Joke of the Week: More Yogi Berra-isms
“We’re lost, but we’re making good time.”
“I usually take a two hour nap from 1 to 4.”
“90 percent of the game is half mental.”
“Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t go to yours.”
“Steve McQueen looks good in this movie. He must have made it before he died.”
When asked if he wanted his pizza cut into four or eight pieces, Yogi replied, “Four. I don’t think I could eat eight.”
Bible studies galore!
Fall (after Labor Day) is a good time to begin a new personal Bible study to kick off the year right. Saluda Press offers three Bible study guides: James: A Study Guide: Practical Wisdom for Challenging Times, The Letters of Peter: A Study Guide: Hope and Truth for Troubled Times, and Galatians: Freedom in Christ: A Study Guide. Each one contains Study Questions, Answers to the Study Questions, and Study Notes that expand on matters raised by the passage being studied. Reasonably priced, they can be purchased on Amazon or directly from Saluda Press. Go to the Buying My Books page to read more and buy.
Luther’s 95 Theses for 21st Century Christians
We continue with our study.
- Those who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine.
Luther observed that some indulgence sellers told their buyers that they didn’t need to repent or do acts of penance: they could release their own souls and those of their relatives and friends from purgatory with money alone. As far as I know, no one, Roman Catholic or Protestant, believes that today.
But the notion that repentance is not required is still alive and well in the 21st century, perhaps even more in the Protestant church than in Catholic churches. Some well-meaning but biblically ignorant people believe one can simply accept Jesus as Savior and Lord without any repentance. Example 1: Campus Crusade (now renamed Cru) publishes a booklet, The Four Spiritual Laws, to be used in personal evangelism. It makes no mention of repentance. Example 2:Evangelism Explosion, a program for personal evangelism developed by Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (a congregation in my own denomination), likewise says nothing of repentance. While these widely used programs have been successful in helping people find Christ, that the make no mention of repentance is disturbing and discouraging.
Even worse, some large megachurches avoid mentioning sin entirely. They promote a gospel of self-affirmation and power for successful living. They entirely avoid mentioning our sin and the position of a sinner before God; and since there is no mention of sin, there certainly is no call to repentance. As Luther puts it, that is unchristian doctrine.