What Did You Go Out to See?

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A reed shaken by the wind? What do you seek in a church? The Roman Catholics, back in 1940s, endorsed the higher critical method (Divino Afflante Spiritu), which allows for Scripture not to mean what it means, just like liberal Protestantism. Perhaps it's not so strange to think a little yeast can leaven many a lump. To what then is the church moored? Tradition is not enough, unless, of course, you think the truth is so pliable as to be reinterpreted for each successive generation. Unless, like the once great biblical scholar Richard Hayes, you can now endorse gay marriage under the umbrella of "the widening of God's mercy."

But those reeds shake. Let God speak the truth, and every man be a liar, even if a pope finds ways for salvation outside of faith in Christ, even if a scholar who no longer can confess the words he has so long been studying. And indeed, it is the Richard Hayes phenomenon that is at play in Christ's words: "Those who wear soft clothes are in king's palaces." The Greek word for soft, malakos, also refers to effeminancy, and was applied to the lifestyle known as gay. That's how St. Paul talks about it.

But the word soft gets at a phenomenon that goes beyond the rainbow pride. It goes to what happens when men are no longer men. Now, we know what feminism has done, turning manhood, strangely, into the ideal for women. Motherhood is now put aside for supposedly higher goals. To the feminists might be asked, "What is a woman?" to which they can no longer even offer an answer. But what of men, and what if they become soft, or when softness becomes the lifestyle, the goal? It means men who will not fight, either on the battlefield, or in their lives, speaking the truth when it needs to be spoken.

How many a politician remains silent, his wet finger gauging the wind? How many a pastor would remain cushy than speak a hard truth? King's palaces? Perhaps it should not surprise us that it is very difficult for a wealthy nation to remain true to God, very difficult to seek God when all the comforts can be found in a Sunday morning bed with down comforters and silky sheets. Perhaps it should not surprise us that Christianity and faithfulness is on the rise in poverty-stricken Africa and persecuted China.

Today, we give thanks for men like John the Baptist, who wore a garment of rough camel hair, who ate locusts, so that he might not so easily be swayed by "the people who matter," so that he would not be so easily led astray by the whiff of money or a seat at the king's table. He ended up not in a palace, but in prison. The Baptist embodied our Lord's teaching about not worrying himself with what he would eat or drink or wear for he was not soft. He spoke the hard truths, because he loved God, and he loved the people for whom God had sent his Son to save.

The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is chairman and professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Be Informed
In just weeks, the United States will have a new president. What pro-family policies can American citizens expect from the new administration? Click here to hear more from Dr. Charles Camosy, author of Beyond Abortion Wars.

Be Equipped
“That is how we are going to reverse the 1960s damage to religion — not by trying to out-social justice each other or water down truth to make it “palatable,” but by opening our doors and hearts to future generations who, once they hear the real Gospel, will respond and reject the false gospel of the 1960s.” Tim Goeglein writes this and more in his new book, which you can learn about here.

Be Encouraged
“Let the peace of Christ change how you live—clothing yourself with godly virtues reflecting a thankful heart. Carry this peace that the angels proclaimed and Simeon saw. It sets the tone for the coming year, another year you get to live as God’s child in the peace of Jesus.” --Rev. Peter Sulzle, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Redwood Falls, Minn.