Crazy Theological Thoughts

There are advantages to Private Confession and Absolution. I wonder how that advantage can be seen in this day and age. Most people do not trust others. People do not desire to unload all their secrets to other people. Some of us find very close friends to which we can confess things. The difficulty is that they tend not to go to their Pastor or Congregation. St Paul tells Christians to help each other. James tells us to confess our sins to one another and see that we are struggling together. Jesus reminds us that we have the power to forgive sins. Jesus also tells us if we have grudges or sins against one another we need to go and resolve those sins. But often times we bury them. People desire to avoid conflict but end up building a larger conflict. When we share with each other all our struggles and sins, we can help each other. We can confess our sins and receive forgiveness. We can find strength in our numbers. I also think God was on to something when he said tell you...

Most people read the bible through. They read a book at a time. They will follow the thought process of the author especially with the Epistles. It is nice to read the Old Testament stories/accounts. The Bible was written to be read in the order of the book which was written. But on Sunday mornings we read three separate lessons. On Sunday morning we read from the Old Testament then from the New Testament, and finally a Gospel lesson. Even if you do not read a lesson from each part you still probably ready lessons not entire books. What would it be like if we would sit down one Sunday morning and read an entire book. Then think about that book as a hole. Maybe look at key passages in this book. There are some people who say this is how the early Church worshiped. But I don't care if it is what the early church did. The point is there are two main ways to read the Bible. You can read a passage, look up a concordance and read related passages. The other option is you can read an enti...

Isaiah 55 says, "Instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed." God will no longer put thorns in our flesh but allow us to rejoice. The LORD is the one over all the people. The LORD is the one who makes life from death. The LORD takes the imperfect and desolate and creates life. The LORD makes water to run in the desert. The LORD is sending people into exile. The LORD is the one who sends people from their homes. The LORD watches as people struggle through trials and evil times. God sent Jacob and his sons to Egypt, where they would become slaves. God watched as his children became the slaves of other people. His people were beaten and bruised. Yet God stood by waiting. God waited for the proper one to be born. God waited for Moses to grow up and see a burning bush. The LORD makes himself known to the people in Egypt. The LORD delivers ...

I was working today and thought about where in the Church year would the Plagues best fit. Exodus takes the slaves of Israel through 10 wonders against Egypt. The people of Israel see blood, frogs, flies, gnats, locusts, livestock, boils, hail, darkness, and death of the first born. All these great signs and wonders God has shown to the people of Egypt. Do these signs fit into Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost? Generally I would think the season of Signs and Wonders is Advent, which is a season to wait for the coming of the LORD. But it does not scream release from Slavery or Triumphant Victory at the end. Epiphany is a season that also offers great signs and wonders. Epiphany the season of Light reflects Triumph but still not quite the Slavery and bad things idea. Pentecost is also a Season where you find signs and wonders of the Apostles or Holy Spirit. The 10 Plagues just seem like they should come before the Apostles start to show off. I think then best connec...

Hymns are those songs which help to instruct the Church on Doctrinal Issues. These hymns remind us of the Sacrifice of Christ, the holy Trinity, and the way the Church lives with Christ. Psalms are not only found in the book of Psalms. Psalms are prayers put to music. These can be various types of prayers. Spiritual Songs are those songs from scripture sang to God. This are also songs that tell the story of what happened. St Paul tells us, "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Is Pau just telling us to sing joyfully? Does it matter what we sing? Yes, it matters what we sing. Sing the Bible, Sing the Faith, Sing about our LORD, and Sing in the Name of Jesus Christ. These are the songs we sing. We sing hymns people have written to express the faith. We sing Spiritual Songs people have written to tell u...

I listened to a report the other day on Philippians 2:5-11. This report talked about how early Jesus was equated with God. The phrase in the text itself even makes my skin crawl, "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." This first makes me think that there is no other god besides the LORD. But in the previous phrase we read, "Who, being in very nature God." This became interesting to me. The Self-Study Bible even reads, "Something to be forcibly retained--the glory Christ had with the Father before his incarnation. But he did not consider that high position to be something he could not give up." This does not make sense to me either. God does not lose anything during the incarnation. Christ does not stop being Man when he is bodily raised from the dead. Christ is God and Man. This does not mean he has less glory than the Father. This means he can humble himself and dye on the Cross, which wierdly the Father can not do. This...

