Joke of the week

There will be no blog next week, so I’m posting two jokes this week

A woman wants to take her dog to Cincinnati, so she goes to the travel agent to find out how. He says, “It’s easy. You go to the airline, they give you a kennel, you put your dog in it, when you get off at Cincinnati go to the luggage rack, and there’s your dog. So she does, gets off at Cincinnati, goes to the luggage rack, no dog. She goes to the lost and found, says, “Where’s my dog?” They look all over the airport for it, and find the dog in another terminal. Only the dog is dead. “Oh, my Gosh, they say, we killed this woman’s dog. What are we going to do?”  Then one says, “Wait a minute, it’s a cocker spaniel. They’re common dogs. There’s a pet shop across the street from the airport. We’ll get the same size, shape, color, sex. She’ll never know the difference.” They bring the woman the other dog and she says, “That’s not my dog.” Laughingly and making light of it they say, “What do you mean that’s not your dog?”  She says, “My dog’s dead. I was taking it to Cincinnati to bury it.”

Little Johnny came in from the backyard sobbing. His mother asked “What’s the matter?” “Dad was fixing the fence and hit his thumb with the hammer,” he said through his tears. “That’s not so serious,” his mother said, “and a big boy like you shouldn’t cry about that. Why didn’t you just laugh?” “I did!” cried Johnny.

No blog next week.

Next week Ill be out of state and unable to blog. Rogland Writes will resume February 8.

Luther’s 95 theses for the 21st century

Last week we began a series presenting and explaining Luther’s 95 theses. Five hundred years ago their posting on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, began the Protestant Reformation.  The points Luther made are relevant to us today, necessary changes being made. Here is Thesis 2.

2. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e., confession and satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.

Sacramental penance is something the Church requires one to do to be absolved or forgiven of sin. The Catholic Church believes it has the power to assign certain acts as sacramental penances on the basis of these words of Jesus to the disciples he chose to be his apostles:

 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Mt. 16:19

And when [Jesus] had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Jn. 20:22-23

In the first few centuries of the Christian era the bishops and elders of the Church assigned acts of penance to erstwhile penitents to prove their repentance was real. After all, John the Baptist told those who came to him to be baptized as a token of repentance that they needed to show their repentance by a new way of life (Lk. 3:7-14).

Over the centuries the practice became distorted. By Luther’s day repentance was reduced to confession and satisfaction, i.e., performing rote works of penance (e.g., saying so many Our Fathers or going on pilgrimage to a shrine.) It is so easy to go through the motions without real repentance, which is a real grief for sin and for disobeying God, coupled with a resolution to live more like a follower of Christ by the help of the Holy Spirit.

We Protestants may judge Roman Catholics for going through the motions without a genuine change of heart, but it is easy for us to do the same. Do we not often pray “In Jesus’ Name” mechanically as we ask for forgiveness? “In Jesus’ Name” is not a lucky incantation or a get-out-of-jail-free card. To misuse his Name is a violation of the third commandment. I confess to committing that sin frequently. Do you?

Joke of the Week

A couple was having their Sunday morning breakfast when the wife went to get her Sunday church clothes on. When she returned, the husband was still in his bathrobe.

“Aren’t you going to church this morning?” asked the wife.

“No, I’m not going this morning. In fact, I’m not going to church anymore at all.”

“What do you mean, we’ve gone to church for years, so why the change?

He responded, “Look, there are people at that church who don’t like me, and frankly, there are people at that church that I don’t like, and I’M NOT GOING!”

She answered back, “I’ll give you two good reasons why you need to go to church. One, you’re 42 years old. Two, you gotta go, you’re the preacher.”

The Day I Saw Martin Luther King

Monday was Martin Luther King Day, and that always brings back memories. Fifty-five years ago, plus or minus a year, I saw Martin Luther King at the University of Washington. He spoke at Meany Hall to a large crowd. Now, I must apologize to the many pastors who have ministered to me, but I can recall no memorable phrase from those 2000 plus sermons. But I do remember one phrase from Dr. King’s speech. He said, “There are the facts, and there is the Truth that makes sense of the facts.” Dr. King was a Christian minister, and knew very well that the Truth is Jesus Christ (John 14:6). The world remembers other things, good and great things, that he said; I have never seen quoted the line I still remember. But it is one every Christian needs to bear in mind. We live in a rapidly changing and confusing world, one where we are overwhelmed with information–facts (and fake news too). Only by knowing Jesus Christ better can we know their importance (or unimportance) and how they fit in with the other facts. Let’s read the internet and the media through the lens of the Gospel.

