The Christian and Culture

Newsletter article for February 2005

by Rev. Paul Wolff

© 2005 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

It has become something of a commonplace for Christians in our culture to believe that in order to win converts we must be sensitive to the culture of the people we are witnessing to, instead of seeking to replace the godless worldly culture with a true worship of God. This would only be true if the process of winning converts would only involve trying to please people. Holy Scripture rejects this view. Saint Paul writes to the Galatians, “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10) If we seek to accommodate earthly culture in order to please people then we have made the people and their culture into false gods, which God condemns.

In the Old Testament God did not give the Israelite people the specific task of evangelism or making converts. God’s people were to give witness and testimony about God’s gracious kindness through their history and the blessings of life. There’s actually more directions from God about totally destroying the pagan idolaters who were inhabiting the land which God reserved for His people, Israel, than about converting other peoples. They weren’t told to destroy all pagan idolaters, just the ones living where God wanted His people to live. For those foreigners who saw God’s gracious dealing with Israel and wished to be a part of God’s people, God gave guidelines as to how this was to be done. In many cases foreigners were welcomed into the family of God, but they had to submit completely to God’s laws, including circumcision and the ceremonial and religious laws, and they had to completely forsake their previous way of life including all worship of other gods and even foreign dietary practices which conflicted with God’s Law.

In Deuteronomy 7:3 God forbade intermarriage with pagans because God knew that these spouses would tend to turn the people away from God, rather than vice versa. The Israelite people were a people holy to God and He wanted them to remain in His love (see John 15:9-10) and that is why He warned them not to accommodate the cultures of other people.

In Deuteronomy 7:7-11 God explains that He did not choose Israel because they were more numerous or more powerful than the other nations. The Israelite nation was small and weak in comparison with many of their neighbors. Actually when God chose them as His people there were only two of them: Abraham and Sarah; and they were already rather old at the time. This fact is also a good answer to those who question the validity of Scripture by saying, “What makes you think Christianity is the only true religion?” as if to say that “might makes right” or because two thirds of the world denies God this means that four billion to two billion – you lose. Four billion people can be wrong if they deny God’s Word.

One person who is faithful to God’s Word can stand against any number of those who deny God even if the odds are six billion people to one person. Jesus says, “If you hold to my teaching, you really are my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t make any concessions to cultural considerations, unless you count faithfulness to His Word as a cultural consideration, but that would be God’s culture, rather than earthly culture. When God chose Israel as His people He looked after them and gave them prime land to live on, and He defeated their more powerful enemies, and protected them as long as they were obedient to Him and kept His law.

When the Israelites took over the land of Canaan God told them to destroy all cultural artifacts which went along with the false worship practices of the pagans. God’s people were instructed by God not to have respect for the cultures of the pagans. These cultural artifacts were not some quaint reminder of the olden days without any deeper meaning, they were an ongoing threat to the true faith and a stumbling block which would lead people to forsake God if not destroyed. When Israel did as God asked He was pleased and blessed them and gave them victory and protection. When Israel disobeyed God and saved some of these foreign cultural artifacts, God was angry and He punished the people for their rebellion.

When God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 & Deut. 5) He specifically stated in the preamble to the First Commandment that the authority of these commands comes from the fact that the one who spoke them is “the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” This would be true and valid even for foreigners even if it were not specifically historically true for those who came from other nations originally. It would be true spiritually when the foreigners abandoned their cultures and were adopted by God and made a part of His people through His eternal covenant.

Even in the New Testament where Christ sends His Apostles to go to the “ends of the earth” to make disciples, and the ceremonial rules of the Old Testament have been fulfilled and completed in Christ himself, God’s people are not to make concessions to culture. Jesus commissions His disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … and teaching them….” Jesus commands His people to use the means of grace so that the Holy Spirit would change the worldly cultures into a Christian culture.

Peter writes, “once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:10) Christianity has its own culture which supersedes all worldly cultures. Paul also writes to the Galatians, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Thus the cultural identities which we formerly had no longer apply to the Christian.

Should we be worried that we might offend people’s cultures? No, we should fear God rather than men. Are we going to offend? Evangelism always includes calling sinners to repentance. How can that not offend someone? St. Paul recognizes this reality when he writes to the Corinthian Church that the message of the crucified Christ is “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” (1 Cor. 1:23) Does this fact stop him from offending such people? Not at all. Only ten verses later in his letter Paul writes, “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Hermeneutics

Newsletter article for December 2004

© 2004 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“There is no God.”

