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.
A virus is not just a virus. It has become the focus of the on-going ideological battle between the left and the right. Stop reading this article if you think you will be disappointed, because I do not take a political-ideological position. Rather, I will attempt to take a Christian position. The virus is not…
Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, was sick. Jesus was informed of his condition, but He delayed for two days His trip to Bethany where Lazarus lived. Before the Lord arrived, Lazarus had died. Martha, who met the Lord, chastised Him for not being there before her brother’s death. The two sisters, Mary and Martha, and…
When I was visiting a dying parishioner in the middle of the night, I spoke in the hallway with an orderly about religion I don’t remember how this conversation got started. He said to me that he was spiritual rather than religious. What he meant was that he had invented his own spirituality, his own…
Neither the French nor the Russian revolution was beneficial to the people. While the French revolution provided some benefit, it also established a reign of terror in which many people were killed and provided a platform for Napoleon and the Napoleonic wars. The Russian revolution provided little or nothing for the Russian people. Terror, especially under…
We moderns know about invisible realities of which our ancestors had no awareness. Micro-organism were first observed under a microscope in the late 17th century. Radiation beyond visible light was first detected at the very end of the 18th century. Microbes and radiation, not known till recent times, have a tremendous effect on our lives. …
From the earliest days of the Church, congregations have possessed leaders. The offices of presbyter and deacon were already emerging at the time the New Testament was being written. Along with Saint Paul himself the Pauline churches were guided by local shepherds. In Acts 20 Paul gives instruction to the Ephesian elders (or overseers) about…
The nihilists of the 20th century have asserted that the universe is absurd, that is, meaningless for human beings who seek meaning. It is in our nature. Outside the human community, the universe cannot be classified as either absurd or meaningful. It simply is. It is human beings’ perceptions that make the universe either absurd…
Nihilism is not only rampant among the intellectual class but also among the entire people. While most individuals do not or cannot give intellectual justification for their nihilism, they nonetheless function as nihilists. Despair reigns in many American homes. Father Seraphim in his book, Nihilism, addresses this everyday meaninglessness and its consequences. The bottom line…
The central spiritual problem of this modern age is nihilism. In a well-crafted book, entitled Nihilism, Father Seraphim (Eugene Rose), an Eastern Orthodox monk, describes what it is and what its egregious consequences are. Nihilism (nihil, meaning nothing), in short, asserts that there is no such thing as absolute truth and denies the existence of…
Especialy at times of crisis we are to be on our toes to articulate the Christian faith. Questions of theodicy (explaining suffering and injustice while believing in an omnipotent God) and even challenges to the faith arise both in the Christian community and in the general culture. As foundation for such dialogue certain things are…
