Personal Diatribes

Three Sacraments

2006-04-23T10:11:00.001-07:00

The Lutheran Church has always had three sacraments while claiming only two.

There are, as every person ever confirmed in the Lutheran Church knows, Baptism and Holy Communion. These we announce. These we teach.

But the third Sacrament we hide and pretend it isn’t there. If asked we say it isn’t a sacrament. That’s what we say. But the practice is different.

What is this hidden sacrament ? Why ordination of course. This is the sacrament that makes the other two possible. This is what gives the pastor the magic.

Now we Lutherans have covered this with talk of good order. The pastor is the one with the seminary training. So to see to it that things are done right he alone without a special dispensation from a Bishop or an emergency can handle the sacraments.

Now if a seminary trained man or woman was not ordained they couldn’t be a pastor. Without the ordination the seminary training means nothing. What makes a man or woman a pastor is the ordination, the magic act.

The good order argument is and always has been a sham. If it were the truth then a congregation could appoint somebody to keep track of the baptisms and set guidelines for the act. That would be good order. It would need no ordination and no Bishop.

We used to have 3 sacraments but now we have 3 1/2 . In addition to ordination we have supper ordination. That’s where a man ceases to be a pastor and becomes a Bishop. It requires an Episcopal Bishop to make it work. No Episcopal Bishop no magic.

So powerful is this magic that the Bishop can now appoint people to do the sacraments who are not ordained. It is okay because the super ordained person said it was okay.

So the next time an ELCA Lutheran tells you we have two sacraments just smile because you know the truth.

Three Sacraments

2006-04-23T10:11:00.000-07:00

Fire the Teacher

2006-03-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

I see where some school teacher has been suspended for subjecting his class to a twenty minute diatribe on how Bush is like Hitler.

They should have fired him

I know the liberals are going to be screaming freedom of speech.

They wouldn't scream that if he gave a twenty minute diatribe on how important Jesus was in his life.

They would be screaming fire him and the right would be screaming free speech.

I say I don't care if its Bush as Hitler or Jesus as friend. Fire the guy .

Why?

Because he is supposed to be teaching geography.

That's what he is getting paid for.

If during lunch hour he wants to give his personal views on life then I say let him.

But in class that's not what he's paid to do.

No wonder our kids don't know where Iran is or Honduras.

Their geography teacher thinks he's teaching social studies.

When I came back from Honduras when I was working on my Doctor's degree I asked my confirmation class where Honduras was.

Not one of the eleven kids had the slightest idea.

Then I asked what the capital of Michigan was and where it was located .

Four hands went up. Two thought it was Detroit.

The other two had the capital right and knew it was " below the bridge".

Fire the guy.

Lets hire teachers that teach the subject we pay them for.

When I taught math I didn't like the then President.

My math class never knew it because I was paid to teach them math and I did.

Fire the teacher.

Fire all the buddy , buddy. I want you to like me. Lets ignore the subject teachers.

Hire teachers that teach what they are paid to teach.

Pray for our educational system. And pray hard.

A word from the Bishop

2006-03-02T15:35:00.000-08:00

I just received a letter from my Bishop. Along with the stuff that congregations never pay any attention to , like how much to pay a guest preacher, he puts this note.

" Lay Preachers are not authorized to preside at Holy Communion unless authorization is received in advance from Bishop ....."

This would seem to mean that a congregation can let anybody stand in the pulpit and preach the Word but only those authorized by the Bishop can handle the Sacrament.
That makes the Sacrament more important than the Word. Not really a Lutheran concept but he's the Bishop and he knows what it is to be really Lutheran.

He never tells us on what basis does he give this magical authorization. Does he give an exam. Do they have to write a paper on the nature and meaning of communion in the church?

I think some church leaders would have a rough time with that one.

Does he go with some kind of Holy Spirit inspired gut feeling.
He does have that second ordination with the laying on of hands of the Episcopal Bishop.
Is it mystical Bishop magic.

Is it based on congregational need. Is there ever a Sunday when people in a congregation don't need communion?

Why don't those who preach have to submit a written sermon to the Bishop's office in advance.

Is this done to protect the magical powers given to the Pastor in ordination from usurpation by the lay person.

What are the penalties for not complying ?

Who has to pay the penalty.

Lets see it could be the congregation . They let that person handle the magic elements without the Bishop's approval. Does he cite them in a missive as a bad congregation. Does he take away the congregations' voting privilege at convention. Does he forbid them to send in benevolence. No he doesn't want the congregation angry that might hurt the budget.

Does he sock it to the lay preacher? How. Well he can keep him off of the list of approved lay preachers. Since most lay preachers that aren't authorized to do communion aren't on that list any way that would be an idle threat.

How about the Pastor who has gone away on vacation. Can't the Bishop go after him. Sure but you have to remember that the pastor is the one that drives the parish to pay the benevolence the Bishop needs to meet the budget. So it isn't likely he will do anything to the Pastor.
Besides what could he do. Take away his voting privilege. Wow what a threat. He could threaten to never give the Pastor another call. An empty threat because there are congregations who pay no attention to the Bishop when it comes to a call.

So what the Bishop can do is pull himself up to the full status of his office. Demand that they give him the new power he has assumed and send out letters.

