Thesis: While the defense of the Christian faith may serve to remove common objections, it cannot create faith, properly the work of the Spirit through the Word.
Any objection to faith is overcome by the Spirit through his chosen instruments, Word and water.
In the New World, computers are task-centric. We are reading email, browsing the web, playing a game, but not all at once. Applications are sandboxed, then moats dug around the sandboxes, and then barbed wire placed around the moats. As a direct result, New World computers do not need virus scanners, their batteries last longer, and they rarely crash, but their users have lost a degree of freedom. New World computers have unprecedented ease of use, and benefit from decades of research into human-computer interaction. They are immediately understandable, fast, stable, and laser-focused on the 80% of the famous 80/20 rule.
via stevenf.com – I need to talk to you about computers. I’ve been….
Prior to becoming the devout, busybody next-door neighbor on the animated hit “The Simpsons,” Ned Flanders was an out-of-control brat whose beatnik parents didn’t believe in discipline. To reform Ned, a child psychologist enrolled him in the University of Minnesota Spankalogical Protocol, which included eight months of continuous spanking. It cured his rambunctiousness and set him on the path to becoming the cartoon world’s most famously pious Christian.
Article X of the Formula of Concord deals with indifferent matters or what has been called “adiaphora.” The application of Article X to the question of worship among Lutherans in America today may seem difficult. But once we sweep away some of the extraneous issues and get to the core of the Biblical and Confessional position on adiaphora, we can apply it today with confidence.
Here was the issue which confronted the Lutherans. They had been part of the Roman Church until recently. While establishing the ministry of the Gospel and Sacraments among themselves they had discarded certain Roman customs. The Roman church wanted the Lutherans to return to these customs in order for there to be peace among the two groups. Some Lutherans figured that they should go ahead and reintroduce the abandoned customs. They thought that they might as well not antagonize the Roman church any more than necessary and since some of these customs were neither commanded nor forbidden in the church then they were not doing wrong for actions intended to minimize the conflict.
Before the conference was ever held, Pr. Asburry noted that the question that is ultimately behind all the discussions will likely not be addressed: the question of authority. He was prescient. It is the “white elephant” in the room of American Lutheranism. Granted that many of the questions before us do indeed fall into the category of adiaphora (neither commanded nor forbidden); granted that not all adiaphora are created equal (Arand); WHO regulates adiaphora or church ceremony?
The following is the conclusion to an excellent online article from Prof. John Pless:
Unexplainable tragedies bring pain and chaos. God leaves the wound open, to use the words of Bayer. We cry out to God in lamentation in the face of events that defy our capacities for understanding. But the anguished lament ascends from the crucible of faith, not unbelief. It is a confession of trust in the God who works all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Living in repentance and faith, we are freed from the inward turn of speculation that seeks to investigate the hidden God. Instead, we trust in the kindness and mercy of God revealed in Christ Jesus.
With such a freedom, we are liberated to rely on God’s promises and turn our attention to works of mercy to bring compassion and relief to those who suffer in this sinful world. God does not give us explanations that will satisfy our nagging questions, but He does give us sure and certain promises of unflinching mercy and unfailing faithfulness in His Son handed over to death and raised again for our justification.
Support the relief effort: Haiti Earthquake Relief
LCMS World Relief and Human Care Disaster Response
Support the relief effort: Haiti Earthquake Relief
LCMS World Relief and Human Care Disaster Response
Keep all those suffering in Haiti in your prayers. The seminary has a deaconess intern there who is confirmed to be safe. We also have a student from Haiti who has not been able to reach his father on the phone, but expect him to be safe as well. Read more…
From our the brothers in Novosibirsk:
Peace to you, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
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