What if confessional Lutheran orthodoxy in the LCMS comprises only one-third of 1%?
"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1Kings 19:18)
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Panic Attack!
I'm trying to get to sleep after a long day, looking forward to some long-awaited scuba diving tomorrow, reflecting on the events of this week. Suddenly, out of the clear blue, comes this panic attack.
"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1Kings 19:18)
"Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” (1Kings 19:18)
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18 comments:
all the more reason to do the good work of Higher Things, my brother.
(btw, good thing you don't live here near STL. (besides not being able to scuba dive today.) as you've probably already heard, we had a little bouncer, 5.4, that woke the wife and me up a little after 4:30 am... the one night all the kids sleep through the night, the Creation conspires against us.)
Hah! That is funny. A man in St. Louise complaining about earthquakes to a man in California, and a 5.4 no less. Californians don't wake up for anything less than a 6.
Not true. I am a native Californian transplanted in St. Louis, and the 5.2 (early reports said 5.4)earthquake woke me up. I must admit, however, I didn't belive it was a quake.
This 1/3 of 1% hates quakes and figures it a fitting start to the 1 month remembrance.
hey, I'll have you know I grew up in California, and my wife is a survivor of the Northridge quake.
btw, Cwirla, your panic was unfounded. Just count how many times in official public statements Kieschnick feels the need to use the word "confessional", especially in his Lutheran Witness articles. If we confessionals were only 1/3 of 1%, would he work so hard to try to convince us that he is one of us? (I don't remember Rev. Barry using the word near as often... there simply was no question about what type of Lutheran he was.)
The parentheses tell the story.
BTW, I've noticed that the JesusFirst! affirmations have a lot fewer signatures than the petition. I estimate that they comprise about one-tenth of 1% of the LCMS.
I wonder who the 99.6% percent are?
Bror,
what is really funny is that my wife just called to say Chester, Illinois schools cancelled school today after our little 4.5 aftershock! hahahahahahah!
Re: The Great New Madrid Earthquake
Could this be a sign of God's wrath on the LCMS over Issues, Etc.?
The timing and location are kind of creepy.
There are many that I’ve talked to that think the 1/3 of 1% is precisely the reason to leave synod. I disagree. Even if there are only 7000 confessional Lutherans left, it becomes that much more important that they stay in the synod so as to bear witness to all who would hear the voice of their Shepherd.
With the synod moving (quickly) toward a seeker friendly and pop culture driven model that more closely resembles the Dr. Phil’s self help show rather than church, it is up to that 1/3 of 1% to keep Christ centered and cross focused.
Panic attacks are for chemists and metrologists and such. The faithful don’t worry about such matters…
Chemists don't panic. They just drink a lot.
So do metrologists... they'll use any excuse to open a single malt!
Frank,
Dr. Phil should be offended by your comparison. he comes a lot closer to preaching God's Law than our synod's seeker friendly and pop-culture driven types who are offensive to us precisely by trying to be inoffensive to everyone else
If it were a sign of God's Wrath, I expect its epicenter would've been the "Purple Palace," and the quake would have been strong enough to damage it, even if just a little.
And of course it should have happened exactly one month ago.
More likely, this adjustment of Earth's spine is a sign of God's mercy and benevolence, as it was so mildly accomplished.
For every pastor that signed that petition, there is a congregation of people who'd rather be Lutheran than not. Take the number of those pastors, compare that to the number of total congregations, add 10% for tech-unsavviness, and then you'll know where we stand. :D
Pastor Leistico,
You're right, my apologies to Dr. Phil.
Pastor Fisk,
Amen!
"More likely, this adjustment of Earth's spine is a sign of God's mercy and benevolence, as it was so mildly accomplished."
Hmmm. The Divine Chiropractor.
I can't recall any Scriptures that indicate earthquakes as signs of God's mercy and benevolence.
No question that He uses them for good in the all-reconciling death of Jesus.
Well, now, it seeems to be a matter of ones perspective. David wrote Psalm 18, in which "the earth shook," as a description of the Lord's rescuing him. (And 2 Samuel 22 quotes it in that same context.) Psalm 77 has an earthquake as part of a poetic description of Israel's rescue from her enemies, and Hebrews 12 predicts one as part of the world's rescue from evil. All signs of God's mercy, in other words.
Unless, of course, you are one of those enemies...
Perspective.
:-)
"Unless, of course, you are one of those enemies..."
Always a two-sided thing.
Like the Word as Law and Gospel.
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