This is something you should discuss with your pastor, because there are different types of birth control, different circumstances, different motives, and different preconceived ideas… Read More »Is It Permissible for a Christian to Use Birth Control?
Hymn 620 is actually a prayer to Christ, offered in the context of a wedding ceremony. When at that wedding we sing “Thou dearer far than earthly guest,/ Vouchsafe Thy presence here” (verse 1), we are actually praying that Christ will be present at this wedding, even as He was present at the wedding in Cana, where He performed the first miracle in His public ministry.Read More »“Lord, Who at Cana’s Wedding-Feast”
“Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance; the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation” (Hebrews 9:6-10).Read More »“What a Contrast!”
Many people follow the Academy Awards show to see which nominees did the best at playing their respective roles. The winners are much applauded for… Read More »A Glory-Winning Performance
No, the Bible doesn’t contain any mistakes. Everything it says is reliable and true, since it is given by inspiration of God. This is what… Read More »Does the Bible Contain Mistakes?
It was just a small Baptist church, located in a poor rural area of the country and made up of parishioners who themselves possessed very little in terms of material wealth. The salary they were able to pay their pastor was barely adequate, often consisting partly of produce grown by the parishioners—which they gave him in lieu of cash.
The pastor had been newly married when he accepted the call to serve them seven years earlier. Then came children. Now that the pastor and his wife were the parents of a growing family, their financial difficulty was becoming more serious, and it may have seemed providential to him that he had recently received a call to be the pastor of a large and prosperous Baptist church in the city. Read More »Hymn 464 “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
“Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which… Read More »The Holiest of All
“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert,… Read More »It Is of the Lord’s Mercies That We Are Not Consumed
Micro-evolution, that is, the changing of characteristics within a species, happens regularly and is biblical. God created plants and animals each “according to its kind”… Read More »“Is It True That Our Church Teaches That Evolution is False?”
A HYMN OF GLORY LET US SING
(Fifth in a Series on The Lutheran Hymnal)
Although most Reformed churches today largely ignore the event as a calendar item, we Lutherans do not. Theologians actually have much to say about the doctrine of Christ’s bodily ascension. They use fancy Latin terms like terminus ad quem (“the end to which”), coelum beatorum (“the paradise of the redeemed”) and coelum Dei maiestaticum (“the majestic heaven of God”). The Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord addresses Christ’s ascension at length in Sections VII and VIII.Read More »Hymn 216 “On Christ’s Ascension I Now Build”
