Augsburg Confessions

Obama vs. Religious Liberty

2012-02-08T21:47:00.000-05:00

Everyone who knows me well knows that I have no liking for the Roman Catholic Church. My reasons are partly personal, partly religious, and my attitude toward the RCC is just a little friendlier than Luther's. However, when the President of the United States makes war on the religious liberty of the Roman Church, he is making war on religious liberty itself.

President Obama believes that the Federal Government can demand and compel Roman Catholic schools, hospitals, or other institutions which hire employees to provide and pay for employees' birth control and abortion-inducing drugs. Both abortion and artificial contraception are intrinsically wrong under the moral teachings of the Roman Church. How can the federal government presume to demand that the Church provide and pay for these for anyone who happens to be an employee?

The answer is, it cannot do so. The Constitution is plain and straightforward: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." I have read the Constitution, and nowhere have I found a "right" to have someone provide you with contraception and abortion services. But I have found a right to freedom of religion. And when the very real and Constitutional protection of religious liberty conflicts with the imagined "right" to have someone else buy you a condom or birth control pill, then religious liberty takes precedence.

Obama and his minions in their warped imaginations have come to believe that employees of the church somehow have a "right" to have the church provide them with contraception. This is bull shit. No one is forced to be a catholic, and no one is forced to be an employee of the church, and if the moral doctrines of the Roman church are unacceptable to you, then you have the right to look for a job somewhere else! Seems pretty reasonable to me.

Atheists whine about Tebow

2012-01-11T10:19:00.000-05:00

It isn't just Pittsburg Steelers fans who find Denver Broncos player Tim Tebow to be an annoyance!

Now, the "American Atheists" are trying to get attention for themselves by accusing Tebow of trying to get attention for himself.

American Atheists was founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who lived her life trying to get attention. Madalyn may be dead, but her organization is no different under it's current director, David Silverman.

Silverman whines that Tebow's habit of kneeling and saying a quick prayer to God, and his references to God in post-game comments is somehow "bad for football". Pardon me, but I doubt very much that American Atheists really cares much about the sport of football. And my guess is they care about it as little as I do. But they do see an opportunity for getting attention for themselves with another whine-fest.

I am glad for Tebow and hope he continues being just as he is. Whatever one may think of Tebow or his religious faith, he is refusing to retreat into the catacombs of privacy. He knows his belief and faith make him subject to ridicule by some, and he doesn't care. In our increasingly spineless, thin skinned and wimpish society, in which the creed is "oooh, don't offend me", Tebow is breath of fresh air.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-24T11:40:00.001-05:00

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: "'And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him." After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

God's name.

2011-12-14T09:36:00.002-05:00

The Second Commandment

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain."
What does this mean?
Answer: We should fear and love God, and so we should not use his name to curse, swear, practice magic, lie, or deceive, but in every time of need call upon him, pray to him, praise him, and give him thanks.

{Luther's Small Catechism}

One thing I personally like about the catechisms is that when Luther was giving a Christian interpretation and application of the commandments, he did not see them as merely negative commands {you shall not} but that they also had positive applications {you shall}.

We can appreciate this commandment when we remember that for ancient people in the East, the lands of the Bible, words were not just sounds. They were like bits of energy that could do things. They could be like bullets fired from a gun. When Jacob tricked Issac into giving him the blessing that should have gone to Esau, Issac could not take the blessing back again. And there is an Old Testament law that commanded that if a son cursed his parents, he would be put to death. To them, the son did not just yell disrepectfully at his parents; he cursed them, which would be like shooting at them!

Names of deities or spirits too, gave the speaker a kind of power over them. When Jesus meets the Gerasene demoniac, he demands the demon reveal his name, so he can cast the demon out. In Genesis, God gives man the authority to name the animals, which is a way of giving mankind dominion over the animals. When Jacob wrestles with God, he asks for his name, and God answers, "Why do you want to know my name?" Then he vanishes from sight.

In the book of Exodus, God reveals his name to Moses, and the Israelites and later Jews held this name in such respect that they would not even speak it. Only the High Priest would speak this name once a year when he entered the most holy place in the sanctuary. Observant Jews to this day will not attempt to speak this name of God. They will instead often refer to God as "Hashem", which means "the name".