You may have heard of Dysfunctional Families. These are families that struggle with each other. They do not have solid over all structure. They develop conflicts against each other. Even in some cases they will disown family members. Disfunctional Families have become more and more common over the years. The Disfunctional Church is the same way. The Church is a family. The Church is people who are called by God to be Christians. The Church are the sons of God. The Church is made up of all the children of God. But these children do not get along. These children teach different things about their parents. They all have different perspectives. The Children even develop conflicts with each other. But they are still family. The Children may even disown other children. The great thing is that our Father does not reject any family members. Yet, the children do not actually know who are all their brothers and sisters. The children can only look at others who claim to be family members and trea...

Many people think that Mark is the First Gospel written, I do not agree. But I will give reasons some other time which Gospel I think is written first. I think Mark is one of the last of the Gospels. I am not sure whether I would date Mark after John or not. But either way Mark is a gospel that expects you to know some things already. I have been listening to the Gospel of Mark and I thought about Chapter 8. "When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, Twelve. And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? and they said to him, Seven. And he said to them, Do you not yet understand?" (8:19-21) This got me to think about what people are supposed to remember from their reading. What does the Twelve and Seven baskets mean. Where do I find a Connection? Maybe the 12 Tribes and the 7 Nations (Deut. 7:1). Also in Chapter 13 you get this strange Narration ...

Luke the great Physician gives us two books of the Bible. Luke the Physician does not give us a health care bill but the Word of God. He also points us to the Christian Health Care. Acts 5:15 "So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them." This Passage reminds us why people will take pilgrimages to Statues. If you could just be in the shadow of Peter you will be healed. Is this not the true word of God? Does this not mean if I am a true believer in Christ I can heal others? Is there another way to read this passage? Well I do not care how you read the passage. If you take the bible seriously, you must find answers to these questions. But I have a better thing to point out. Mark also writes "and wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And ...

Matthew 5:3 says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Should I desire to be poor in Spirit? Should I desire to be strong in the Spirit? Who are the poor in Spirit? I would say I should not desire to be poor in Spirit. I would also say it is a good thing to be strong in the Spirit. But not strong in my own Spirit. And Who really are those who are poor in the Spirit. Here you have to make a distinction between the Spirit and your spirit. The Spirit would be the Holy Spirit or the Spirit that gives us faith. Your spirit is corrupt by evil desires and a sinful nature. Thus, to be poor in our Spirit reminds us that we need to find strength not from within ourselves. A poor spirit cries out to the Father for help. A poor spirit is also a repentant spirit. If you are poor in the Spirit does it mean your faith is any less meaningful. Those who are poor in the Spirit still have the Spirit. These are still souls that are destined for eternal life. Thi...

I remember my History when Ford pardoned Nixon and ruined his political career. In Isaiah 55 it says, "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." God will abundantly pardon. Have you ever really thought about what that means? Jesus forgives the sins of people he has never meet before, but he knows their heart. God pardons sinners from the greatest of us to the least. You can think of the worst people in history. Think of Hitler and his minions and all they killed. Think of the mass murders. If you have ever watched a Hannibal Lector Movie or Criminal Minds, then you can understand wicked people. Think of all the wicked people who God is desiring to Pardon. All their sins have been paid for in the Death of Christ. The People of Nineveh in the Book of Jonah are truly wicked...

I have heard a lot of talk over the last couple of years about walking together in Christ. The Church that walks together will stay together. This is a pretty good notion but often times we say things that don't seem to show our united front. I got to thinking about how to describe a fellow worker in Christ. Can Pastors call fellow Pastors Partners in the same sense that Lawyers are Partnered in their practice? Even Doctors have these groups of partners to work together to help their patients. Does this only work if you are Pastors of the same congregation? Or should it work for pastors of the same denomination? Maybe even just all pastors should be called partners in the Gospel? St Paul calls all Christians partners in the Gospel. We are all in this together. Yet, a Law Practice or Doctor's Office will have the Partners and then they will have other people that work for the Practice or Office. So while all the churches in a denomination are in Partnership, shouldn't the Pa...

This was an interesting conversation I had. I was talking with an older gentleman about why there are so many division in Christianity. We all have the bible and the words aren't really different from on to another. (Some translations can have very significant differences.) But why are there so many different kinds of Lutherans, Baptist, Methodist, and so on. It was even interesting when he made the comment that the Catholic Church does not have this problem. How does the Catholic Church keep the pre-Vatican II and Benedictines under the radar? His question was more along the lines of the Catholics can stick with all these child molesters and no new divisions form. This got me to think about the Church of Heretics. Those people who have been weeded out from the true church over the years. In the early church you had an ecumenical council and decided who was right and who was wrong. The Church banned Arius, Nestorians, and others. (Historical point this was the Roman Government who ...

