Archives 2022 (95)
Whereas it is the duty Thanksgiving Proclamationof all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks, for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best. Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
“George Washington issued a proclamation on October 3, 1789, designating Thursday, November 26 as a national day of thanks. In his proclamation, Washington declared that the necessity for such a day sprung from the Almighty’s care of Americans prior to the Revolution, assistance to them in achieving independence, and help in establishing the constitutional government.” Read more here.
Common sense is no longer common. Such a thing is often said, but is it true, and if so, why? In Orwell's 1984, we are told that two plus two makes four, and that all else follows. Deny reality at your soul's peril and your body's as well. So, we must say that she is a he or they, or else. Why does the state demand such obedience? For if we are willing to say that he is a she or a they, then we belong not to ourselves but to them, not to God, but to them.
It's worth noting that in our circles we seem to have a difficulty with exhortation and wisdom. Saying it's just common sense, nothing special, nothing to do with the Gospel. But when we speak or whisper words of wisdom what we are doing is confessing the truth of the created order, confessing the God who created us through eternal Wisdom, that is His only begotten Son.
In general, the church should stay out of politics. But sometimes politics is foisted upon the church.
That’s the gist of an article in First Things by Ben C. Dunson, visiting professor of New Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, entitled Should Pastors Be Political?
If you want justice, speak like a prophet against the secular elite who dominate our culture, those who promote death and the abolition of man. If you want justice, now is the time to speak against abortion, now when it's all on the table, and we can actually pass laws to save lives. This is our holocaust, and it, if justice warriors care as they claim, disproportionately affects people of color, and it does so by design
WORD FROM THE CENTER: MONDAY, October 17, 2022 - HANG IN THERE WITH GOD WHO HANGS IN THERE WITH YOU!
James Madison wrote about the uniqueness of the American government and its inspiration from the Reformation in a letter to Rev. Schaeffer, Dec. 3, 1821, saying:
It illustrates the excellence of a system which, by a due distinction, to which the genius and courage of Luther led the way, between what is due to Caesar and what is due God, best promotes the discharge of both obligations. The experience of the United States is a happy disproof of the error so long rooted in the unenlightened minds of well-meaning Christians, as well as in the corrupt hearts of persecuting usurpers, that without a legal incorporation of religious and civil polity, neither could be supported. A mutual independence is found most friendly to practical Religion, to social harmony, and to political prosperity.[1]
[1] http://www.beliefnet.com/resourcelib/docs/10/Letter_from_James_Madison_to_FL_Schaeffer_1.html
PRINCIPLES THAT EMANATE FROM A 2KG THEOLOGY
Thus, God has a spiritual rule in the hearts and lives of Christians; He also has a secular rule that extends throughout His creation and in every culture. God reigns in the Church through the Gospel, the proclamation of forgiveness in the Cross of Jesus Christ, a message which kindles faith and an inward transformation in the believer. He reigns in the world through His Law, which calls human societies to justice and righteousness.[1]
[1] Gene Edward Veith Jr., “Two Kingdoms under One King: Toward a Lutheran Approach to Culture,” in Christ and Culture in Dialogue, ed. Angus J.L. Menuge (St. Louis: Concordia Academic Press, 1999), 137. See Schumacher, “Civic Participation,” 165–66, where he adds another dynamic insight with regard to God’s Two-Kingdom reign in the world. Because of this view of “two, differentiated realms,” God’s involvement in His world is through two different kinds of righteousness. “The passive righteousness of faith depends entirely on the person and work of Christ; this alone establishes and determines our identity and righteousness before God. On the other hand, and at the same time, our righteousness in the world (coram hominibus) is active and not passive; it depends on the activities by which we fulfill our vocation and serve our neighbor. Luther’s right understanding of justification involved the insight that our own activity and works have no place in deciding our standing before God. Similarly, the preaching of the Gospel does not govern nations, feed children, build houses, punish criminals, etc. Both kinds of righteousness are God’s will, and both kinds are necessary for us to live in the world as fully human creatures restored in Christ.” For the purposes of this paper humankind’s depraved anthropology must be understood in the promotion of the potential, active, civic righteousness of public society in which God still somehow rules and creates humane society despite our sinfulness.