The New Testament gives God a new name for Christians to use. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." {Matthew 28: 19-20}. That can be quite a mouthful, so Christians tend to say "Trinity" or just "God" as a shorter form for "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."

So in this Advent season {and at all times}, we can prepare for the coming of God by paying proper respect and making proper use of the name of God. We should not invoke God in cursing, either by frivolous expletives or trying to actually curse someone. We should not use it for swearing, which is trying to use God to make our own claims or statements seem more true than they would be otherwise. We should not use it for practicing magic. I do not believe in magic myself, and I am guessing many of you do not either. But magic, whether real or not, is an attempt to use the power of the name of God to manipulate nature or people or events to serve our own ego or will. In other words, when we try to set ourselves up as gods on our own, we are practicing magic. And lastly, we are not to use God to make our lies seem true. {When someone dramatically says things like, "I swear to God and on a stack of Bibles that I didn't do it", it is a pretty good sign that the person is lying. But not always. Sometimes the person may be really telling the truth. Still, it is a good thing to keep in mind!}

Instead, we should use God's name to praise God, pray to God, and bless and help neighbors and people we seek to help.

To conclude, I want to share a delightful little bit of advice from Martin Luther on teaching this to children. Luther's parents could be extremely harsh. By today's standards, they would be considered abusive. Luther recommended children be taught when they encounter something frightening or dangerous, to cross themselves and say things like "Lord God save us!" or "Help, dear Lord Christ!" In his Large Catechism, Luther wrote, "With childish and playful methods like these we ma bring up our youth...This would be the right way to bring up children, so long as they can be trained with kind and pleasant methods, for those who have to be forced by means of rods and blows will come to no good end; at best, they will remain good only as long as the rod is on their backs. But this kind of training takes such root in their hearts that they fear God more than they do rods and clubs...for when we preach to children, we must also speak their language."

Advent Interrupted!

2011-12-06T11:27:00.001-05:00

Since my last post on Augsburg Confessions, I had quite an experience: I had a heart attack. It was my first, hopefully the last, and according to the cardiologist it was serious. It began when I arrived at work. My chest felt very heavy and my upper arms ached. A supervisor drove me to the nearest hospital and it was discovered that I had major arterial blockage in the heart. This was cleared away and two stints were inserted. What was really incredible is that no open-heart surgery was required! After a few days in the hospital, here I am back home. I can do normal, everyday movement...but no lifting over five pounds, and I have several new meds which will be ready at the pharmacy today.

The last post was about how the Ten Commandments and Dr. Luther's catechism can give us a good and meaningful way keep Advent and prepare for a visit from God at Christmas. Originally, I was going to post the some thoughts on the second commandment next. But in light of what happened, it seems better to share some more insight from Luther's comments on the First.

When my wife arrived at the hospital and was told that I would be alright, her first words were, "Oh, thank God!". Now, imagine some smirking atheist had been there and he said sarcastically, "Oh, sure! God drove your husband to the hospital. God diagnosed the heart problem, and it was God who removed the blockage in the artery. The doctor and the nurses and the techs were just sitting there on their thumbs with nothing to do, because God did it all! So why don't you give thanks to those who really did the the work, and not to some imaginary fairy tale 'god' who doesn't exist?"

Well, I will talk about why I believe in God and not in atheism sometime in the future. But for right now, let's deal with the indignant smirker. First, we do indeed thank people from whom we have received good. In fact, I have never known anyone who was rescuede from some dire situation who did NOT thank the people who did the work of rescuing, even if he thanked God as well. So the smirking atheist's indignation is just a false, synthetic outrage. I spent several years in the atheist camp, and it is a common attitude of theirs. Secondly, their complaint does contain a valid question: Why should we thank God at all for the benefits we receive from other people? And since Martin Luther gives a better answer than I can, here it is, from the Large Catechism:

"Although much that is good comes to us from men, we receive it all from God through his command and ordinance. Our parents and all authorities--in short, all people placed in the position of neighbors--have received the command to do us all kinds of good. So, we receive our blessings not from them, but from God through them. Creatures are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings." {Robert H. Fischer translation}

This is why there is no contradiction between thanking someone for doing you a kindness, and saying, "thank God" when the kindness is done. I am very thankful to my wife who made several visits to the hospital to make sure I was taken care of, and to Paul who drove me there, and to the doctors and staff, and of course for the friends and relatives who visited me. The First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods" means that the Israelites {and all of us, really} are to look to God for all good things, because God in fact wants to give us all things that really are good. And God in fact does this through human agents that are carrying out God's command to do well to their fellows.