I went to a basketball tournament and watched the Cheerleaders. They come out during the timeouts and try to get the crowd to stand up and yell. First, I never understand why cheerleaders want you to yell during timeouts, then everyone sits down and does not yell during the game. But I was watching a game were most of the fans were not cheering for either team. These Cheerleaders were chanting at a crowd that had blank faces. I will admit I was one of those blank faces. These fans did not care about their cheer or chant. The fans were more interested in reading their programs, checking their cell phones, or whatever else you could do to be uninterested. I just watched them as they faced these people who were not going to cheer with them. During other games the Cheerleaders stuck close to their fan sections. But it was interesting because this group of Cheerleaders went all around the court. They cheered in front of the opposing teams fans. Cheerleaders don't back down from people e...

It is amazing how often you find people attached to their bible. Some people know bible passages and proof texts off the top of their heads. Some people spend a lot of time proving the Bible is true. Many people stand up for the Bible. I love the thought about banning books, if you were going to ban books for sexual content and violence the Bible should be the 1st book banned. Do you believe in the Bible. I remember the YouTube presidential debate in the last election. They had a video with a young man holding up a King James Bible saying, "Do you believe in this?" I always remember that because the easy answer is yes. I can see it. Seeing is believing. You do not have to prove the Bible is true to believe in it. There are some people out in the World who worship the Bible. They spend so much time proving it. They have the Bible direct their lives. They worship it and praise the tales and psalms. The Bible should not be worshiped. The Bible can and in some cases has become an...

Most of us are defined by our Jobs or hobbies. Others are defined by their family. We all have different backgrounds. But in the Bible we define people by their names. Abraham is our Father. Jesus is our Savior. Jonah is the Dove. David is the blessed King. All the names in the Bible have some kind of meaning. But some people change their names. Others of us have no idea what our names really mean. Parents are even starting to name their children strange or unique names. I would urge you to keep things simple. Take you name seriously, and don't hurt your children. I have never liked to hear people mispronounce my Name. I understand most people can not pronounce it correctly at first. but after you teach them they learn. But one has to take the time to learn. How we define ourselves is on what we have learned. Some people do not question what they are taught. Others search out the real meaning. I am not here to give the meaning. I just enjoy the long journey for who I am or you are....

Most people know the phrase life throws you lemons you make lemonade. From Catch me if you can the story of the mouse that fell into the milk. Instead of giving up he turns the milk until it turns to butter and walks out. These teach us that we need to grab life by the horns and press on toward the goal. These phrases teach us to be motivated even when the chips are down. All it takes is one good hand and you can get back in the game. The truth is life gives us lemons and we should look for the sugar. Look for the good in the bad. See the glass as half full. Recognize things are not as bad as they could be. I have been thinking a lot about what life could be. What if ... But I am always reminded by the way things could be worse. Things could be really bad. But with the economy like it is there are many people asking What if? God has set a plan before us. God gives us the rain and water we need. Farmers asked me to pray for rain last year and complained the crops were all too wet. Now t...

Talking about Anna from the Gospel of Luke. She is a widow of 84 years. She has worked very hard to help the believers in Jerusalem. She helped to serve in the Office of the Widow. An older woman who helps other younger women find their way and keep their faith. Anna was lead by the Spirit to Go to the Temple. She was lead to find her savior. he was born a child to the Virgin Mary. He was born to die for Her sins. Anna served in the Temple Night and Day praying. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. She desired to tell his story and her story. We need to tell her story. We need to tell the Story of some of these minor people in scripture. But more than that we need to tell people the story we know better. I am not talking about Peter or Paul. I am not even talking about the story of Jesus. But Anna told her story and you need to tell your story. These is no one who knows it better tha...

Acts 20 has Paul speaking to the Elders of the Church. Who are the Elders of the Church? Are they like in the time of Moses those set in charge of 50s and 100s. Moses had these people deal with minor cases so he could deal with only Major problems. Are these the Watchmen to protect the people of God? Ezekiel, Habakkuk and Isaiah seem to be watchmen for Israel. They are their to tell them the truth about God. The Elders are the leaders of the Church. St Paul is talking to those left in control. St Paul has those who are to protect the people of God. But this really means they are both. Ezekiel is one of the Watchmen. Ezekiel is one of the prophets. Ezekiel points out the False Prophets. They are all around us. But we need to learn the truth. The job of the Elders and the Watchmen is to tell the truth. They are to discover who is truthful. They need to sound the Alarm when False prophets or wolves come to devour the sleep. They stand on at their post watching for the coming evil. They ...

this movie reminds us about temporal control. While people do not know the future. These people seem to still have plans. They are people who work to find the future. There are also some people who use telekinesis. But the story has people who see their own death. These people also help to get people out of prison. Now the connection here is that we don't know the Future. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Thus, every blog written changes the future a little. But God is the only one who knows the future. He knows what will happen before it does. Even Satan may at times think he knows the future, he really doesn't. We some times can predict things like the NCAA tournament but we still do not know all the future. Push is an interesting Movie. It even has a figure that dies and is brought back to life. The character has to fight against the one he finally will save. The Hero of the story does compel us to see that the future is out of our group. He also fights the en...

