Dead solid perfect
Go read Rev. McCain’s latest posting — The Chair of Peter Tips Over Backwards Trying to Pacify Muslims — do it now, I’ll wait…
Ok. Now, aren’t you glad you read that? I thought so. Me, too.
Rev. McCain has incisively and devastatingly cut through the falderol that surrounds so much of any discussion about religious “tolerance” in general, and the whatever is offending the Mohammedans on any given day more specifically.
If you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have God.
John 8:19 & John 15:23
It’s just that simple.
Mohammedanism, Judaism, Mormonism - they all reject Jesus. Thus, they all reject God. They do not worship the “God of Abraham”, for He is Jesus. Such attempts at “common ground” are an illusion, a lie.
Sadly, the same is true of much of contemporary “Christianity” - they have abandoned Christ, resulting in a Godless “spirituality”.
-ghp
Wisdom from Ablog!
These quotes come from two recent posts by Rev. Beisel over at One Lutheran… Ablog!. These posts are quite good, and amazingly well-related (I’m not sure if Pr. Beisel intended the linkage, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he did, ’cause he’s good…).
I think that the second quote is a source reason for the first. More simply put, Satan attempts to drive us from the foot of the cross by convincing us that our problems are not a matter of our sinfulness, and, thus, confession & absolution aren’t needed; rather, we need to turn the focus inward onto what we can do to heal ourselves.
That’s not to say that many problems (say, mental illness) aren’t physical/medical, mind you — to do that would be foolishly ignorant. It’s more accurate to state, however, that we are constantly tempted to deflect the source of the problem away from ourselves at the same time that we try to usurp the authority to fix the problem.
C&A works. It’s God’s gift to us, because He loves us. Satan cannot abide that, and must try to subvert it by keeping us from it. Unfortunately, he’s been all too successful, as proven by the dearth of individual C&A in our congregations, and the number of worship services that have jettisoned even the corporate C&A.
-ghp
What If?
I’m a big fan of Alternate/Counterfactual History, so I like “What If?” questions.
The Burr in the Burgh has a very nice posting about an extremely fascinating “What If?” — “What If Jesus Returned Today?” Not in the sense of the 2nd Coming, mind you, but rather what if He just showed up & commented on the theological assumptions that are commonly held these days…
It’s a very interesting question, and Pr. Stiegemeyer does a nice job of fleshing out just what might happen, and why we should in no way feel superior to the folks who so quickly & easily sold Jesus out back in the day. I happen to agree with him that, as much as I would like to think & hope that I wouldn’t shrink from the challenge, it’s almost a sure thing that I would — unless God, in His wisdom, saw fit to strengthen me for His purposes. IOW, if it were left up to me & my sinful will, I’d make Peter in the courtyard look like a hero for the ages.
In any event, there is a part of me that would just love to see this particular “What If?” happen, if only to see how so many “Christians” would handle the direct challenge to their dearly held heterodoxies! But I somehow think that such a desire is merely an indication of why I would fail were I presented with a situation like Peter’s…
-ghp
Momma’s Boy
I am a “momma’s boy.”
Those who know me and my mom have no doubt as to the truth of that description of me. Piper men tend to be like that — my dad was with my grandmother, and my son is most definitely the “momma’s boy” apple of his mother’s eye!
Vicar Chaz Lehmann, however, has waxed eloquent on another, far more significant, way in which being a “momma’s boy” is a very good thing. For a Christian, there is no higher (or truer) complement than to be called a “momma’s boy”! Thanks to Jesus’s atoning work on the cross, we have been made a part of the family. Baptism joins us to Jesus. Where Jesus was begotten of the Father, we then become Begotten by the Father. And where the Father chose Mary to bear the God-Man Jesus, He so chose His Church to bear us through the waters of Baptism.
Yup, being a momma’s boy rocks!
-ghp
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