One more quote from Luther on this commandment, and I am done for today. "The meaning {of the First Commandment} is: 'See to it that you let me alone be your God, and never seek another.' In other words: 'Whatever good thing you lack, look to me for it and seek it from me, and whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, come and cling to me. I am the one who will satisfy you and help you of every need. Only let your heart cling to me and no one else.'"

Preparing The Way

2011-12-01T23:11:00.001-05:00

"A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” {Isaiah 40 3-5}

This is a popular passage during Advent. The original context of this passage was the end of the "Babylonian Exile", after the Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the Persians. Cyrus, the Persian Emperor, decreed that the Jews who had been living in exile in Babylon were free now to return to their own land.

And the language of this passage is appropriate also. When a King was going to visit a region, messengers would be sent ahead to prepare the royal road. Roads were repaired, potholes filled in, that sort of thing.

As Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of the King, it helps us keep the season by straightening out our own personal roads. One way to do this is to meditate on the Ten Commandments. Whether one is Jewish, Christian, or a 'seeker', the Ten Commandments teach the kind of life and works that God desires of us. Perhaps we can all reflect and work on these in the coming weeks.

Here is the first, as it appears and is explained by Dr. Martin Luther in the Small Catechism:

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
"You shall have no other gods."
What does this mean?
Answer: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things."

To this we can join a saying from Jesus: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

In the Advent season, it seems that the idols we all worship too readily, money and "stuff we want" are calling out for us louder than at any other time of year. So, as we keep this Advent season, let's begin "preparing the way" by thinking of God first every day.

Happy Advent!

Advent! A Time to Start Over

2011-11-29T22:31:00.001-05:00

Advent is here! Advent is the first season in the church calendar, and the first Sunday in Advent is the church's 'New Year'. The word 'Advent' is from the Latin word 'adventus' which means 'coming'. Christians symbolically prepare for the coming of Christ on Christmas.

When I was little, Advent was an exciting time. Yearly Advent rituals in our home were attending the annual "St. Lucia Service", watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on TV, setting up the Christmas tree, my parents playing the familiar Christmas record albums. {These were the Dark Ages before IPODs and CDs.}

Do you have any advent memories or traditions in your home? Feel free to share them in the comment box. I would enjoy reading them!

Because it is the New Year for the church, and because it is a time for "preparing the way of the Lord", Advent is an ideal time for Christians and all seekers of God to "start over", or for some of us, to start a journey we may not have begun yet.

I hope all of us can appreciate and enjoy this Advent season, no matter what our current faith or doubts may be. But how can we "prepare the way"? In the next post, I'll share an idea on how we can do that.

New Beginnings

2011-11-28T21:00:00.001-05:00

Hello, and welcome to my little corner of the web!

I've created this blog for a couple of reasons. One reason is that for many years I have been interested in religious or spiritual questions, and this is a place to share some thoughts on such topics. Another reason is that maybe there are other people with similar interests or questions who might find this blog interesting and maybe get a bit of inspiration from it.

The name of this blog, AUGSBURG CONFESSIONS, is inspired by the Augsburg Confession, the basic statement of Lutheran belief and practice which was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the diet of Augsburg on June 25, 1530. So since this blog will be my own 'confessions', AUGSBURG CONFESSIONS seemed like a good title!

I'm on a journey, like so many other people. One stage in my journey came to a close in November of 2008 when I joined Trinity Lutheran Church in Reisterstown, Maryland. When I was received into the fellowship of Trinity, a phase of my journey ended and a new one began.

So I hope you will like this little blog and enjoy it and perhaps have your thoughts and minds stimulated a little bit. And I especially hope to have readers who, like me, would like to believe in a loving God but sometimes {or a lot of the time} have doubts.

Let me tell you up front: I am not a scholar, or a theologian, or an apologist. But I have had a long journey in the past, and have thought a lot about these things, and maybe I have some things that can help you out on your journey, as we all journey together.