Most people believe that all non-catholics are Protestants. One might even think all non-Romans are Protestant. Most people in the East would be very up set at this claim. Even Byzantines Catholics would object to this. Protestants are those who reject the Roman Catholic Church and protest the papal authority. Now the Book of Concord desires not to protest Roman authority but reform the false teachings of Rome. In the Power and Primacy of the Pope the papal authority is reflexive of the AntiChrist. This does not mean that we are protesting bu simply pointing toward the truth. The Word Protestant is vulgar to my ears. This word makes me think of unions and hippies. Those who protest authority and those who protest war. These are not what the Lutheran Church is about. Luther dedicates his theses to the Pope. Luther hoped/believed the Pope did not know of these corruptions. This leads him to search and find other errors in Church Doctrine. Would that all where Reformers. The Church always...

Prodigal means wasteful or reckless also lavishly abundant. The Prodigal So on the other hand is a wayward son who squanders his inheritance. Throw your head t the wind, and all your possessions out the window. Is this the story of the prodigal? The one who gives up all his possessions for a little pleasure. Then he runs into a monastery to avoid all his real problems. Most people who run the asylum are a little crazy themselves. The people of our day are prodigals throwing their money here and there. Most of them are lost to find any real gain from it. All the people looking for a little bit of pleasure before Monday morning comes back around. Hopefully our Churches are not acting the same way. It is not about pleasure but pain. The problem with getting high is that it is a drug? Maybe the real problem is after the high comes the LOW. Once you get high then you crave it more and more. Where can I find that High again. People that fixate on Pleasure will only find Pain. But the people ...

Take another look at the Lectionary. Most people tell us we need to follow a lectionary and not free text because it ties us to talking about different texts. But if the Lectionary is supposed to help us preach the full counsel of God, Why is it only 24% of the Bible? The one year lectionary only has about 14% of scripture covered. The Three year common lectionary has 24% of the Bible. I thought people are trying to preach the full counsel of God. I am thinking about working to revise the new Revised common Lectionary. The idea is based on a Lectionary study which talks about how they developed a three year study. I am going to work on a Four year study which is not dominated by the Gospel lessons, but by the Season or other lessons. These lessons will hopefully cover more than 24% the Bible. I have also recognized that some books may still have limited time in the Lectionary Jude, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation, and 1 & 2 Chronicles. I will hopefully be able to introduce more Minor Pr...

Most of us found it difficult to do memory work in Catechism class. Some of us still find it tough to put things to memory. I find that there are things I know but have a difficult time quoting a source. Where did that come from? Moses had the book of the Law read to the people so they could hear the Word of the LORD. Josiah has the re-discovered book of the Law read to the people. Even when we look at the first century most people were not able to read. Even in the Middle Ages before the printing press most people could not read. The Printing press brings us into an age where people start to read. We have lived through the time where the Gideons put bibles in Hotel rooms across the country. These bibles are there so that people can read them. We have now moved past that to have Faith Comes by Hearing produce audio bibles in may different languages. I would encourage anyone to give to these organizations. But if I hear it or read it what is the real point. The point is for the Word of ...

I don't know if you ever watched the movie August Rush , but you should. This movie will open your heart and your mind to Music. It is an amazing journey this child takes to put his family together. August is a child who grows up never knowing his parents. His parents never even knew he was still alive. August enlightens us. As a child he repeats that he has contact with his parents. He can hear the music. He even tells a Social Worker that he has been in contact with his parents, the Worker asks how. August without doubt or hesitation says he can hear the music. He knows that if he can play the music his parents will come. When you see his parents both musicians, they seem to have been drawn together by music. They feel the music. August Rush throughout the movie will try to play the music so his parents can find him. August teaches us a very important lesson. There is music all around us. In the movie he hears the music of wind chimes. August hears the music of wheat Fields. He h...

