Crazy Theological Thoughts

What if your entire life was boiled down to one point in time?  There is part of us that wishes this were the case.  We wish that we could pick the best thing we ever did, and make that the thing for which we were remembered. But then we also know that we do not want our entire life to boiled down to the worst thing we ever did. Therefore, most of us simply boil our lives down to the best couple of things we have ever down, and hope it out weighs the worst couple of things we have done.  But then look at the world around you, are more people remembered for the best thing or the worst thing?  Think of great athletes who have that asterisk next to their names for the one bad thing they ever did and not all the good.  Think of the prisoner who lives his life behind bars all because of the one worst thing they ever did.  Think of the outcast of your town who lives separate from family and friends because of the one bad thing. It does ...

Some people might find this funny, but I was really feeling this earlier today.  I was sitting in another Church body listening to a funeral sermon, and was doing all I could not to jump up and cry out.  I felt like the man with an unclean spirit sitting in the synagogue listening to Jesus. (Inverted) The problem of course is that I really feel it was the Holy Spirit crying out as the word of God was twisted and distorted to proclaim a message of emotions and leaving out any substance of the Gospel truth.  It brings me almost to tears to realize that this must be why most people cry at funerals. People are hearing messages about how great people are, when we know the reality.  Messages about God being with us, but never explaining how God is actually with us through Word and Sacrament. These messages leave people with the impression that death is the natural course of life, and God is there watching over us condoning our death (even in some...

I recently heard some one quote, “Everyone dies twice, first when they die (assume heart stops, breathing stops, etc.), second when the last person who remembers them dies.”  This reminds when someone told me that we all live on in the memories of our loved ones and those lives we have touched. It is partially this thought that leads people to put up plaques in memory of people. But I like the first statement.  Now I would change it to “Most people die twice.”  First, we die to sin in our baptism as we are crucified with Christ Jesus and raised to new life.  Second, we physically suffer the death of body and soul being separated until re-united in the Resurrection.  But this works for those who are baptized or come to faith. Otherwise, first, you die physically suffering the death of body and soul being separated until re-united in the Resurrection.  Second, you die eternally paying the debt for every last sin you have ever commit...

This is one of the classic logic axioms, all men die.  But have we ever as Christians and believers in Christ's death and resurrection, God's perfect creation EVER thought to question this.  All men die?  Okay, through observation everyone I know appears to grow old and die.  I know that previously there are records of men that have died. Biblical examples:  Adam died; Moses died; David died; John the Baptist died; Herod died; James died; and even Jesus died.  But what happened to Enoch?  He walked with God and then he was no longer.  Did he disappear similar to Moses?  Was he taken into heaven as the "Early Church" and Jewish Rabbis teach?  Then I hope you have not forgotten about Elijah who was taken into heaven. So do All men Die.  Are all men designed to die and there are just a few exceptions?  Was Adam created with the intent that he die (or just the foreknowledge he would fall and suffer the re...

I was recently asked the question, How does one manifest the glory of God?  During the Epiphany season we generally think of the healing, casting out, raising, transformation, and proclamation of Jesus Christ are all the manifestation of God in flesh.  But how does turning water into wine make this truly God?  How does healing sick people or being rejected by their hometown make one God?  How even casting out demons from a place of worship make one God? For most of us we know that Jesus Christ is God, but He is not God because he was rejected by his hometown (that would be LeBron James).  Jesus Christ is not God because he raised a girl or son from the dead, because Elijah did that.  Jesus Christ is not God because he has cast out demons, for many people have this gift (the sons of Sceva even knew this possibility).  Is Jesus made manifest in these simple signs? Yes, Jesus Christ is God made flesh.  He is not that because he transformed water,...

"I would be unevangelical and contrary to the teachings of the Lutheran Church if a candidate for ministry would insist that he can accept a call to a congregation only under the condition that the congregation retain all the ceremonies and customs which have ever been observed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church (statues, church holidays, organs, chanting the liturgy; in connection with baptism:    a pplying the water three times, making the sign of the cross, using the chrisom-cloth, the renunciation, the exorcism, the confession of faith by the sponsors; in connection with the Lord's Supper: unleaven bread, wafers, altar, not breaking the bread, passing the bread and wine to the mouth of the communicant while he is kneeling; vestments, private confession, bowing the head when the name of Jesus is spoken, the pericopal system, crucifix and candles, the divisions of the commandments into two tables, with three on one and seven on the other, etc.). The case might, however, aris...

I swear on my mother's grave that I did not catch a ball today!  I swear on the bible that I will do my best not to kill anyone today!  I swear on my sweaty sox that I did not exercise yet today!  Do any of these actually have any meaning?  What do I actually lose if I told a lie? If I really take these words seriously, I could lose a lot.  In the first case since my mother is not dead, I have offered you to kill my mother if I lied.  In the second case since the bible is just a book, I lost some random book in my library.  But if I actually believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and source of the witness for Jesus Christ my savior, I offer my source of salvation and faith if I am wrong.  In the third case since I do own sweaty sox, I offer those sox for anyone to take if I have lied. For someone to swear on the bible it is no different than swearing on the Koran, Kama Sutra, or some other book.  It only makes a difference if that ...