Examining bioethics, morality, and culture from a distinctively orthodox Lutheran perspective. Site dedicated to the Holy Family.
Aug 1st, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
You must check out the blog for the Center for Morality in Public life. Titled Ethika Politika (sounds familiar, doesn’t it?!?), this looks like it going to be a treasure trove for those wishing to applying natural law thinking to contemporary, hot-button issues. CFMPL President Andrew Haines was kind enough to e-mail me last week. I do hope that we’ll have a chance to partner in something big in the near future.
God’s blessings, Andrew and EP!
Aug 1st, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
Although it pertains to the Kingdom of the Left, or God’s left-hand rule (how God orders His creation through His Law), marriage is not an adiaphoron. Severe punishments fall upon those who disregard or disdain God’s institution of marriage–one man and one woman for life. Here’s Philip in the Apology.
Defense of the Augsburg Confession XXIII:55:
Accordingly, at this time, marriage ought to have been especially defended by the most severe laws and warning examples, and men ought to have been invited to marriage. This duty pertains to the magistrates, who ought to maintain public discipline. [God has now so blinded the world that adultery and fornication are permitted almost without punishment; on the contrary, punishment is inflicted on account of marriage. Is not this terrible to hear?] Meanwhile the teachers of the Gospel should do both; they should exhort incontinent men to marriage, and should exhort others not to despise the gift of continence.
That’s right, the National Organization for Marriage, which supports traditional marriage–one man, one woman, for life–is having its Summer for Marriage Tour 2010. And their tour will stop in St. Louis! See the above or click on the link for more details.
Jul 15th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
Most definitely with cause. You can learn more about the suspension of Fr. Paul Vlaar, pastor of St. Victor’s in Obdam, The Netherlands, from Tom Peters at American Papist. In the meantime, watch and weep. Thankfully, no vuvuzelas.
Jul 12th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
The appeal to emotion, a logical fallacy, is an old ploy used when someone wants to get their way. Politicians are notorious for using an emotional appeal to sway voters. Remember this scary moment from “Cabaret?” While not an appeal to emotion, the clip certainly shows the power of emotional appeal:
In rhetoric, people use words in order to convince. Sometimes their words are logical, sometimes their words aren’t logical. Here are just a few “illogical” appeals to emotion that are commonly used by speakers in order to persuade.
The first is the appeal to consequences. An example might be, “Vote for proposition X. If X is approved, apples for everyone!”
Another is the appeal to fear. Here, an example might be, “Vote for proposition X. If you don’t, calamity will occur.”
Still another is the appeal to flattery. As in, “You have all the power, so I’m sure that you’ll make the right decision concerning proposition X.”
Yet another is the appeal to pity. As in, “Group A has done so much work on proposition X, it would be a shame if it were not approved.”
Still another is the appeal to ridicule. As in, “Surely those who do not support proposition X can’t be serious–and this is serious business!”
Yet another is the appeal to spite. As in, “You don’t want our opponents to succeed, do you? Then vote for proposition X.”
Finally, there is the appeal to ignorance. As in, “We don’t know what will happen if proposition X is not approved. But whatever it is, our gut tells us it won’t be good.”
When someone is trying to persuade you, listen carefully to their words. Avoid being swayed by appeals to emotion and ask yourself, “Does what I’m hearing make good sense?”
Jul 10th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
My denomination, The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, is having our triennial convention in Houston, TX this week. This afternoon I watched the opening Divine Service (worship service with Holy Communion) online.
The altar being used for the entire convention is very strange. I’ve never seen anything like it. It actually has a T.V. in it which, if you’ve seen the number of ancient Christian altars in Europe like I have, many of which contain the remains of Christian saints, the altar is–well, I’m nonplussed.
Anyway, here is a picture of the convention altar shamelessly “borrowed” from Rev. Heath Curtis at the Gottesdienst blog.
See, I told you it is very strange.
Here’s a picture of the altar at which I served at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (LCMS) in Vero Beach, Florida, for five years. With the help of an art glass company, I designed the round Christ Enthroned piece above the crucifix. The sanctuary was renovated during my tenure at Redeemer. In addition to the art glass, we installed a beautiful crucifix and new sanctuary furniture. The baptismal font was moved to the back of the nave. Upon entering, one would have to walk by the font in order to get a seat in one of the pews.
Anyway, here’s the convention altar again:
And here are just some random altar images I found on the Web by googling “goddess altar” and “goddess statue”:
Another view of the convention altar from the LCMS Web site:
While there is an abstract crucifix nearby, I think that it is important that we clearly convey our beliefs in our words and in the aesthetics of our worship spaces, don’t you? The image that is on the convention altar is too dissimilar to a representation of our Lord, God made human flesh, and too similar to the symbol of women’s spirituality–for my taste.
Houston, we have a problem.
Jul 9th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
In faint opposition to what is becoming de rigueur among mainline “Protestant” church bodies, on July 9 the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. narrowly maintained the Bible’s definition of marriage–between one man and one woman. The affirmation of the biblical doctrine received a mere 51% of the votes.
The church body also took a step closer to ordaining homosexual clergy.
The issue here, beloved readers, is only partly a rejection of biblical authority, and only partly a rejection of those passages in the Bible that condemn same-sex sexual activity.
The primary offense is against this passage (Gen. 1:28; see also Gen. 9:1):
Be fruitful and multiply.
Until Protestants recognize and reaffirm this primary purpose and reason for God creating us male and female and as the grand “setup” for His institution of Holy Marriage, one continually will see the inevitable pull and downward spiral of confusion in the Church about sex, marriage, and the ordination of clergy.
Again, it is inevitable due to the integral nature of our embodied-ness as male and female, and church bodies that think they’re immune by upholding the authority of Scripture and condemning same-sex sexual activity while ignoring this passage are only kidding themselves.
Jul 9th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
The Los Angeles Times reporting:
U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled July 8 that the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against states like Massachusetts that have legalized gay “marriage.” States are permitted to define marriage as they wish, according to Tauro’s reasoning. He also ruled that DOMA violates the Equal Protection Clause, part of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
Look for more attacks on marriage this fall at the state and federal level. The folks who want gay “marriage” will not stop until they’ve achieved victory.
The Wall Street Journal reports that one internal Raytheon e-mail obtained by the news organization equated “Perfect Citizen,” a new federal cyber-security program, with “Big Brother.”
Didn’t anyone in Washington, D.C. watch Eagle Eye (2008)?
Oh, wait. . . maybe they wrote the script.
Jul 6th, 2010 by Robert C. Baker
My friend Father Bryan is going to get a big kick out of this one!
The Reverend Robert C. Baker, B.B.A, M.Div., is an ordained pastor in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, and serves the Church as an editor at the denomination's publishing house. He is currently pursuing an M.S. degree in Health Care Ethics at Creighton University. He is the author of What Happened To Merry Christmas? and How Do You Start a Fire with Water? and has authored or edited numerous Bible studies and books.
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