Pray for the Church and pray hard.

Bishops Revisited

2006-02-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading a blog that detailed a huge number of Catholic dioceses in which the Bishop hid Priests that were pedophiles .
They moved them from parish to parish. They even left them work with children.

Before you think this is an attack on Catholics let me assure you it isn’t. This diatribe is about the historic office of the Bishop.

I have first hand knowledge of a Lutheran Bishop who was just as bad. A pastor discovered that a neighboring pastor was having sex with a conformant (a girl). He called the Bishop and the Bishop said he would act on it. Two months later when the Bishop had done nothing and the pastor was still taking the girl to bed. Our concerned pastor called the sheriff who did take action , quickly.

For this act of concern for a young girl the telling pastor got a call from the Bishop . He was told that because of his “unchurchman like conduct he would never get another call in that Synod”.. That was before Lutheran Bishops had grabbed control of the call process so the threat meant nothing. It does however give you the mind set of a Lutheran Bishop.

I know of other examples where Lutheran Bishops ignored or protected pedophiles.
They used to protect pastor’s that were sleeping around as well. The church had rules but the bishops never enforced them . It was for the good of the church that they not call attention to the problem.

All of that changed when people began to sue. Then the Lutheran Bishops called all the pastors together and read them the rules. Now the rules weren't drawn up by the theologians of the church but the lawyers. They weren't to promote morality but to prevent lawsuits. In effect they said. If you want to bonk somebody make sure that they aren’t part of your parish and that they don’t know you are a pastor.

You see the problem is not a particular church but the office of the Historic Bishopric. When a good person becomes a bishop everything changes. He or she loses the ability to think for themselves and becomes part of church group think. The primary rule is the greater church above every thing else.

Oh there have been Bishops in the history of the church that stood for truth but they were often martyred by the Church for the good of the church.

Because of the historic nature of the office of Bishop we need to get rid of it. It is after all not essential to the faith.

If a new church emerges from the present struggles in the ELCA let us hope it won’t have bishops. It could do without a national church as well.

Pray for the Church. Pray hard.

A political Idiot

2006-02-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

I have always supported the President. I know that most of what the left wing blogs say about him simply isn't true. He is not a fascist. He is not trying to take away my freedom. He is not evil incarnate.

Having said that let me say that my President is a political moron. Over and over he does the thing that gives the political left a chance to jump on him. The question isn't was his action right . The question is did his action make sense politically.

Let's take the Cindy what's her name thing. A politically wise President would have directed that if she showed up wearing anything at all she should be given a front row seat and treated like royalty. That would have taken the wind out of her sails. Then, if after being treated so nicely, she lived up to her usual activity , the President would have been seen as compassionate and kind and going the extra mile. But instead he does nothing and the brainless capital police arrest her. She was in heaven and the President who really had nothing to do with the incident looked bad. I tell you George is a political moron.

Now he has done it again. Ignore the fact that the company that wants to buy the British company that runs American ports already controls most of the ports in the world. Which means they can send those nasty Arab things to this country any time they want. Ignore the fact that when they begin to run the ports nothing will change. Ignore the real world.
In the political world this is a politically stupid thing to do. When the Republicans in Congress who understand politics said they would help to get a bill passed to stop it ( they understand political reality is more important than reality) our political moron says he will veto it.
Hey, George! This company is run by Arabs. Wake up. No matter what the Democrats say about treating Arabs fairly they know that most Americans don't like Arabs. They like Danish flags. So they will join the rest of the Arab hating population and denounce you. They will make political gain. Lots and lots of political gain.
Please my President put aside what is right. Put aside reality. Act like a politician for once in your life. Have a change of heart. Announce that you are having the justice department investigate the company. Stall. Call for some committee to look into the problems. Do something, anything that is politically correct.
You may be a good man but if you don't stop being a political moron your ratings will go down to 10% and they will all be Arabs.
Wake up. Dump reality. You still have time.

I am an intolerant SOB

2006-02-19T08:17:00.000-08:00

A nice lady who read my comment on another blog pointed out quite correctly that I am an intolerant Christian S.O.B. I do not want you to fall into the same trap so I am going to explain to you what an intolerant Christian is.

If a Christian group becomes the majority in a country and gets a law passed that would jail a person or have him or her killed for converting Christians that would be intolerant.

If a Christian group is a majority in a country and gets a law passed that if your Christian and you convert to something else like Hindu or Muslim you can be arrested and killed. That's intolerant.

If your the Pastor of a large Christian Church and you tell your people that Jesus would be very happy if you burned down or blew up any mosques, temples, or shrines in your town that would be intolerant.

If you were the Pastor of a large Christian Church and you told your members that if they blew themselves up and managed to kill some Muslims in the process Jesus would have a special place for them in heaven that would be intolerant.

If you were the Pastor of a large Christian Church and you offer a million dollars and a car to anybody who would blow up or otherwise kill the cartoonist who did a mean cartoon making fun of Jesus. That would be intolerant.

If you were the Pastor of a large Christian Church and you sent pictures of that cartoon to Christians in France and they rioted and burned the American flag before passing the cartoons on to Germany and Italy who did the same and threw in the burning of an embassy for good measure. That would be intolerant.