“I am a god.”

“God is tempting me.”

“Jesus be cursed.”

This may seem like a foolish question, but which of these phrases comes from the Bible? The quick and easy answer is that they all are found in the Bible, but the true answer is that in this form they are all taken out of context. Here are these same verses in their proper context:

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1)

“Will you then say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you.” (Ezekiel 28:9)

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.” (James 1:13-16)

“No one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Corinthians 12:3)

Hermeneutics is the study of the interpretation of texts such as the Holy Scriptures. As I have demonstrated above the proper interpretation is essential if a person is going to properly understand what the Bible has to teach. Otherwise if we have a false method of interpreting the Bible we can even make God’s Word say what we want it to say, despite what it really says.

Jesus calls the devil the “father of lies” (John 8:44) but even the devil lies in a sneaky way so that he makes his deadly lies seem attractive and true. When the devil was tempting Jesus (see Luke 4 or Matt. 4) he quoted Psalm 91:11-12 which reads, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” What the devil was trying to do was to get Jesus to commit suicide by jumping off of a tall building. His wicked reasoning went like this: “If God promised to protect you then you can’t be hurt, so make him prove it by jumping.” Jesus was not convinced by this fallacious argument. First of all, Jesus believed the teaching from Psalm 91 so he didn’t need to prove that God would save him. He already knew it by faith. Also, Jesus knew better than to say, “Well, if the Bible says it then it must be true.” Jesus knew the Bible better than that. He answered the devil by quoting another Bible verse which says “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deut. 6:16) This demonstrates the hermeneutical principle which states, “Let Scripture interpret Scripture.” All scripture is true because it is God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16) so just because one passage is accepted as true it doesn’t mean that you can reject another.

We saw this type of false hermeneutic at St. Timothy earlier this year when an unknown and still-unrepentant person made reference to Exodus 32:18 in a newsletter article which gave the false argument that because God wants us to sing then all singing must be God-pleasing. Well, anyone who is familiar with the story of Exodus 32 knows that God was not pleased with this singing, and He was so angry over their false praise that he was ready to destroy all the people of Israel (see v. 10) and start over with Moses. So just because singing is one way to properly praise God, it doesn’t mean that all singing properly praises God.

I have also heard someone try to tell me this year that because Scripture says to “Sing for joy to the Lord” (Ps. 95) it is all right to commit the idolatry of self-worship. Well, not exactly in those words, but that was the obvious intent of the argument in the same way that Satan also tried to tempt Jesus to disobey God by his misuse of Psalm 91. I was not swayed by this misuse of God’s Word, but I am extremely concerned that some people around here are misusing God’s Word in just such a way, and that other people are possibly being misled by such lies.

Hermeneutics by themselves are not pro-Christian or anti-Christian. They are tools which may help Christians understand God’s Word so that through it they may believe in Jesus and receive His salvation. A proper interpretation of God’s Word shows us Christ as our savior. An improper interpretation shows us something else which cannot save us. It is the great strength of Lutheran theology that we have the proper tools to understand the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15), but even the best theology and the best teaching will do no good if we don’t use them, or don’t believe the truth of God’s Word. “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.” (James 1:16)

Feeling Good can Kill You!

Newsletter article for August 2004

© 2004 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

There is a war going on. Actually, there seem to be several wars going on all at the same time. The war that I would like to consider here has been labeled the “Culture War”. This war is being fought between Christianity and Culture. It is not a new battle. It has been fought since the beginning. Holy Scripture describes it as the “great tribulation” (Revelation 7:14).

Although the Culture War is being fought for the hearts and minds of all Christians, it is parents who are engaged in the most important battles. I say that this is the most important because in the culture wars it is the children who are most vulnerable, and it is also vitally important that our children stay on the Christian side of this war, rather than being recruited for the other side.

Why is this called a “war”? Saint Peter describes it in this way, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11) Scripture frequently describes antagonism between the world and faithful followers of God. The “world” are those who follow their sinful desires against God’s commands. Christians are those who, though they are also sinners, by the grace of God live by faith in Jesus and by His grace they do what God commands. The war is what happens when the world tries to turn Christians against God through temptation to sin.

