I know I promised a book review for this post but something else has been on my mind lately so the book review post will come on Friday. Is it OK to question things about your faith, your religion, your theology, or must you take everything at face value with the so called “leap of faith”?  To me, that is a very important question. I seem to be saying “Why” a lot the last few years.  That even seems to be the reoccurring theme of this blog. Some think I am reverting back to my childhood ;) . I don’t remember what age … Continue reading Why???

I am making an unusual Tuesday post to add a little to the study of the Lord’s prayer.  As I mentioned before the only part of the prayer that I have significant trouble with is the petition “lead us not…” I recently received a message from a good friend trying to help me figure this out. Here is his comments: If you read Luke 22:40, Jesus warns his disciples to pray lest they fall into temptation during his trial. One commentary says about the petition to “lead us not into temptation, “To pray not to be led into temptation is … Continue reading Lead us not…. another view

Today I am going to close out the study of the Lord’s prayer with an almost overwhelming task. That is to try and put the prayer into my own words. This endeavor is for my own sake. For those of you who think this is approaching sacrilegious please forgive me. If any of you want to suggest alternate wording please let me know. Thanks to everyone who has helped me along this journey through the most powerful prayer in Christianity. Humbly here is my interpretation:  Lord God in heaven, as you taught us we will always praise and adore you … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer in my own words

Now that I am done with the “official Lord’s prayer” I want to address the red letter that come immediately after the prayer. For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. I understand that Jesus by dying on the cross earned us our salvation so that we can stand before God on that last day and He will welcome us into heaven in spite of our sins. St. Paul in his many epistles, and many … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer (the epilog)

We are now at the final part of the Lord’s Prayer which is: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. ‘ I must admit these are some of the most challenging words in this prayer for me. I certainly don’t expect God to tempt me with sin. He did that to Job but I think that was a very special case which I don’t really understand either but… The devil constantly tempts us but not God. In Luther’s Catechism he says: “God surely tempts no one to sin, but we pray in this petition … Continue reading The Lord’s Pray (and lead us not into temptation…)

We are now at the third part of the prayer which is Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. Of course we depend on God for our very existence. If he doesn’t want us around then we would no longer exist. We have free will to make our own decisions but not whether we exist or not. So, it is proper for us to thank God everyday for what we eat, where we live, and for our every breath. Forgiving people who have done us wrong is the second issue … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer (Give us today…)

 Let me get to work on my interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. (see my previous post for more understanding if you missed it). Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, Sometimes we forget just who God is. He is not a buddy across the backyard fence who we chat with from time to time. His knowledge and wisdom are beyond our comprehension. After all He is the creator of the universe including each of us. We should feel comfortable talking/praying to Him, Jesus Christ earned us that privilege. But, we must always remember that He also deserves, some say … Continue reading The Lord’s Prayer (Our Father in heaven)

Why do Christians and other religions put such value on the places where their deities or prophets roamed? Jerusalem and its environs have been in a steady state of conflict from before Jesus’ time until now and will probably remain so in the future. It seems like there are constant fights going on over that ground. That is because three of the world’s major religions claim the area as part of their traditions. We seem to idolize the land on which our religious leaders roamed more than the teachings they gave us. I know I am going to offend several … Continue reading It’s Just a Place

I am going to do a cross blog thing today. I promise not to do it often. Trevin Wax, who is an author and pastor of a Tennessee Baptist church has a blog entitle “Kingdom People”. He has quite a large and loyal following. Wednesday’s post he questioned the “smug superiority” of the United States especially given the recent inauguration. The post below is a comment I posted on his site. To see his entire posting go to http://trevinwax.com/2009/01/21/echoes-of-babel-our-new-national-sin/  <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Trevin: As usual I will take a somewhat contrarian view of some of your statements on this post. Before I … Continue reading Is the United States the next Babylon?

 I’m going to move away from my focus on the red letters to look a little at what St. Peter said in the book of Acts  Acts 2:14-21 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit … Continue reading Christian Doublespeak?

Many Christians and churches today practice to varying degrees what I call fortress mentality. These Christians almost never associate with anyone outside of their church. They only listen to Christian broadcasts and read only Christian books and media. It is almost as if they believe that if you are part of this world they will somehow be polluted by it and lose their faith. The only way they see to remain in Christ is to almost totally separate themselves for the rest of the world. Of course, this mentality is very counter to the actual words of Jesus. Matt 28:19-20 … Continue reading Christian Fortress Mentality