If you were a Christian editor of a large Christian newspaper and you called for cartoonists to draw pictures making fun of the Holocaust. That would be intolerant.

If you were a Pastor who knew of a group that wasn't Christian and called attention to their doing all those things. That would be intolerant.

It would be intolerant because when they do them it isn't intolerant. Its just their religion. One has to learn to be tolerant of the other person's religion. I am such a slow learner.
Pray for the world and pray hard.

Pity the Vice President

2006-02-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

I have had it with media and I have had it with Republican and Democrats who are demanding that the Vice President come out and talk about the shooting of his friend.
They act as if he had some kind of constitutional requirement to give them all the gory details. Well he doesn't. He is not obligated to tell you a thing about what happened on his day off.
Now if he was hunting with a foreign dignitary and shot him that would be a different matter. That would affect international relations. It could , and would, be investigated by one of those congressional committees that investigate a lot and accomplish nothing.
Nothing that happened here will affect domestic policy. It won't affect foreign policy. The worse that can happen is that the Republican party will get less money since he shot a Republican fund raiser. Definitely not a cause for national concern.
When did the idea arise that we are required to open our lives to the news media?
I thought it was the job of the news media to search out the facts. We aren't required to do their job for them. Now they sit around and whine. Hey sneak somebody into the hospital or go grill the lady at the ranch. Get every gory detail you can but you can't expect the Vice President to give them to you.
The news media are in their " Aside from that Mrs. Lincoln what did you think of the play" mode. They want answers because they think it's their right no matter who gets hurt or how stupid their response is. Well dig for the answers you lazy beggars.
When you get them they won't help Mr. & Mrs. average American one little bit.
Every year in Upper Michigan during our multiple hunting seasons some poor hunter gets shot by a friend or neighbor. Nobody expects the friend who is feeling horrible over what has happened to march into the TV station and describe in detail what happened. Why? Because we are smart enough to know that aside from the morbidly curious among us nobody really needs that information.
So do your job and stop asking the Vice President to do it for you. Leave him alone he feels bad enough already. It was his friend he shot after all. Go find a crooked politician or something that affects the nations future.
Leave the poor guy alone.
Pray for the Vice President and pray extra hard for the media.

The war of the Gods

2006-02-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

The President of Iran announced today that Iran only wants nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Now a President wouldn't lie, would he?
For a moment I was relieved but he didn't stop there he went on to say again there was no Holocaust . Just think for a moment of all those history books that have to be rewritten. I know he is a President but I still had to find out how he knew this.
It turns out that Allah told him. It seems Allah talks to him on a regular basis. Hey he is a President and he wouldn't lie.
This is the same Allah that told those Muslim Clerics to burn the Danish Embassy. Allah has been very busy.
Now I know, don't ask me how, that the real reason George Busch invaded Iraq is because Jehovah told him to . Jehovah wanted Israel to be defended.
Now George hasn't announced this because of the strong Atheistic bias in this country.
So now I am really nervous. The God's are going to war. There is Allah and his President plus clerics on one side and Jehovah and George , on the other.
It could get messy. Us poor humans will be caught in the crossfire. Even the U.N. can't mediate this one.
I have to quit this blog because I need to go build a bomb shelter. Pray for me but don't get any more Gods involved in the war.

More Shame on NBC

2006-02-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

Well the left leaning bloggers are having a field day . They couldn't be happier since NBC pulled that anti-Christian Will and Grace episode and dropped "The Book of Daniel".Why you might ask? Well, because now they can attack the Christian right for keeping others from seeing what they want to see. Why don't you just turn to some other channel , they say.( Which , of course is like telling a Muslim why don't you just not read Danish papers) An insult is an insult and the Christian right certainly had the right to complain about it. Complaining, an old American right, doesn't make you a fascist or anything else for that matter. The left extols free speach but only for those they agree with. On the other hand there is a villain here. The villain is NBC. The network without a backbone. Hey the only power the Christian right had was to refuse to watch and to refuse to buy your advertisers products. (For the life of me I can't figure out if they refuse to watch how they will know who the advertisers are) Like I said in my last blog they wouldn't blow up your headquarters or burn NBC peacocks in the street. But you caved in. Shame on you. Next time you want to insult somebody's faith don't announce it in advance. Don't put out a press release saying your going to do it. Don't wave a red flag in front of the bull. Just do the mean thing and then see what happens. Of course if you do it on Will and Grace I won't be watching . I quit watching long ago. I enjoyed it at first but then the obnoxious drug taking, whiskey drinking women just became to much for me. As for the Christian right causing the removal of the Book of Daniel my sister who hates the Christian right, doesn't like the Christian middle and just barely tolerates me told me that she knew the show would be canceled because it was badly scripted and just dumb. I suppose every time NBC has a bad idea for a show and it gets canceled we can blame it on the Christian right. Well shame on you NBC and shame on you left blog writers. Freedom isn't freedom unless it applies to everybody. Pray for NBC and for me and I suppose for the left leaning blog writers.