The mother and child communion. Nothing on earth is quite like it. Conception marks the beginning of life, but until a child's birth, the rest of us are outsiders. A mother becomes a mother long before the child's birth. She feels it in her bones. The mother gives life sustaining nourishment to the newborn, but this nourishment begins from a child's conception. Don't ever say that a preborn child is simply a clump of cells. Mom knows better, for that child is within her in a kind of earthly communion of love.
THE UNIQUENESS OF 2KG CITIZENSHIP
Differentiating God’s preserving from His saving work has practical implications for cultural engagement. The state is a temporal agency, dealing with temporal solutions to temporal issues. The Church is an eternal institution, dealing with eternal solutions to eternal questions. The state can compel its citizens to do what is demanded; the church can only persuade, not coerce.
THE UNIQUENESS OF 2KG CITIZENSHIP
Christian engagement in the political realm asserts that Government has a vital but secondary or penultimate purpose which both supports the family and allows the Church to accomplish its work.[1]
[1] Article #8 from “Articles of 2KG public engagement,” produced by the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty. http://lcrlfreedom.org/images/general/2KG%20PRINCIPLES%20FOR%20PUBLIC%20ENGAGEMENT.pdf
Your kids leave home: become Woke, march in the Pride Parade, fly the rainbow flag. What to do? Well, be prepared to welcome home all prodigals, but don't rush the process. And whatever you do, don't fall away from the faith to stay close to those who have left it. In doing so, you endanger your soul, but theirs as well.
Indiana has passed a law that does much to restrict abortion, though it is far, far from perfect. Admittedly, I do not have a real grasp on whether the new legislation is decidedly good, a step in the right direction, or something else.
The differentiation, yet honoring of the legal, public authority of the Church from the State can be persuasively argued to have been a creation of the Christian Western worldview.[1] The notion of the “two established sovereigns” in culture, historically transformed the concept of citizenship from the notion of a person being a “subject” of a regime who is granted rights, to one where people are free, public agents with unalienable rights, privileges, and responsibilities before the law. The proper differentiation of the realms of the church and the state, rooted in a 2KG understanding of God’s work in human history, has had real, historical implications for people of all faith perspectives even today.
In a time of cancel-culture, partisan-politics, pandemics, violence, and mistrust, it’s important to affirm even more boldly that God is at work in history for the sake of the world. A biblical, two-kingdom (2KG) perspective boldly asserts this even as it clearly differentiates between God’s preserving and saving work for all. But powerful voices that puritanically yearn for the secularization of the culture and other smaller, but engaging voices that yearn for the cultural “christianization” of America through better laws, have tempted us to believe in false narratives that conflate rather than differentiate God’s gracious preserving and saving intervention. America is primed again to be blessed by an idea from one of its smallest and most insignificant cultural voices.[1] The message of 2KG theology for the sake of the culture and for the sake of the Gospel, emanating from a small, confessional Lutheran Church, might indeed be positioned to be a positive force in the community, one which can be a civilizing blessing to the culture even as it proclaims the uniqueness of humanity’s salvation by grace through faith in Jesus alone.
Ibram X. Kendi said, "The very heartbeat of racism is denial." Robin DiAngelo plays the same card. That's the way Critical Race Theory works. It's a matter of sweat sessions, of training, and compliance. It's a world where every disparity can be attributed to racism and racism only. Such a worldview does not welcome conversation, but simply asserts that there can be no argument. CRT is part of the world of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity, none of which words means what you might hope. Equality, has to do with opportunity, while equity lives in the world of equal outcomes, hence the term cultural Marxism. That is to say, equality is the language of the Reverend Martin Luther King whose vision was predicated on biblical belief that we are all created in the image of God, and that therefore every person has dignity.
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Lutherans are on the front lines of the battle for religious liberty: Part 1
Acton Institute Interview with Dr. Gregory Seltz
by Anthony Sacramone
Lutherans are on the front lines of the battle for religious liberty: Part 1
Acton Institute Interview with Dr. Gregory Seltz
by Anthony Sacramone
We all like to be liked, to fit in, to feel like we belong. In high school, it's commonly a matter of peer pressure, which so easily overrides parental concerns. Strong families act as a counter-force, but as things fall apart, and more folks are isolated, the opinion of others has a stronger gravitational pull. That peer pressure is not just a high school hallway phenomenon, but now it's Rumblr, Tiktok and all the rest.
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