Make no mistake, this really is a war. The worldly side in this culture war would like you to believe that it is something completely different, that is, something which is really harmless and benign, when in fact if the battle is lost it is very deadly. Saint Paul describes it in this way, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.…We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (1 Cor. 10:4-5)

The battles in this war can be most clearly seen in temptations to such sins as sexual immorality and the pleasures of illicit drugs. The world tempts us with such things by trying to get us to believe that such things are good for us because they make us feel good. There is a bit of truth to that, but as they say, “a half truth is a whole lie.” It is true that there is probably nothing that is more pleasurable than drugs such as heroin or cocaine, but the lie in this is shown by the fact that it is a one-time “high,” you can never feel that good again. After the initial pleasure then the person is hooked and driven by a powerful desire to feel that way again, but such a thing can never be attained, and as the person seeks to feel good he or she is destroying their body.

Another front in this culture war is fought concerning sexual sins. God has given us sexuality as a blessing for married couples so that they may “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (see Gen. 9:7). Jesus taught that the Holy Scriptures show us that God intended marriage to be as long as they both shall live (see Matt. 19:4-6), but the world says, “if it feels good, then what harm can it do?” The harm that these sins can do is seen in the betrayal of marital vows, or the betrayal of the physical intimacy between lovers, and also in sexually transmitted diseases, in broken families, and fatherless children and orphans.

In a way, these are relatively easy battles for Christian parents to fight. We can easily show our children that if you take drugs then you might wreck your health or die. We can easily show our children that if you commit adultery then your life will be changed in any of a number of ways, none of them worth the momentary pleasure of the sin. Our children may not listen to us, and still may fall into the temptations of these sins, but the consequences of these temptations are easily seen and can be easily taught. The real tough battles in the culture war are the spiritual battles. These are the temptations to sin against the First Commandment (“You shall have no other gods.”)

The difficulty with fighting spiritual battles is that the bad consequences are not seen. Unlike the physical consequences of other sins, the result of losing the spiritual battles cannot be seen by anyone in this life. No one knows what hellish things that others experience, so when people lose the spiritual battles it is hard to point that out to our children and say, “See, if you turn against God in this way then this will happen to you, too.” The worldly culture tempts us to sin against the first commandment in much the same way as it tempts us to sin against the other commandments. We are told, “Try it, you’ll like it. It feels good, and it won’t hurt you one little bit.” In a way, it can be very fun to follow false gods, but again there is a terrible price to pay in the end.

Parents have a difficult job in fighting the war between Christianity and culture. The best weapon we have is God’s Word. As we teach and live according to God’s Word, then we arm our children to fight and become victorious in the culture wars. One simple, useful, practical way to help our children is to use the word, “no.” If we learn to say “no” to our children at the right time then we can teach them to learn some self control to deny themselves some of the pleasures of life. This is important because if we are comfortable denying ourselves some worldly pleasures then we can be comfortable denying ourselves the destructive pleasures of sin. There are many ways that feeling good can kill you, but if we train ourselves and our children to say “no” to the pleasures of the flesh then with the help of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be victorious in the culture war against Christianity.

Why Doctrine Matters

Newsletter article for September 2002

© 2002 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 12:28

God is not a fundamentalist. There are not a set of fundamental teachings which God values over any other. God’s teachings are ALL important, and God required the Israelites of the Old Testament to obey all of His laws, even the ceremonial laws. For the selfish person who thinks that he is the center of the universe, this may sound harsh and uncompromising, but God had a good reason for His uncompromising stance. As He said above, if we keep God’s regulations as He wants us to then things will always go well with us and with our children. God’s purpose in giving us His Word is so that things will always go well with us. God isn’t being mean or nasty (He isn’t capable of being mean), instead God tells us this for our benefit because He loves us.

God knows what is best for us. He created us, after all, and God wants what is best for us. God knows that if we follow His plan, as He created us to do, then things will work according to His plan and we will be happy. God also is the only one who can save us when we sin against His commands, and that is also why He wants us to love and worship Him above all else.

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” Galatians 1:6-9

These are some very strong words from St. Paul. Here he proclaims eternal damnation to anyone to teaches a gospel other than what he preached to the church in Galatia. This would again seem the height of arrogance, except that what Paul taught the Galatians was the Word of God. Paul wasn’t teaching something that he invented, or some new educational theory. He was preaching the Gospel of Christ as Jesus had told him to preach. The false teachers in Galatia were perverting the Gospel and were evidently leading people away from Jesus. That is why Paul declared that anyone who preaches a different Gospel would be damned, because there is no salvation except that which comes from Jesus.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3

Not every teaching that claims to be from God actually does come from God. This is why John gives this warning, but he also tells us how to test the doctrine to know that it has come from God. Those who speak God’s word truthfully must acknowledge Jesus as Lord and God. Similarly, no messenger from God would deny God’s Word either, even in the smallest degree.