Shame on NBC

2006-02-03T16:55:00.000-08:00

I received this information in an email from a friend.
“On the April 13 edition of NBC's Will and Grace, Britney Spears will appear as a Christian conservative sidekick to Sean Hayes' homosexual character, Jack, who hosts his own talk show.
Jack's fictional network, Out TV, is bought by a Christian TV network, leading to Spears contributing a cooking segment called "Cruci-fixin's." To further denigrate Christianity, NBC chose to air it the night before Good Friday. “
If its true. Shame on you NBC. But NBC should be glad that it’s Christianity it has decided to denigrate and not some other religion. Oh, there will be letters to NBC. People will threaten not to watch (NBC obviously doesn’t want Christians to watch anyway.) But that will be about it.
There will be NO
1. Call for Christians in other countries to riot and burn the American flag because of the insult
2. Rioting in the streets with people burning the NBC peacock
3. Breaking down the doors of NBC stations and doing damage.
4. Threats to blow up the NBC headquarters with suicide bombers.
5. No announcement from the State Department that the show was offensive.
No the Christians you hate so much will for the most part ignore your thoughtless cruel joke.
Try that with some other religion and see what happens.
Oh they will do one more terrible thing, They will pray for the network and the writers of the show that God would bless them.
Pray for NBC

Watch out for the Demons

2006-02-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

Because the people who believe and do things we dislike are often nice people there is a real need to demonize them. We have trouble with the fact that nice people do things that have bad results. For some reason we can not just stick to looking at the acts themselves and arguing about them. Instead we attack the one who acted. This is certainly true of the way people view the President. They don't like what he has done so they attack him personally. He is seen as a Fascist, greedy capitalist, power hungry, evil individual. He spends his time finding new ways to take away our Constitution given freedoms . The possibility that George Busch is not a bad man just a bad President (Like the wizard in the wizard of Oz who was not a bad person just a bad wizard) never occurs to them or if it does they stamp on it. It is really hard to fight with nice people so he can't be nice. The only thing you can do with a demon like him is impeach him, kill him, or fight him every step of the way. The problem with this kind of thinking is that it accomplishes nothing. It pushes the President into a defensive position. It prevents his good ideas , and he does have some, from being heard. It further divides the country but of course we can then blame the division on George.
What is needed is a healthy dose of reality. The President is neither God nor the devil. He is just a human being in a very tough job at a very tough time. He needs help and constructive criticism. His opposition needs to give us meaningful alternatives to what he proposes if there are any. He deserves better than vilification.
Pray for the nation and the President and pray hard.

Too bad the bad guys are good!

2006-01-18T05:14:00.000-08:00

One of our problems when it comes to reform as that those who are leading the church away from the truth are not bad people. They don't commit adultery. They love the poor. They want to be nice to everybody. They do the best they can. It would be so much simpler if they looked and talked like traditional villains. To attack what such "nice people" are doing in the church just doesn't seem right. But if people don't speak up as these nice people slowly destroy the theological foundations of the church there will come a day when it is no longer the church. If we stand by while the Lordship of Jesus is downplayed in our liturgy, while society's norms replace scriptural norms, while salvation by grace is replaced by salvation through niceness then we fail both the Lord of the Church and those nice people. Reformers and reform movements are never popular with those who have caused the need for reform or those who like things the way they are. But popularity is not what the reformer seeks but faithfulness to scripture and the God of scripture. Let us pray that God will raise up reformers for this church in its time of need.

A dividing hymnal

2005-12-24T15:08:00.000-08:00

"We need a new hymnal to bring us together in worship". These are words from the ELCA high command. As congregations experiment and " do their own thing" in worship the leaders , ever looking to keep control of the church, bemoan the loss of unity in worship from congregation to congregation. At Orlando they proposed to solve this perceived problem with a new hymnal. Despite pleas from those who were concerned about the content of the liturgy in the new hymnal the leadership called for the right to dash ahead. The convention bestowed on the good Bishop that right. When conservatives raised questions they were told " You don't have to buy it." So much for a hymnal to unify us in worship. When it is done it will be worse than it is now. Now most churchs use either the green hymnal or With One Voice or a combination of both. Once the new one is ready things will be different. Already the Word Alone is developing a new hymnal with a more orthodox liturgy. Thus congregations will have to chose. We will have loyalist congregations (those using the new hymnal) and conservative congregation (those using the new Word Alone hymnal) and congregations that say a pox on both houses we will keep what we have. If we had problems going from congregation to congregation before it will be compounded when the new hymnal is pushed upon us. One could hope that Bishop Hansen might listen for a change but that is unlikely. He has ears to hear but he never hears. Get ready for the dividing hymnal.
Pray for the ELCA and pray hard.

The Truth will set you free.

