A sad time for the ELCA

The ELCA has opened up the office of the ministry to gay and lesbian people. This is a sad day indeed. I know people who oppose this will be branded as closed minded and mean spirited but how open minded and tolerant do you have to be.Issues ETC has covered this. Check the link below.

The Narrated Bible

I am currently using the Narreted Bible with deviontional commentary by F. LaGard Smith. It is an interesting devotion. It uses the NIV translation which is a plus for some and a negative for others. One feature that is both a plus and a negative is that it is sorted out in daily chunks. This is good because it gives you a goal for the daily reading amounts. The down side is that is is dated. I don't always start or end a devotion with the new year but you can always ignore that. The other problem is that the marking for each day is rather small and easy to miss while reading. My wife while she was going through it, put it the dates with a pencil to help mark and keep track.

Having it is chronological order helps put things in historic perspective. That's a good thing. the downside is that you go through the entire Old Testament before you get any New Testament. the other thing that is getting to me is getting a lot of Prophetic books at once. That is a problem just going through the Bible on your way but it is sticking out more for me right now.

It still is a neat novel way of going through No perfect way of going through i guess.the Bible even though i am looking forward to skipping around more.

Animal Chaplain

I am really wondering about some techniques concerning evangelism I have seen concerning evangelism. I was out walking the dog with my wife when a guy got out of his car said nice dog and introduced himself as an animal chaplain. It felt totally contrived, phony and like i was on his list of people to meet. Yuck! My dog is important to me but don't try some phony ploy to get me interested in your church. I am christian and sympathetic to evangelism and I was turned off by this.


Amimal Chaplain-not a good evangelism technigue.

Through Faith Alone

I am using the devotional book, Through Faith Alone 365 Devotional Readings from Martin Luther. This should not be a surprise to those who read this blog but it is from Concordia Publishing House. It is a refreshing thing to get daily snippets from Martin Luther. It gives a bit of a different look at Christianity and a different sort of devotion. Check it out here.

Treasury of Prayer

I have been using the Treasury of Prayer by Concordia Publishing House since Advent. It is a fantastic devotional guide. It has reading for the church year, ordera of service to help you set the setting of your devotions and many, prayers and other elements to help your daily walk with God. It can almost be overwhelming with the amount you can draw from in this book. It seams like it can be too much. It is a large book with a lot too offer. That's the good thing about it. It has a lot to offer but you don't have to use it all. I can see myself using this for many, many years and never getting bored wit it because it can change with the needs of my devotions as I go along and revisited parts as I need. The other great thing aboujt it s how much it fits with what was down with the new Lutheran Service Book hymnal. That makes it a great way of connecting Sunday service with the other sixdays of the week. Great Job CPH!

King James Onlyism

I was listening this this segment from Issues Etc about King James onlyism and I have to say is "YES! YES! YES!". Let me start off by saying I like the King James especially for the Psalms, but it is not the easiest translation to understand. It can be quit the barrier for the average reader. I have a feeling that even Christians don't read their Bibles enough and the King James does not always make that easier. As good as a translation as the King James is, it is not the inerrant inspired translation of God into the English. There are other translation out ther that are also very faithful to the original languages.

I know this will be a sour point to many, but the translation that got me reading the Bible regularly and as a child is The Way Bible. For all its weaknesses as a paraphrase, it was the one I could understand as a kid. The KJV and RSV left me in the cold and if left to those, I would not have started to read scripture regularly into my adulthood. Did I stay there? No. Was it the best translation I could have read? No. Did it get me reading scripture? Most definately. And for that I am grateful.

Christian Reading List

I have always thought that are certain books that are so good and such classics, that they are worthy to be on everyone's reading. I think that is true in general terms and I also think the same it true for Christian reading. I think I will try over a series of blog posts, to put together a list of reading. I doubt if it will be perfect, complete or free from debate but I will try to put one together. I will also try to explain why they are my list of books to read. The first hree without explanation are of follows:
1)Bible
2) Apocrypha
3) Book of Concord