“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 1 Timothy 4:3-4

These verses do much to describe the situation in our world today. Even in the Christian Church, there are a seeming multitude of denominations and each one teaches something different. This certainly cannot please Christ because each different denomination gives credibility to some false teaching which can lead people away from the truth, and lead them to put their faith in something which cannot save them. Only Jesus can save us from our sins.

“Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’" John
8:31-32

Walking the Middle Road

Newsletter article for June 2002

© 2002 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

Many are the times in life when Christians must walk the middle road. This is the road where to step to the right or to the left would lead them into forbidden territories which lead to temptation, sin, and destruction. You would think that such a middle road should be the easy road to travel, but often it is the most difficult because as the Christian walks the middle road there are those on the right and on the left who try to tempt, and tug, and pull you over to their side. They want to pull you into the muck and mire in which they wallow.

There is a debate currently going on in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod about where this path is located, and how do we walk down the correct path, without being dragged down to one side or the other. The debate is not whether or not to walk the middle road on this issue, but the debate is about just what actions and public witness define the middle road.

These are the dangers which lie on either side of this middle road. To walk to the one side means to give in to the world and become more like the world. To do this we must deny God’s Word and say that anything the world does is all right, despite what God has commanded. God condemns this in James 4:4 which says, “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” When the Bible talks of the world in this way it means everything which comes from and follows our sinful nature rather than God’s commands. Instead of indulging our sinful nature we ought to fight against it and do what is godly and right.

To walk to the other side means to withdraw from the world and try to have nothing to do with worldly things. Jesus himself shows that this is not what he wants in John 17:15 where he says, “My prayer is not that you [God the Father] take them [His disciples] out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one.” Jesus wants us to be engaged with the world and be witnesses to the truth about His love and salvation. Jesus doesn’t want us to withdraw from the world and isolate ourselves, instead he wants us to influence the world to do good and to show them that He is the only way to salvation. Jesus also says in Matthew 10:32-33, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”

It is true that Christians should not always walk the middle road. Sometimes God asks us to stand firm and take a strong stand on one side or another. For example, It is the greatest insult to God to even give a hint that there may be some other god who is worthy of praise, or that there may be some other way to heaven. God says, “You shall have no other gods.” (Exodus 20:3) Jesus also tells us that there is no other way to be saved except through faith in Him. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) Holy Scripture also tells us that “Salvation is found in no one else [besides Jesus Christ], for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” There is no room for compromise with these truths, and although the world may not like it, we Christians must stand firmly and confess these truths, no matter what the consequences. This is both for our personal benefit, as well as for the benefit of those who hear these truths and believe them and put their faith in Jesus. Jesus says in Mark 16:16 “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” There is no middle road here for the faithful Christian.

Please keep our Synod in your prayers that God may grant wisdom to bring an end to any controversy, and prevent schism. Pray that God would keep all our pastors and Synodical officials faithful to Jesus and His Word above all else, and keep His church united in the one true faith. Please pray that God would strengthen the LCMS that we would actively engage the world and boldly and effectively testify to the saving power of Jesus Christ as the true and real solution to all our troubles, all our fears, all our sin, all our sorrows, and all our pain.

Truth Suffers

Newsletter article for February 1999

© 1999 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

As of this month (February 1999) I am for the first time eligible to become President of the United States. This is a milestone which is somewhat more dubious than it ought to be. This hasn’t always been the case. It used to be that the pinnacle of achievement that parents could wish for their young children would be that they would grow up to become the President of the United States. Now I suspect that very few parents would wish that for their children. This is partly due to the indignities committed by President Clinton, but also partly the indignities imposed upon the President from outside, such as the lack of privacy and the viciousness of the media.

I don’t intend to take sides in this article. I know that there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue of the impeachment of the President, and there is much to be desired from both Democrats and Republicans. Instead I wish to note that what has suffered the most in our nation has been the Truth.

