There is a lot propaganda about money and stress. The real diving force is selfishness. To delay the biological imperative makes it easier to continue to do so—no surprise. The stated motive is now often early retirement—to accumulate enough wealth to not work during mostly productive years. The cost of children is mostly fiction—they are […]
Ruth Rethemeyer I recently had the honor of attending the Reformation Lecture Series at Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato, MN where my daughter Hannah is a senior. I graduated from the same school in 1994 and my mother, Grace Otten, attended it for high school. I was especially drawn to the event this year because of […]
Roger Kovaciny For a long time I was a minister without a synod, not on anyone’s membership list, not intentionally but actually. I got caught between the WELS and the ELS because of an early retirement which–the ELS president informed me–meant I’d resigned from my synod, albeit without intending to do so. So I did […]
Richard Herzog President Bohlmann called several of his close advisors to his office one day to view an artist color rendering of a new Lutheran Church Missouri Synod logo. Ralph asked each one of us what we thought of the design for a cross, that would be a new Symbol for The Lutheran Church Missouri […]
It is easy to depend on works without realizing it. Past faithfulness or confessions of Christ are good examples for us. But if we rely on them in the present—instead of confessing in the moment, we have substituted a dead work that cannot save for the living Christ. One can be quite faithful and then […]
Nathan Rinne The notions of desire, temptation, and sin go hand-in-hand (James 1:14-15). And yet, even Christians who have the most severe understanding of original sin, with the attendant concept of concupiscence, recognize good desire as well, in line with a popular definition: “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something […]
The accusation of attempted rape brought against now Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh six years ago, which was followed by other accusations of sexual misconduct from his teenage years over three decades ago brought the topic of the presumption of innocence to the fore. It was this principle, which ultimately sealed Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation when […]
John Kuhn Bleimaier It’s an integral component of true Christian living To ceaselessly observe the holiday of Thanksgiving. This is not about turkey, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie The essence is expressing gratitude to our God on high, Not just for bountiful harvests and plentiful possessions; Think: forgiveness for sin and unearned Divine intercessions. The […]
It’s tiring to hear of professional sports people giving glory to God because they won a game, medal, or championship. Perhaps they are Christians, we can’t say for sure. The interesting thing is that you don’t hear them in interviews or see them pointing up to heaven or praising God when they loose and things […]
Christians should not be rejoicing and ecstatic with the results. Pres. Trump is not a Christian by almost any doctrinal standard, since he does not believe in repentance personally. Yet, we can learn something about the American people, especially on the massive issue of abortion. VP Harris ran on abortion rights, but Trump did not […]