tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7349070.post5581034630889832449..comments2023-08-29T05:36:46.228-06:00Comments on cyber spirit cafe: A response to PeterDoug Kingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12830571125611956474noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7349070.post-53816288055036541472010-12-23T20:30:58.654-07:002010-12-23T20:30:58.654-07:00Sorry that I never saw this reply until just now.
...Sorry that I never saw this reply until just now.<br /><br />I will completely agree with you that language is a good part of the problem and that today we tend to treat the Augsburg Confession as a dead document. One task we have today is proclaiming the Good News in such a way that it can be received by a modern audience.<br /><br />The heart of our disagreement, though, is what the power of Christ is, and what Jesus means. If he just means a new set of ethics, there really isn't any new change. We don't actually <i>need</i> Jesus for anything. Even Jesus acknowledges that the Torah pretty much summed everything up (Lev 19:18). If it's just ethics, we might as well be Jews. The only insights into ethics that I see Christianity providing is that no matter what we do, it isn't good enough. Otherwise, it's just another system of death.<br /><br />It is mercy, not justice, that Jesus brings. What we need Jesus for is all of the bad things we've done and will do. All of our failures and their concrete consequences that we have coming to us. To use more of the Lutheran lingo, in trusting God's promise, we are given new life. That new life isn't 'try harder next time to be perfect', it is 'your sins are forgiven' and the transformative power that brings. To a very large extent that transformative power can't be communicated just in words. It is only from being grounded in that transformative power that we are given new hearts that allow us right action. Right action is a byproduct, if you will, of what Christ does for us.<br /><br />As you point out, we don't always trust, even having heard the Good News. Luther's sinner-saint concept is an attempt to describe the tension we live in between old life and new life. Yes, even Christians will suffer and die (and if anything, we're called to go into the valleys of death to bring Christ's healing life. that's not metaphorical...), and yet, that isn't the end. We're not chained to our deaths, or those of loved ones.Peternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7349070.post-23910076790807512322010-09-01T06:55:31.136-06:002010-09-01T06:55:31.136-06:00Christianity is such a broad subject....but it mea...Christianity is such a broad subject....but it means following Christ. Religion is of the people and their laws, faith is of God and the individual. That is what I teach to my confirmation class. Develop your faith relationship with God and let religion blab awayUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17275713273961989520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7349070.post-17692322940750798552010-08-21T14:22:42.522-06:002010-08-21T14:22:42.522-06:00Hi, I used to be Peter, in love with the idea of &...Hi, I used to be Peter, in love with the idea of 'the historic reformation' and all the sola's (why do modern Americans like to throw out Latin phrases by the way? To make themselves sound smart? Did they take Latin in High school? But I digress). I now realize this is all intellectual play, not real Christianity. (I was in a conservative reformed setting, we see it here too, not just Lutheran). If Christianity is to be real and vital and relevant, and it is, then it needs to focus on other than reciting 16th-century formulas.Michael_SChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14179192580620356545noreply@blogger.com