From time to time a character in the comic strip “B.C.” will stand up on a pedestal engraved with the word “TRUTH” and speak some great truth which is meant to inspire or to guide the listeners’ thoughts and actions. The idea of putting truth on a pedestal means that we should respect the truth and look up, admire, and listen to those who speak it. Proverbs 23:23 says much the same thing, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it.” We should value the truth so much that we would pay a price to find it, but we should not be persuaded to tell lies, even if we think we will be rewarded if we do so.

The trouble with our society is that we do not put truth on a pedestal, nor do we value the truth enough to buy it. If the truth is inconvenient or expensive it is so much easier to settle for the bargain half-truth, or even for the cut rate lie, and many people take this “easier” path.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” Prov. 16:2

Jesus said, “[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44

Spirituality

Newsletter article for June 1998
© 1998 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

Spirituality is becoming all the rage these days. Earlier in this century many people believed that we were entering into a new age where technology would answer all the mysteries of the universe which were previously unknown, believed by faith, or explained by religion. The trouble with this is that technology has its limits, not the least of which is that it has no soul. As a guiding path for one’s life, technology and science are cold, heartless, and empty. Technology brought us the devastation of World Wars I & II, nuclear bombs, the cold war, and countless other atrocities. Yes, technology also took man to the moon, but despite great romantic visions of life away from the earth, space is no place to be. To live in space you have to carry around all the food, water, and air that you will need for as long as you plan on remaining alive.

Technology has brought us many benefits and prosperity, but its limits are well documented. As we grow increasingly frustrated by the “modern” influence of technology, we are moving toward another age (currently identified as “post-modern”). One of the marks of this age is an increased interest in the spiritual aspects of life.

This would at first glance seem to be a good thing. Anything which leads people to God is a good thing. But, sinful human nature, being what it is (i.e. sinful) doesn’t look for God. It does everything it can to avoid God. It looks for spiritual answers everywhere except where the Holy Spirit really is.
In order for us Christians to avoid godless spirituality, we need to know what godly spirituality is all about. Christians have an advantage over non-Christians when it comes to understanding spirituality. Since God is the one who created us body, soul, and spirit, He is the one who can help us understand the mysteries of our spiritual lives. The Holy Scriptures do not define what spirituality is (after all, the Bible is not a dictionary.) However, whenever it speaks of spiritual things it is always in relation to the Holy Spirit. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul explains why it is impossible for people to understand spirituality without the Holy Spirit, “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the (Holy) Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:13-14)

In reference to John 3:6, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” Martin Luther wrote: “But what is spiritual birth? It means that I am born again as a new being by Baptism and the Holy Spirit and that I believe in Christ…. Thus the spiritual birth is brought about by the Word of God, Baptism, and faith. Even now, while we sojourn on this earth, we are already in this birth if we believe…. This birth is invisible and intangible; it is only believed.” Luther emphasizes that the physical life is temporary and will die, but our spiritual life, since it is from God, is eternal and will never die. Therefore our spiritual life is our life of faith given to us by the Holy Spirit through Baptism.

Luther summarizes our need for this spiritual life by explaining, “Physical birth entails physical things … it concerns physical life and no more. But if you want salvation, you need different parents, who will bring you to heaven. This Christ does. By means of Baptism and the Word of God He places you and your Christianity into the lap of our dear mother, the Christian Church. This He accomplished through His suffering and death that by virtue of His death and blood we might live eternally.”

In a magazine article, sociologist William Martin explained “One of the most attractive flaws of the New Age is its extraordinary emphasis on self absorption. Devotees often refer to unconditional love for all humanity, but rarely do they mention an obligation to demonstrate it to actual neighbors.” Contrast this with John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” and 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

The latest issue of Concordia Theological Quarterly quotes author Charles Colson who writes, “Recently a neighbor told me how excited she was about her church. When I tried to point out diplomatically that the group was a cult, believing in neither the resurrection nor the deity of Christ, she seemed unconcerned. ‘Oh, but the services are so wonderful,’ she said. ‘I always feel so good after I’ve been there!’ Such misguided euphoria has always been rampant among those seeking spiritual strokes rather than a source of truth. But what about the church itself, that body of people ‘called out’ to embody God’s truth? Most of the participants in Robert Bellah’s study saw the church as a means to achieve personal goals. Bellah notes a similar tendency in many evangelical circles to thin the biblical language of sin and redemption to an idea of Jesus as the friend who helps us find happiness and self-fulfillment. These ‘feel gooders’ of modern faith are reflecting the same radical individualism we discussed in earlier chapters.... The new barbarians have invaded not only the parlor and politics but the pews of America as well.”