2005-12-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

For a long time we were under the illusion that this is a Christian nation. There were nativity scenes in public places and real Christmas carols on the radio. Our stores had big Christmas sales. Our pastors got to pray meaningless prayers at public events in the name of Jesus. There were baccalaureate services that students slept through. All of these and more giving the impression of a strong vital Christianity. But it was an illusion. Underneath the society was as pagan then as it is now. It never embraced the Christ as Lord. It hardly knew Him except as the cute baby in the manger. We never struggled to bring the good news to the pagan society because we didn't know they needed it. All that has changed the illusion has been destroyed and the fact that society as a whole is anti-Christian comes as a surprise. We moan over the loss of the word Christmas in store advertisements. We cry because the schools have banned Christmas programs. We long for the days when the real nature of society was hidden. I say sing an Alleluia. We don't want to fight this society we want to bring the good news to the people who make it up. We don't want to put back the lie that allowed us to pretend there was no need to evangelize because this was a Christian nation. No , now we can see clearly the hand of God stripping away the things that blinded us to the truth. Now we are free to go back to being the people of God in a foreign land. We can begin to carry the fire into a cold and dreary world. Now that we know the truth let us act like the early church. Let us not surrender to the society and its values. Let us stand as the God's people against the society and its values. It will not be easy but now we are free to do it. Pray for the Church.

Bishops ?????

2005-11-28T16:41:00.000-08:00

Titus 1: 7For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; ⁸But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; ⁹Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
The historical task of the bishops of the church was to defend the faith.They were to see that sound doctrine was taught. By that measurment the bishops of the ELCA are total failures. We might be better off if we had never decided to have bishops. We needed bishops who are evangelical ( without being protestant) catholic (without being Roman), and orthodox (without being Russian or Greek). What we got where Bishops that either can't say no to anything that comes along or who don't have the backbone to stand up an openly affirm the historical faith. Our bishops are willing to dump 2000 years of Christian history and take the liberal Protestant line of today. Oh, there are bishops who on their own hold to the historic faith but they seem to have the backbone of a jellyfish when it comes to standing up and saying so. If our bishops can't be BISHOPS then lets get rid of them. At least then they won't be making heritcal pronouncements. Or elect Bishops who will stand within the historical church.
Pray for the ELCA and pray hard.

Braaten Answers

2005-11-27T05:20:00.000-08:00

Dear John:
You are right about Lutheran seminary education in general, and to be sure I was a part of that for some decades. But no matter what you think I was never a liberal Protestant from day one. The book I wrote and published, Principles of Lutheran Theology, includes chapters of what I was teaching about "The Scripture Principle," "The Confessional Principle," etc., and they were written in
the late sixties. My mentors were Lutherans of the likes of Schlink, Aulen,Nygren, Wingren, and others who were more or less neo-orthodox. But they were not fundamentalists of the kind we had in all the synods in American
Lutheranism. You are right, I was critical of the conservatives in charge of the Missouri Synod, the Preusses, for example. But I was supportive of Missouri Synod persons like Arthur Carl Piepkorn. So it was a mixed bag. But no matter what my sins, I never promoted the agenda of the liberal protestants. Their theologians were people like Ogden, Kauffman, Calhoun, even the Niebuhrs. I considered my own teaching to be on the side of the Ancient Creeds, the Lutheran Confessions, and 20th century neo-confessional Lutherans like Schlink and Peter
Brunner. I definitely was never promoting the repristinating of the 19th century versions of Lutheranism in America, which was very divisive, anti-ecumenical,fundamentalistic inerrantists, nationalistic, etc. I saw no future for the synodical divisions that fought against each other. I took the side of those who
sought new formations of Lutheran unity. But all that history is water over the dam. Now we are in a totally new situation. The seminaries took on board a whole host of new isms, which I struggled against -- the radical feminists, the
new age spiritualism, the relativizing of dogma, the religious pluralists, the gay and lesbian lobbies, etc. The ELCA is now mostly antinomian (which I never was and am not now), so there is no way to say "No" to anything that comes along. So my open letter to the Bishop should not be construed as longing to
return to the reactionary theologies of 19th century Lutheranism, whether German,Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish or whatever.
I look for allies in all the denominations who are evangelical (without being protestant), catholic (without being Roman), and orthodox (without being Russian or Greek). I think also that is the direction in which I want to see world
Lutheranism going. But it is not. And that is what the struggle is all about,not only in America but around the world. If you have the slighteest clue about what I have been doing the past fifteen years with and at the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology, you will know a little of what I am trying to
say. We are not fundamentalists, nor are we liberal protestants. There is a huge ecumenical option that draws people from all denominations into what we
are doiing.

With best wishes,
Carl E. Braaten

Need to love the Perverts

2005-11-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

I am waiting for an ELCA Bishop to call for better treatment of sexual perverts that prey on children . Why? Because much of the same reasoning that is being used to support homosexuals works just as well for the perverts. His speach to the assembly would go something like this:

Witness that sexually other directed people, their
families, friends are part of this church and are here to stay. Look into
their eyes and faces so they will no longer be merely an "issue." they are human
beings enfleshed before you, children of God marked with the cross of
Christ together.
As you have heard in this assembly hall, we already have sexually other directed people who are
pastors living in covenanted relationship and serving ELCA congregations.
These congregations open the doors wide, not only to welcome those who
walk in, but also to walk out into the world to preach the good news to
those who may believe the church is their enemy.
The misunderstod sexually other directed people need to be given your support.
This is not about them. It's really about you, and about this
church. These witnesses are not going away. Their faith is sure. The
ultimate outcome is assured. We are already one in Christ. But the
Church is not living faithfully together with them yet. Time is the
question. How long must they wait? And at what cost?
While the church waits, lives of sexually other directed people are ruined and
faith is destroyed. They are marked with the cross of Christ forever and are
called by God and community to serve this church through Word and
Sacrament ministry. They are held in the steadfastness of God. Here they will
continue to stand, for they also can do no other."