How to Let the Truth Make Sense of the Facts (see above)

As I said in the previous item, we live in a confusing, rapidly changing world. We need to see things through the lens of the truth of Jesus Christ. One practical way to begin is to study the Book of James, the New Testament’s contribution to the Bible’s wisdom literature. And one way to study James is with the help of Saluda Press’s book, James: A Study Guide: Practical Wisdom for Challenging Times. Less than ten dollars (OK, $9.95 ) + $4.00 shipping. Buy it on Amazon or (better) by going to the top of the page, clicking on Buy My Books, and proceeding from there.

Luther’s 95 Theses for 21st Century Christians

Last week we began a study of Luther’s 95 theses. The publication of those theses 500 years ago this year is generally recognized as the beginning of the Reformation. Last week’s lesson was a general introduction. Today we begin with Thesis 1. We will continue with one or more theses each week probably up till Reformation Day (October 31). No questions in this study; just read and think.

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite, willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.

The Latin phrase, Penitentiam agite, literally means Do penance. The phrase comes from Matthew 3:2 (and parallel verses in Mark and Luke) in the Latin Vulgate Bible. The Vulgate New Testament was translated from the Greek New Testament by St. Jerome about 400 AD.[1] Poenitentiam agite was an unfortunate rendering of the Greek word metanoeite, which literally means, change your thinking. The Greek refers to an inner change; the Latin means something external.

This first of Luther’s theses is as relevant today as it was when Luther penned it. To be sure, true inner repentance will show itself in external behavior: a penitent person will live differently than before. But it is all too easy to think that reformation of life is what God is looking for and to miss the truth that it is the inner person God sees. It’s all too easy to identify the Christian life as a code of behavior rather than a life stemming from sincere, heartfelt sorrow for sin. That is part of what Luther was affirming.

The second part of Luther’s proposition is that repentance is not a one-time thing, remorse and a decision to follow Christ at the beginning of one’s Christian life. Faith and repentance both have a beginning, but they are to continue till death. There will never be a time, from conversion to death, when we do not need to repent and believe. We continue to be sinners saved by grace; we always have something to repent of. If not, we would only ask for the forgiveness of sins at the beginning of our Christian life

[1] More accurately, Jerome revised the Old Latin translation of the New Testament in light of the Greek.

Joke of the week

A prince had a curse put on him when he was a little boy He could only speak two words every year. But, if he didn’t speak for a whole year, he would then be able to speak 4 words the next year and so on.

One day he met a princess named Josie and instantly fell in love. He wanted to say “My Princess,” but held his tongue.

The next year he saw her he wanted to say “My princess, I love you”.

The third year he saw her he wanted to say “My princess I love you, will you marry me?” But, the young prince, now growing older knew he would have to wait a couple more years.

So, on the fifth year, excited to finally present his question, he visited the princess.

He approached her respectfully and asked, “JOSIE, MY PRINCESS, I LOVE YOU. WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

The princess cupped her hand to her ear and said, “Pardon?”

Alone and vulnerable

Many of you will have read that the ionic Pioneer Cabin sequoia tree was toppled in a windstorm a few days ago. This is the tree with a square hole cut in the base so that people and autos could go through it–you’ve likely seen its picture. As I looked at the picture of the standing tree I noticed that it had no other giant sequoia trees nearby. That made me think of the isolated Christian. Too many Christians have little or no contact with other Christians. They have no Christian friends. They don’t attend church, or if they do they zip in and zip out without getting to know their fellow churchgoers. Is it any wonder that so many fall away from the faith when trouble comes their way? Just as being in a grove protects trees from windstorms, so being with fellow believers protects the Christian when life gets hard or a crisis erupts. You can talk about your problems with brothers and sisters in Christ; they will pray with and for you. Worship with God’s people in a healthy church also strengthens us for the storms of life. If you have been going it alone as a Christian, get into the fellowship of other believer in 2017. The fall of that 200 ft high sequoia was great. Don’t you go riding for a fall in your Christian isolation.

What’s new at Saluda Press for 2017?

