Archive for ‘WE Got Answers’

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May03

What Should “Should” Mean in Marriage?

Posted In: WE Got Answers
Dear Pastor
The Bible states that a man should leave his parents and take a wife. Why did Jesus ( as a man on earth) not take a wife? Love your videos! Thanks!
B-
There is a slight misunderstanding in your question. The use of “should” there is slightly archaic — it’s not “should” in the “you need to do this”, but should in the “when this happens, this is what happens” sense… like if my wife were reading old British novels and happened to say to me, “Should thou go to the store today, bringest home chocolate husband mine!”

So what you have in Genesis is not an imperative commanding that everyone must be married, but rather a statement of what happens if and when there is marriage. When a man is married, he leaves his father and mother and cleaves to his wife — it describes the shift in the family dynamics that happen with marriage.

Hope that helps… or maybe I should say, “Should that end up helping you, I will be glad!”

Rev. Eric J. Brown
Zion Lutheran Church – Lahoma, OK

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May02

Bishop or President? Does it Matter?

Posted In: WE Got Answers
I am a member of the WELS. I was wondering when and why Lutherans (in a America) developed a corporate-style form of church government. (Calling our Bishops ‘District President’ and ‘President’, etc.)
Amongst Lutherans in America, there has been an almost universal democratic style of church governance. Most often Lutheran Synods eschewed a strong central and singular figurehead for leadership. Most placed congregations above districts and synod leadership. In fact, as it stands, in the Missouri Synod, the Synod is “advisory” and does not exercise “legislative or coercive powers.” Similar language can be found throughout the history of Lutheranism in America. The term “President” however, should not be understood as one who wields great executive power. It’s usage goes back to the early Church:
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability,2 and the people assent, saying Amen
Justin Martyr, “The First Apology of Justin”, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume I: The Apostolic Fathers With Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885). 186.

The reason that Lutherans chose the term President was seen as simply the guy who ran the meeting, namely the regular Synodical meeting. In fact, the Tennessee Synod saw itself as so congregational based that their use of the term “Synod” was the meeting that happened once a year to approve new pastors, congregation, and conduct similar business.

To my knowledge, with the exception of Bishop Stephan who led the group that later became the LCMS, Lutherans in America did not use the term Bishop until around 1980 in the ALC, LCA and AELC (which formed the ELCA in 1988).

Of historical note, it is for the same reason that the United States chose the title “President” because they wanted the lowliest title they could think of for the executive office. It was not until after the civil war and the accumulation of powers of the Executive branch that the term “President” was seen as a title of prestige.

Matthew Lorfeld, Pastor
Messiah Lutheran Church
La Crescent, MN

http://www.messiahlacrescent.org

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Apr25

Stop the FB and Email Guilt Trips!

Posted In: WE Got Answers
Rev. Fisk, What is your take on facebook post like this: “I believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted him as my personal Savior. One facebooker has challenged all believers to put this on their wall. In the Bible it says, if you deny me in front of your peers, I will deny you in front of my Father at the gates of Heaven. This is simple … if you Love God and you are not afraid to show it, repost this. Just copy and paste … No shame!”
Dear C:

There may be no need to bear ill will against those who share such things. Often they are focused on what they believe is an uplifting message contained in the email. They may not even notice the little “guilt trip” at the end, or believe it to be irrelevant. However, when asked, I advise against passing such things around. I myself tend to ignore them for a couple of reasons. 1) While there isn’t necessarily a reason to immediately jump on someone who uses phrases like “accepting Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior,” it is true that this just isn’t a good way of speaking from an accurate understanding of how Scripture tells us we are saved. And most of the emails and FB posts of that nature tend to speak in these or other incorrect ways. False teaching is false teaching. Period. 2) I personally tend to resist anything that comes to me via the internet (Facebook, Email, etc) that even implies that my failure to share a certain post or email somehow indicates that I do not love Jesus as much as those who do share it. I am Baptized into Christ and have no doubt wherein my salvation lies. It is inappropriate at best for a Christian to have their conscience bound to such things as sharing FB posts or emails as proof of their faith, or their love of God, or their salvation.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jeffrey Ries
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tacoma, WA

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Apr25

A Lutheran Position on Cross Dressing? Can You Tell We’re In the 21st Century?

Posted In: WE Got Answers
What is the Lutheran position on cross-dressing?
A -

To the best of my knowledge there hasn’t been an official statement anyway on this issue – thus the place that I would default to would be the sixth commandment and Luther’s explanation – that we are to fear and love God so that we may lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed and each love and honor one’s spouse.

In modern parlance “cross-dressing” tends to refer to a crossing or toying with gender – so I don’t think that it would generally fall under being chaste.

Rev. Eric J. Brown
Zion Lutheran Church – Lahoma, OK

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Apr25

Miraculous Tongues

Posted In: WE Got Answers
Is it possible for people in modern times to speak in tongues and perform miracles? Thanks!
B -

You ask something very interesting. You ask if it is possible for “people” in modern times to speak in tongues or perform miracles. The answer to that is it was never possible for “people” to speak in tongues or perform miracles… these were always acts of God done *through* people, not by them.

I bring this up because there is an important distinction to remember here. We don’t limit God. If God wants to have someone speak in tongues – He can. If He wants to work a miracle through someone, He can. But we have no promise that He is going to – and these certainly aren’t things that we can whip up on demand, and certainly not as demonstrations of our faith.

Of course, part of this topic is that too often people today forget that miracles or tongues point to God, not to the one performing them. Too often any talk around miracles or tongues center on the human agent – which isn’t the point.

Hope this helps,

Rev. Eric J. Brown
Zion Lutheran Church – Lahoma, OK

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