If you think this is far fetched remember that thirty years ago nobody would have expected a Lutheran Bishop to be an advocate for a Homosexual lifestyle. I suppose on this issue the Episcopal and United Church of Christ will jump first. Remember the same social science that says that Homosexuals are born like that or at least locked into the experience by their childhood experiences says the same thing about sexual perverts. they can't change what they are. This leads of course to the God made them that way argument. All of this works for axe murderers too. They are baptized and church members.

Pray for the church.

Open letter to Dr. Braaten

2005-11-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

Dear Dr. Braaten,
I read your letter to Bishop Hansen and stand with you but I think you should know that you are at least in part responsible for the condition of the ELCA. Some thirty to forty years ago you were one of those smart young seminary professors that stripped away the theological foundations we came to seminary with and failed to put any new Lutheran foundation in their place. You delighted in tearing down the Missouri Synod and other conservative Lutherans. Its not that what you said was wrong. You did a very good job at dismantling . You just did a terrible job at rebuilding. And you were not alone. The whole attitude of the seminary was one that didn't seem to take the confessions or scripture seriously. Those classes left seminary with four fundamentals.
1. Baptism and Communion were very important, even magical.
2. Worship and liturgical worship was very important.
3. Social ministry of one type or another was the heart of the gospel.
4. Scripture could not be used to build or defend doctrine.
Some of that group who were stubborn or bull headed rejected it all and became Lutheran Fundamentalists. Some who came out of a pietistic background went back to their roots and became Evangelical Lutherans or charismatic Lutherans. Some of us continued to study the confessions, material on the confessions and to read Luther and ended up close to where you seem to be in your letter. But the majority built on the four fundamentals. They were open to any wind of doctrine that came along. They built that doctrine not on scripture but on science and not even good science but social science. Hence in the debate over Homosexuality in the ELCA there is very little reference to scripture and a great deal of reference to the findings of social science. Or the theology coming in from the women's movement that gives us god the mother and Jesus the child. Away with the Trinity.
As time has gone on the ELCA has begun its slide to just another liberal Protestant denomination.
As it slides the cracks began to appear and some began to leave. You document that well on the leaders but little guys left to. They went to the Missouri Synod, The Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and to Lutheran splinter groups of one kind or another. Some of us tried in Synod to stop the slide. We were not treated well. The majority like bishop Hansen would not hear that there was a problem. Like the alcoholic or the person caught up in sin they got angry with anyone who pointed out the problem. Perhaps like pharaoh of old God has hardend their hearts.
So the slide continues. More will leave. Real breaks will come. New denominations will be born. If I was not so Lutheran I would jump off as well. So I admire your desire to stay and fight. I pray to God that somehow you will be able to do something.
Pastor John Linna, your former student.

Four Lutherans at prayer

2005-11-18T04:58:00.000-08:00

And he told this story:
Four Lutherans went up to pray.
The first prayed. Oh, Lord I am so thankful that I am not like those dreadful liberals. They have given up on your Word and substituted social custom. They accept Homosexuals and believe in salvation by social good works. Thank, Thank you, Thank you Lord that I'm not like them.
The second prayed. Oh Lord I am so thankful that I'm not like those raving conservatives, those fundamentalists of the Book Of Concord. They neglect the action of the Holy Spirit in this century, pay no attention to science, and are unkind and uncaring. Thank you, thank, you, thank you Lord that I,m not like them.
The third prayed. Thank you Lord that you have enabled me to stay the middle ground. Both liberals and conservatives throw rocks at me but I alone am loving and caring . Thank you, thank, thank you Lord that I'm not like them.
The fourth prayed thus Lord I know I am wishy , washy. One day I'm liberal, the next conservative. I try to walk the Christian center but I keep falling off to one side or the other. I know I'm not as loving as I should be and I suffer from a great deal of self righteousness. But Lord I know that you died for me and that you forgive me , pick me up and help me to go on. Thank you , thank you Lord for being there for me.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the others: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Where Am I ??????

2005-11-16T09:25:00.000-08:00

When it comes to God punishing a nation, a city, or a person there are two possibilities. One way would be for God to actively punish. That is God does something that hurts the nation. City , or individual. An example would be the plagues of Egypt at the time of Moses or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra. Here God does something like sending a hurricane, tornado, wind storm or whatever. For a nation it might mean a pandemic. For a city it could be a hurricane. For an individual it could be lightning. In any case God acts to cause pain to the entity. There are of course Old Testament examples of this kind of action by God. I can understand why some evangelical pastors hold this position but my experience of the living Christ prevents me from believing that God would act in this way today. The second way God punishes is passive. Here God does nothing but just lets things happen. Where God might have nudged the hurricane a little so it doesn't hit a city, he doesn't. Where God might have kept the tornado from touching down, he doesn't. Where God might have kept your car from starting so you missed the plane that crashes, he doesn't. God does nothing to help, nation, city, or you. This is the position of Pat Robertson, Billy Gramham's daughter, and many evangelicals, some more public than others. It has going it for it the prophets in the Old Testament and a certain amount of logic. The reasoning goes that if the nation, city, town, school board, individual or whatever rejects God they have no claim on his protection. I can understand this position. It makes sense. But my experience and my Lutheran understanding of grace prevents me from accepting it. One thing I'm sure of is that God doesn't operate on the basis of human logic. I am also sure that our nation never had favored nation status with God so we can't lose it. As far as personal sin I believe that everything changed when Jesus died on the cross. I also believe that my believing this is itself an act of God's grace since "I can not by my own reason or strength believe in Christ or come to him but the holy Spirit has called me through the gospel . Thus though I can understand where my fellow Christians are coming from and can understand their frustration with the world in which we live I can not join in their conclusions. I'm driven by own experience of the living Christ to see God as far more loving and accepting than they do.
Pray for me.