This year Saluda Press hopes to publish two new books. There are a half-dozen in the hopper, and I’m not sure which

ones to publish. Here are the candidates; let me know, by comments on this site or Facebook message, which you would prefer to see in print (your comment does NOT commit you to making a purchase.) First Corinthians: A Study Guide; Songs of Ascent; The Life and Psalms of David; The Kingdom Parables of Jesus; Luther’s 95 Theses for 21st Century Christians; The Letters of John: Truth and Love. Those of you who have been doing the studies running weekly in this blog will recognize that three of them were featured here already. The first book of 2017, whichever one it is, won’t be out till spring. Till then, if you haven’t examined Saluda Press’s current inventory, check it out by clicking on Buy My Books at the top of the page.

We begin a new study

500 years ago this year Martin Luther kicked off the Protestant Reformation by posting 95 theses or propositions to be debated on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany. I have just finished writing a short book on the 95 theses (not yet published, but I have hopes). For the next few months we will be going through most of the theses with excerpts from the book. There will be no questions to ponder, but there will be plenty to think about. I hope you enjoy these new studies and profit from them. Today, an introduction and justification for studying the 95 theses.

Luther’s 95 Theses for 21^st Century Christians: Introduction

The 95 Theses in 1517

The beginning of the Reformation is usually thought to be Martin Luther’s nailing of 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. The 95 theses were propositions that Luther was prepared to debate with other church scholars. The prologue to the theses is:

Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place. Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us, may do so by letter. In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The theses dealt primarily with the theory and practice of granting indulgences. An indulgence is a partial or full remission of the sufferings the believer suffers in purgatory, sufferings that are intended to finish the work of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of making a sinner perfectly holy, a process begun with baptism according to the Roman Catholic Church. Only a Roman Catholic whose sins have already been forgiven can be granted an indulgence. All this was and is today the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, a church of which Martin Luther was a loyal member at the time he posted his theses.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the saints, very holy Christians who are now in heaven, performed more good works than needed for their own sanctification. Those extra works are thought to constitute a treasury of merit which is under the control and direction of the pope. The pope can draw on those good works and allocate them to living Catholics and to the dead in purgatory, shortening or entirely remitting the punishments they would otherwise have to undergo to be made entirely holy and enter heaven. Wikipedia sums it up:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes an indulgence as “a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints”

In Luther’s day the Catholic Church was selling indulgences to raise money for the construction of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Indulgence peddlers, or “pardoners,” were active throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Luther found much to criticize in the theory and practice of indulgences and wished to debate the issue with other academics. In addition to posting his theses in Wittenberg, he sent a copy to Archbishop Albert of Brandenberg, under whose auspices the indulgence peddlers plied their trade in Germany. Originally written in Latin, the 95 theses were translated into German and printed and distributed in various German cities.

Luther’s theses aroused interest in the people, and drew criticism from the indulgence peddlers, as might be expected. Official condemnation by the Catholic Church quickly followed. Within three years the Pope had written a bull (an official document) blasting Luther; a year later he excommunicated Luther, that is, he cast him out of the church. By then Luther had gone well beyond the criticisms stated in the 95 theses. In the theses he still acknowledged the existence of purgatory and the authority of the pope; he soon was to reject the notion of purgatory and to denounce the pope as Antichrist.

The 95 Theses Today

What interest can 21^st century Christians have in the 95 theses? The selling of indulgences is not a burning issue in our time even in the Catholic Church, much less the Protestant church. Luther quickly moved beyond the issue of indulgences, and they were never a matter of discussion in Calvinist, Anglican, or Baptist circles. Does anyone other than the history buff care to know the content of the Luther’s theses?

I believe we should care to know about the 95 theses. They bring up fundamental issues of Christian faith and practice that are just as important today as they were in Luther’s day. Those issues go beyond the matter of indulgences. We profit greatly by examining his theses and thinking about their contemporary analogs. It’s my hope you will see and agree as we study the 95 theses in the next few months.

Joke of the week

Those of you who will need lots of coffee to get through 2017 will resonate with this:

You’re Drinking Too Much Coffee When:

You ski uphill.

You speed walk in your sleep.

You answer the door before people knock.

You sleep with your eyes open.

You just completed your third sweater today, and you don’t know how to knit.

You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.

You have to watch videos in fast-forward.

The only time you’re standing still is in an earthquake.