Habakkuk takes his stand on his watchtower. He stands waiting for God's answer. He stands waiting to see what God will do to the People of Israel. Habakkuk is a watchmen ready to hear the Word of the LORD. Habakkuk 2:1 "I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint." Habakkuk seems tell us that is where he works. Habakkuk listens to the word of the Lord and responds. He takes this message to the people. Habakkuk along with the rest of the Prophets, act as watchmen to tell the word of the LORD. These watchmen tell us about the coming of the LORD. The LORD will come and now I would say very soon. Jesus becomes a true watchmen. He points out the dangers all around us. He takes on the enemies. He delivers us from the evil coming. And when he arrives we will hear the final trumpet sound. Maybe this is not enough, but Jesus is the Watchman who sits in Heaven and wa...

Matthew 5:1 "Seeing the crowds he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him." Who is the Sermon on the Mount addressed to? Disciples go up on the Mount but the crowds are 1st seen. The people of the world seem to be addressed at times. But only the people of God also seem to be separated out. Are their different levels to being part of the audience? Jesus ascends to the Heights to express his words. The crowds are at the bottom of the Mount and the disciples climb closer. These disciples and the crowd climb to the Summit. They are moving closer to the LORD. Is this just another Mountain top experience? In Chapter 4 Jesus is taken up on a very high mountain and tempted with all the Kingdoms of the known world. In Chapter 14 Jesus goes up on a Mountain to be by himself. Chapter 17 Jesus goes up on a high mountain to be transfigured with Moses and Elijah there. In Chapter 21 he starts from the Mount of Olives. As he closes his ministry ...

Think about the numbers: Breakdown based on the Nestle-Aland Text v. 1-2 = 24 words v. 3-12 = 107 words v. 13-16 = 82 words v. 17-20 = 101 words v. 21-6:4 = 603 words v. 5-15 = 174 words v. 16-34 = 372 words v. 1-14 = 250 words v. 15-20 = 77 words v. 21-27 = 162 words v. 28-29 = 29 words Note that verses 1-2 and 28-29 are not part of Jesus actual sermon. They are the text surrounding the text. But a professor once told me that you have to look at the center of things. But there are a lot of assumptions that you have to make to address that to the Sermon on the Mount. If you exclude verses 1-2 and 28-29 then the center of the text is 6:8 the words "For He knows." But if you add these verses it becomes the next two words "The Father." If you are wondering about the breakdown I will talk about that later. Just crunched the Numbers 6:8 is the center expanded to verses 6:5-13. The central phrase is "For the Father knows." Thanks again.

There was an amazing episode of Criminal Minds last night. I just finished watching it and was forced to think about holding on. It reminded me of a House episode where a man was struggling with being able to let go. In the house episode a Man grabbed a boy falling through a hole while holding on to the boy with all his might his hand gets cut off. He suffers with pain because he still feels his arm tightly gripped to this child. He can not let go, until Dr. House takes a mirror and allows him to see both of his hands clutched tight and then lets go. All his pain goes away, because he is able to let go. The amazing twist comes with the Criminal Minds episode, where parents had been distracted from holding their child's hand. While the parents were distracted, the criminals would kidnap their child who was no longer holding their hand. In the episode there are several Fathers who say, "I would have never let go of my her/his hand." The Fathers would have never let go of th...

The remnant theme in scripture is a huge theme. Not in the sense that Christ is Israel reduced to one or the pure Remnant. But out of Eden God left the Remnant of Adam and Eve. After the Flood the Remnant of 8 souls survive. The Remnant of Joseph who was sold by his brothers becomes second only to Pharaoh in Egypt. Then the Remnant of Hebrews who cross the Red Sea. The Remnant from the people who fall in the Desert after Sinai. The Remnant of the people over and over in Judges as the people Fall and the Judge leads the Remnant back to status quo. The Judges really remind us of the old man who remembers what it was like when the people followed God. The Remnant Language of the Prophets Just echos what God has done. God is a God of remnants. When we die we leave a Remnant in our Church who remember. The Church always has a Remnant of people who are left to proclaim the Gospel. They remain to spread the message of those who have gone before. They are their to remember what brought about s...

40 is a time repeated over and over throughout the OT. The Old Testament has 40 occur so many times that the Hebrew Vocab has to include the number 40. This number is thought of as a generation. This number can also be denoted as a time of preparation. This being the 40th day of this Blog I decided to tell you that you have no been warned and prepared for my future thought process. Think about 40 as a time for preparation. It was 40 Days and 40 nights for the world to be prepared during the flood. It was 40 years in the wilderness the Israelites had to wonder aimlessly. Even King David's Reign was 40 Years preparing the people for the time of the Kings. Each generation has to make sure it has proper time to prepare it for the next generation. Jesus spends 40 Days and 40 Nights in the Wilderness being tempted. Thus, the season of Lent takes 40 days to prepare us for the ministry of Christ, His Death on the Cross, or our life of forgiveness. There are also 40 days given for the Apost...