Why doesn't he keep his mouth shut?

2005-11-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

He keeps saying that God is unhappy with the nation and will withdraw his grace. Then terrible things can happen. The Religious establishment disavows him after every pronouncement." Our God is not like that " they say." He is giving people a bad impression of God and us." The political leaders want no part of him. People wish he could be silenced. But he goes on making the frightening pronouncements. Why doesn't he keep his mouth shut?
This description fits two people nicely. The Prophet Jeremiah and Pat Robertson. Makes you stop and think , doesn't it.
Pray for theNation and it wouldn't hurt to pray for Pat.

The Ugly Fundamentalist

2005-11-15T04:56:00.000-08:00

This is an arrogant, judgmental, intolerant, ignorant, pharisaical, fundamentalist.
Because he is intolerant you don't have to tolerate him.
Because he is judgmental feel free to judge him.
Because he is ignorant enjoy your wisdom.
Because he is arrogant you can feel superior in your belief.
Because he is pharisaical thank God your not like him.
Because he believes God punishes nations and your nice God would never do anything like that feel free to verbally abuse him.
Remember this is an open society and everyone but him is entitled to an opinion.
So rejoice! Feel Proud. Know you are better, kinder, more loving .
Good for you!

On Protecting the Nice God

2005-11-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

The modern church proclaims a nice God who never punishes, never gets angry, and never never expects anything from us. In doing this all the Old Testament images of an angry, jealous God are swept aside and replaced with a kind of sweet syrupy old Guy or Lady who just pours out love. Thus if anyone should suggest that some of the world problems are caused by God withholding his grace , look out! Even worse if one suggests that God is really reaching out and punishing the nation the reaction is immediate. The Pastor or group is denounced in no uncertain terms . The denouncements have nothing to do with Scripture but are in terms of this God of sweetness Who must at all costs be protected. Ignoring what the Pastor says he or she is denounced as "fundamentalist" "judgmental" "ignorant" " cruel" etc. They want people to know that the God of the modern church is not the God of the Old Testament but a special God who will protect us no matter what. Often in their attack they compare the person writing to some person who holds the far extreem of the position. So they accuse the person of being like " Pat Robertson" or some other conservative known for putting foot in mouth. More often, than not, what the person says is ignored. No discussion follows because you don't have to discuss with some one who is a cruel, ignorant, judgmental, fundamentalist and just like Pat Robertson..The denoncers are against judgmentalism and want everyone to be treated in an open manner. But then they judge the writer and extend no grace. What is needed is an open no name calling discussion but as long as the God of sweetness needs to be protected this is not likely to happen.
Pray for the Church

Republicans Blah; Democrats Blah

2005-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

I am tired of American politics. Republican and Democrats both put logic aside and play politics. It is obvious we can't afford a tax cut but the Republicans still want to give some business tax breaks. We should be looking for answers the Democrats want more hearings to see if they can embarrass the President. I look for the Democrats to offer constructive solutions but they are too busy attacking to be constructive. Republicans want to cut the budget by cutting money from the people least able to lose it. Both sides let big oil walk all over them because it contributes lots of money to political campaigns. There seems to be no real hope for reform since getting elected is more important than serving. I despair for the country.
There is one bright light. The people of Hilsdale , Michigan elcted a senior in high school, on a write on ballot, to be their next mayor. He's not corrupted yet but I suppose the system will get him.
Pray for the Country.

Holy Mary never Virgin

2005-11-06T10:40:00.000-08:00

In seminary they told me that we didn't need to believe that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived. They backed up that statement by showing that the Old Testament passage referred to in the Gospel meant young women and not necessarily a virgin young woman. I didn't accept the idea of Mary not being a Virgin then and I still don't. The idea of course is that you can't sell modern man on this virgin stuff. The church keeps letting go of what it believes to accommodate "modern, scientific man'. The other day I read an article by an Episcopal priest who suggested that Mary got pregnant by a Roman soldier. Of course if there is no Virgin birth than we are free to speculate on who the father really was. Why it could have been the man next store or down the street. It could have been her father .Then at least Jesus would be born clearly in the line of David. It might have been Joseph who made up that dream stuff to cover his indiscretion. Why speculation can take you anywhere you want to go. Why it might even have been Herod who then wanted the baby killed to protect his throne. The whole idea makes me sick.
I have decided to believe it as it is written in the New Testament. I know that 's not modern and probably icky fundamentalist but here I'm stuck. If the church insists on such nonsense I may have to go back to Rome or over to the Orthodox where a number of leading Lutheran theologians have gone.
Pray for the church