You lick your coffee pot clean.

Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.

The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse.

You can type sixty words a minute with your feet.

You don’t sweat, you percolate.

People get dizzy just watching you.

People can test their batteries in your ears.

Your birthday is a national holiday in Brazil.

Your Thermos is on wheels.

You can outlast the Energizer Bunny.

You don’t even wait for the water to boil anymore.

You don’t tan, you roast.

You soak your dentures in coffee overnight.

You think CPR stands for “Coffee Provides Resuscitation.”

Do you really want a crystal ball?

Sometimes we would like to know the future. Haven’t you been thinking, “I wonder what 2017 holds for me, for my loved ones, for the country?” Most of us know deep down that we can’t know the future, though some people avidly read their horoscope every day. But some things about the future we can know, for Scripture tells us:

What you sow, that shall you also reap.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things [the necessities of life] will be added to you.

I could go on. As you read the Bible, why not write down every statement you encounter that tells you what to expect if you do some particular thing. Put a plus sign by every verse that promises a good outcome, and a negative sign that signifies a bad outcome. You will see that you can know the future in every way that matters, and you will know what to do to ensure that your future is bright, in this life and the next.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

Winter weather keeps us inside most of the time. What to do when you can’t recreate outside? The answer: Read The Crescent and the Cross: The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad, published by Saluda Press. Written for young readers, feedback is that adults who’ve read it (mostly parents reading to their kids) enjoy it too. It tells how Sinbad the Sailor sails away towards Mecca in a desire to please Allah, but after undergoing one danger after another, he ultimately finds Jesus with the help of his young friend, an Ethiopian Christian named Selassie. The book presents the gospel, interspersed with many adventures, and shows how Islam cannot meet our true spiritual needs. Excitement, danger, and a clear statement of the gospel–all at a low price. What more could you want? It’s available on Amazon and also through this web page at Buying My Books at the top of the page.

Parables of the Kingdom: Parable of the Ten Minas: Luke. 19:11-27

This parable is similar to the Parable of the Talents, but it is a different parable, told at a different time.  Jesus told the Parable of the Ten Minas when he was drawing near to Jerusalem (Luke 19:11), whereas he told the Parable of the Talents after he had arrived in Jerusalem. In the Parable of the Ten Minas Jesus included some material not found in Matthew. We won’t consider the central part of the Parable of the Ten Minas, which teach the same lesson as the Parable of the Talents. We will consider only Luke 19:11-14 and 27, which introduce a new element.

Questions

1. Who is represented by the nobleman who went into a far country to receive a kingdom?
2. What is the far country?
3. From whom will Christ receive his kingdom?
4. Who are the citizens who hated the nobleman?
5. What happened when the king returned? What does that represent?

Exposition of the Parable

The nobleman represents Jesus Christ. Here the Lord is telling the disciples that he is returning to heaven to receive the kingdom of God from his Father, and that he will return again. Luke, who wrote these words of Christ, must have remembered them when he wrote down the angels’ words to the apostles after Christ ascended to heaven:

Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. Act 1:11

The rebellious citizens were the Jews who rejected Christ as their Messiah and king. The Greek word rendered citizens in the ESV means just that: they were not “alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise” like the Gentiles (Ephesians 2:12); they were part of God’s people. But in just a few days they would reject their true king, and their leaders would tell Pilate that they had no king but Caesar (John 19:15).

When the nobleman, now a king, returned, he would slay his enemies. This tells us that when Christ returns he will order those who rejected him to suffer eternal punishment. We have learned that truth already from many of the parables we have studied.

We ought not to comfort ourselves that Jesus was speaking primarily of the Jews here. Today every baptized Christian is part of the Visible Church, part of the kingdom of God on earth. Those nominal Christians who rebel against him are as guilty as the Jews who rejected him two thousand years ago and will suffer the same fate.

Furthermore, the apostle Paul said he was charged with bringing about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all nations (Romans 1:5). All human souls—Jews, baptized Christians, and all others—are to turn to Jesus in repentance and faith. He is God’s anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. They may not be “citizens,” members of the Church, the kingdom of God on earth, but they are rebellious subjects, and they will suffer the just wrath of God.

Don’t be a rebel against God’s anointed King. Turn to Jesus Christ, so that you may be part of his eternal kingdom.

Next week we begin a new series.