry? What country should they be a missionary in? What should be their major in college? There are books and sermons on discerning God's will, even though he has shown himself generally tight-lipped in talking about it until we need to know.
The answer to this question is nicely summed in three phrases: obedience, evangelism, and proper instruction. How the specifics are worked out are left to God and man's free will.
218. How is God's will done in our lives?
Answer: when God defeats plans which oppose his, keeps us following godly behaviors, and supports us throughout our lives.
226. What does God want us to do for those who sin against us?
The answer to this is a real challenge for me to carry out. We are to forgive them and do good to them.
249. If Christ has already won forgiveness and salvation for us and gives us all this by grace alone, why do we still need baptism?
Apparently I'm not the first one who thought saying Jesus alone saves, but then adding baptism, seemed wonky. This is the closest the catechism came to answering the objection I had to Lutheran doctrine. Jesus alone saves, but it's distributed in baptism. I am not entirely sure this satisfies my objection.
269. What special authority has Christ given to His church on Earth?
This introduces a doctrine called the Office of the Keys. Honestly it's something I could devote an entire blog post to. In short, ministers can withhold divine forgiveness from unrepentant people, and it will be as effective as if God himself were denying them forgiveness. It is a bit weird but also understandable. Pastors work in the place of Christ and act on his authority.
292. Do all communicants receive the body and blood in the Sacrament, whether or not they believe?
I wonder how this applies not toward unbelievers, but those churches that don't believe the wine (or grape juice) and bread really are the body and blood of Jesus. It would appear that they still really are taking Jesus's body and blood, even though their official doctrine says it's just symbolic.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
One to Another
Tomorrow I will most likely be finishing my reading of the Small Catechism. Eventually I will try to get a post up with the thoughts I had on the remaining questions I read in the explanation of the catechism.
I have already picked what I want to read up on next. Coming from an Assemblies of God church, I have been taught a more literal, millenialist teaching of Revelation with a focus on a pre-tribulation Rapture. Lutherans don't hold to a literal reading of Revelation. The book was mentioned in discussion the other day and it made me curious. I looked up a study on Revelation and found this one. I'll go through it over the course of a couple weeks or so, just depending on how I pace myself. It will be really neat to get an understand of Revelation that pre-dates what I was taught originally.
I have already picked what I want to read up on next. Coming from an Assemblies of God church, I have been taught a more literal, millenialist teaching of Revelation with a focus on a pre-tribulation Rapture. Lutherans don't hold to a literal reading of Revelation. The book was mentioned in discussion the other day and it made me curious. I looked up a study on Revelation and found this one. I'll go through it over the course of a couple weeks or so, just depending on how I pace myself. It will be really neat to get an understand of Revelation that pre-dates what I was taught originally.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Catechism Highlights, Pt. 1
Here are a few things I've read in the explanation to the Small Catechism that I've found interesting.
53. Does anyone have authority to take another person's life?
4. What is the key to the correct understanding of the Bible?
The answer indicates that the core to meaning the Bible is Jesus. In other words, whatever is read must be understood in light of the death and resurrection of Jesus. In some things this may be hard to notice. Parts of the Old Testament gain new meaning when you factor Jesus into the equation. Often I am inclined to read the books of the Bible as separate works with different genres. But they are unified through the message of Jesus.
5. How is human reason to be used in understanding Holy Scriptures?
The thing that interests me is how the answer indicates that it's OK to use reason when trying to understand the Bible (including philosophy), but it has to be subject to the Holy Spirit. This is another strike against the claim of fideism I've put on Lutheranism in general.
36. Does God require us to observe the Sabbath and other holy days of the Old Testament?
This is one of the more radical things I've read thus far. Radical in the sense that the answer indicates we as Christians are not required to pick a day to observe as a Sabbath. Rather, Jesus Christ is our Sabbath, our rest (Matt. 11:28, Matt 12:8, Col. 2:16-17, Heb. 4:9-10). Through Jesus Christ we have a perpetual, constant Sabbath rest even if we're not physically relaxing.
37. Does God require the church to worship together on any specific days?
The answer here is that while God does command us to worship together, there is no day we're required to meet up on. Most Christians have church on Sundays. Seventh Day Adventists prefer Saturdays. There is no set date for it. Indeed I have seen instances of churches holding services on Sunday, but also Wednesdays and Saturdays. Sunday is the normal day of worship mainly because that's the day Jesus was resurrected on.
I was surprised at this answer. The catechism says "yes" - lawful governments are authorized to execute criminals and fight just wars, which include taking lives.
56. What does God forbid in the Sixth Commandment?
Divorce is unacceptable except in cases of marital unfaithfulness. This includes adultery, but also desertion. From the Bible verse used to support the desertion parts it seems to imply the deserting member is an unbeliever. Maybe it's also expanded to believers as well. I'm a little surprised abuse is never considered a reason for divorce. I personally would not bat an eye over that being a reason people get divorced, because it strikes me as completely out of God's will for someone to remain with an abusive partner.
71. What does God mean when He threatens to punish the children for the sin of the father to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him?
It seems Martin Luther didn't realize that the above statement wasn't meant to literally mean punishment for sin would extend to one's children. He cites Ezekiel 18:20 saying that sons will not be punished for their fathers' sins. The statement the question addresses, if I recall correctly, is a reference to how the gods of the neighboring nations actually would place a generational punishment like this. By mentioning it, God speaks of how powerful he is. It is a sort of metaphor which speaks of God's sovereignty.
80. How many kinds of sin are there?
The catechism mentions two types of sin: original sin and actual sin. Actual sin is the stuff we do, and nobody seems to deny it's there. Original sin states we are wholly corrupted due to the first sin ever committed by Adam and Eve. I know this is something not everyone agrees with, although I haven't really focused much on it.
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Reading Through the Small Catechism
As I mentioned a couple months ago, I went through the membership class for the LCMS and received a copy of the Small Catechism. It came in a small book with a blue cover. At least, I think it's blue - I'm colorblind so I might be wrong. After the Small Catechism, the book goes through the various parts of the catechism and addresses some 300 questions about the various parts of it.
I have this thing where I get a little bothered by people not knowing what they believe or why. So imagine the plank in my eye when I realized that even though I called myself a member of the LCMS church, I really did not have an expansive understanding of what it teaches! So recently I have committed myself to reading 5-10 of the questions in the explanation of the Small Catechism on a daily basis. Overall it should take me a month or two to finish.
While there is a lot of information that I'm processing, and much of it stuff I already figured out, every now and then I'm running across something that stands out as a "Hmm, that's kind of cool" thing. I may end up writing a post about these as I find them.
I have this thing where I get a little bothered by people not knowing what they believe or why. So imagine the plank in my eye when I realized that even though I called myself a member of the LCMS church, I really did not have an expansive understanding of what it teaches! So recently I have committed myself to reading 5-10 of the questions in the explanation of the Small Catechism on a daily basis. Overall it should take me a month or two to finish.
While there is a lot of information that I'm processing, and much of it stuff I already figured out, every now and then I'm running across something that stands out as a "Hmm, that's kind of cool" thing. I may end up writing a post about these as I find them.
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