George Bush did a Good Thing

2005-11-02T16:26:00.000-08:00

When my children were young I used to praise them every time they did something I considered to be positive. This helped them to keep doing the positive things. A little praise goes a long way. I don't like president Bush very much. I think he is a poor leader and has no idea where the country really is. But the other day he did something which was well thought out and promises to be good for all of us. He so seldom does anything of quality you would have expected some hurrahs from the press. But instead they continued to hammer on him as if he had done nothing. What did he do ? He put forth a well thought out , if a bit expensive, plan to help cope with a possible pandemic. He laid out the problem as clear as it could be laid out and offered reasonable solutions including money for research to cut down the time it takes to make a new vaccine. I really doubt that anybody could come up with anything better. But he got little praise because we are conditioned to see him as a failure. Hey folks the guy doesn't fail at everything and he is our President. In this case I say well done MR.President. Thank you ! Thank you! Thank you! Now if only he would approach the rest of the countries problems with as good an approach we might actually get somewhere.
Pray for the President

When free Isn't Free

2005-11-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

I am becoming irrated at the large number of web sites that tell you you have won something or are getting something free. When one goes there one discovers that to get the free tickets, free gas, free what ever you have to jump through a zillion hoops. You end up having to get a credit card you don't want or need, or joining some buyers club you couldn't care less about, or some other really stupid thing. Then after wasting all that time you quit and get nothing. I should know, of course , there is no free lunch ! But they do such a nice job of pulling you in . They are also getting more and more devious. Today I got a notice that I had won $200 and I should claim it. I clicked on the space and same old hoops. I just have too much time on my hands. I wish there was some way I could do something to irritate these people as much as they irritate me. I am thinking of getting another E-mail address to give in response to their e-mail question. Then I could leave a fake phone number and address. If enough people did that they would, I think, get irrirtated. Well I won't do it of course but its a nice thought.
Pray for me

The Adam and Eve Card

2005-11-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid I used to build card castles. You put two cards leaning against each other and then two more and put another card across. You keep doing this and building one layer on top of another until you have a nice castle. What always fascinated me is that if you pulled one card off of the bottom the entire castle collapsed and all the work was lost. When I was in seminary, a long time ago, I was told that Adam and Eve weren't real people .The church needed to see evolution as the way of God's creating. I accepted that, after all I was a science major before coming to seminary. But now that I have had a few years to think it over I'm afraid that Adam and Eve may be the bottom card that causes the entire theological castle to collapse. Over the centuries the church built on Adam and Eve a theology that went all the way up to Jesus. Adam's fall brings forth original sin. Original sin leaves us unable to save ourselves. God then sends Jesus to reconcile us and do what we can't do. Bottom card Adam and Eve. No Adam and Eve, no original sin. No original sin, we can save ourselves. If we can save ourselves we don't need Jesus. Down goes the centuries old theological castle. If evolution is the process then the very traits we hate in mankind are not sin but the traits that allowed us to survive. Man never was close to God and so man never fell. Thus we don't need Jesus. Down goes the theological castle. So I have decided to believe in Adam and Eve until some theologian can explain to me how we get original sin without them and explain it in plain English not some fancy philosophical mutterings that only a handful can understand. I know that sort of makes me an icky fundamentalist or a hated conservative but life is rough.
Pray for the Church.

Bang Right in the Foot

2005-10-31T06:06:00.000-08:00

Sometimes conservatives aren’t very smart. The President put forth a candidate that he trusted for the Supreme Court. He had worked with her, talked with her, and certainly knew where she stood on the issues important to the President. It is likely she could have been accepted by a good number of Democrats. But the conservatives who would have been well served by her selection felt she wasn’t conservative enough and raised such a stink that her nomination was withdrawn. In the process they did not guarantee they will get a conservative nominee appointed. They left the court to make some important decisions that without the new vote will likely go against their position. Sometimes when the conservatives shoot the bullet ends up in their foot. If they continue to accumulate power the next time the shot may go higher and they will self destruct.
Pray for the nation

On being right

2005-10-30T09:41:00.000-08:00

I am a pastor (retired) in a church that preaches grace but suffers from acute righteousness. Over the years I have seen a righteous attitude develop on the left and the right in the church. Pastors and members sure of the rightness of their position have ceased to listen to anybody else. They have found the truth and you need to find it too is their attitude. This is very true of the current debate on homosexuality. On the one side are those who know in their hearts that it is wrong and on the other side are those who know in their hearts that it isn't. They stand on both sides and glare at each other or sometimes smile at each other without listening. As the polarity develops it threatens to pull the church apart. As it happens each side blames the other. The leadership which should be listening to both sides and bringing them together is for the most part on one side or the other . I really can not see any solution except perhaps a return to grace and letting go of righteousness which isn't likely to happen. Pray for the church.

In the Beginning

2005-10-30T09:21:00.000-08:00

In the beginning there was an old man with strong feelings. This is where he expresses them.