The Templeton Committee met for the first time on October 21, 2015. Pastor Michael Tavella had received a $5000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation through the auspices of Earl Whipple, a staff member of the organization and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The grant will be used to develop a manual for churches and individual Christians on how we should conduct ourselves when in conversation with atheists and others who do not attend Church (the “nones”), either one on one or in a public forum. The biblical basis for the project is I Peter 3: 15b-16. The proposal includes field testing the manual in church adult classes and then holding at least one public forum in which Christians and non-Christians dialogue with one another. These conversations will constitute a Christian defense of the faith (ἀπολογία, apologia, English-apology) and a witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bigotry is the hatred of people of a certain social or economic class, religion, race, nation, ethnic group, political affiliation, gender. (There are only two genders. God created gender and sex, not us), or ideology by an individual, group of individuals, society, or nation that may eventuate on a political level in laws against them and even more violent persecution. Bigotry involves the…
The well-known and popular, contemporary theory about truth is that there is no such thing except in a narrowly defined way. If I understand it correctly, post-modernist theory maintains that absolute truth does not exist and that any truth claim is only a point of view. Truth can not be attained. It is beyond us or does not…
When we speak, we are to speak with wisdom, knowledge and discernment. Today in the public environment, there are too many words and too little wisdom. Not much or nothing is accomplished by turgid and foolish speech. The news programs often give us a taste of the foolishness of the tongue. Wisdom means the willingness to listen to the rede…
I first wnat to disavow the title of this article. We cannot get inside the heart and the mind of a secularist/atheist. We can not get inside the heart and mind of anyone unless he reveal something of himself. Even then, because we only know ourselves partially, we can not fully describe ourselves. So what I will…
Jesus took Peter, John, and James to the top of a high mountain where they experience their Lord transfigured in divine glory; the Father’s voice from heaven, indicating divine favor and approval of Jesus, and the presence of Moses and Elijah. “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.”(Matthew 17: 2…
Moderns of whatever generation are not comfortable with the idea of judgment with some exceptions. When judgments are made, another cries out, “Judge not.” Of course, without judgment we could not have a court system or a church. Criticism of judgments usually has to do with those made in reference to sex. Our modern American culture is…
On the third day after the crucifixion Jesus rose from the dead. An angel announced to two women who had come to the grave early in the morning that Jesus was raised from the dead. Though the angel told them that they would see Jesus in Galilee, He appeared to them on their way to tell…
Many Christians make the sign of the cross, accompanied by the Name of the Holy Trinity, in worship and at other times. It is a symbolic gesture that shows respect for the Lord and reminds us of the redemptive significance of the crucifixion. Jesus Christ died on a Roman cross for crimes He did not commit. …
Within the Gospel of Matthew are places where Jesus addresses woes to those who do not follow God’s will. They are especially concentrated in Matthew 23 where Jesus is condemning the attitudes and practices of the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus speaks against these leaders for closing the kingdom in people’s faces, for corrupting proselytes…
Humility describes Jesus’ behavior and is necessary in the life of discipleship. Though rarely used in the Gospel according to Matthew, the word is of great importance. In a quotation from the prophet Zechariah, Jesus is described as humble, as He is about to come into Jerusalem on what we call the Sunday of the Passion, or Palm…
