Ancient Whale Bones Discovered in Desert

Monday after Christ the King Sundya
November 21, 2011

The Lord be with you

The following AP story appeared on the internet today and I thought I’d share it.

Ancient Whale Bones Discovered in Desert

Paleontologists in Chile have made a surprising discovery in the desert. Scientists uncovered what appears to be a massive graveyard of whale bones in Copiapo, more than a half-mile from the ocean. More than 80 whales, including 25 complete skeletons, were found in one of the driest deserts in the world. There is currently a construction project to widen the highway near the Atacama Desert, where the bones were found. Scientists believe the bones could be between 2 million and 7 million years old. So how did the whales make their way from the ocean to the desert and end up so close to one another when they died? Scientists have many theories: Maybe the area was once a lagoon and it dried up, maybe there was a giant wave that flung the whales onto shore, or maybe a giant earthquake sealed them off. Whale bones were not the only find for the paleontologists. A dolphin carcass with walrus-like tusks was also uncovered. Scientists say this discovery gives them a glimpse of ancient sea life. One paleontologist said, "The fossils are exceptionally well preserved and quite complete--a rare combination in paleontology and one that will likely shed light on many facets of the . . . ecology and evolution of these extinct species." People on social media are debating creationism vs. evolution theories. Some people are just waiting for a scientific explanation. Still others are saying they should "accept the biblical account of the flood."

The following link will take you to the story:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/ancient-whale-bones-discovered-desert-parents-outraged-hooters-165721306.html

I’m sure the scientist will come up with some explanation for these bones; they always do. However, will that explanation be credible, or just yet another example of the inability for modern theories to predict but only explain and in an after the fact kind of way. If all these theories about the ancient earth were truly sound, why didn’t they go looking for whale bones in this desert much earlier? Why didn't the paleontologists warn the goverment of Chile that this project would unearth ancient marine fossils? Why did they have to wait for a road to be widened? I know why creationists have to wait – they don’t have the money. But surely these people, who have drawn up all these maps of the globe millions of years ago, should be able to spot likely places to make such finds. Well, it is something to think about.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

A Timely Question

Friday after Pentecost 22
November 17, 2011

I guess just about every congregation has at least a few members who are “watch watchers.” They seem to feel that the time they spend Sunday morning in the sanctuary should fit into a discreet time segment, typically an hour. God help the poor minister if the worship “hour” lasts 70 minutes. Tongues can start wagging and the ministry of the Lord can be undercut.

Who decided that Sunday worship should only be an hour long? That certainly wasn’t the sentiment for the first 1500 years of the life of the Church. That means it is a development of the modern era.

Perhaps we can blame large churches that have multiple services on Sunday morning. Clearly they have to finish one service before they can start a second service. Therefore, there is a time limit looming over them. Perhaps we can blame television, which tends to neatly wrap things up in half-an-hour or an hour (with time to spare for commercials, to boot). Perhaps we can blame professional sports, or other things that are scheduled for Sunday afternoon, that create a feeling that the worship of God is cutting into time reserved for other activities. Perhaps we can blame the invention of watches, which can turn each person into a timekeeper. What is a timekeeper if there is no specific designated time to watch over? When I raced as a child, the question was, “who finished first?” Nowadays, it is “who had the best time?” Perhaps we can just blame the general trend of modernity, which marginalizes Christianity. Perhaps the growth of the accent on the individual in modernity is to blame. This is “my” time. Whatever the source of the idea that Sunday worship should be limited to an hour, for many it is something of an unchallengeable fact.

Such self-appointed timekeepers can have a wide range of suggestions for how the time spent in worship by the Body of Christ can be reduced to its “proper” length. If the minister announces such things like the hymn name and number, or some other rubric (we confess the Apostles’ Creed found on page …, let us join in the Kyrie on page …, etc.), you might hear that such information is superfluous. People can read it in the bulletin or find the information on the hymn board. If the pastor takes verbal prayer requests, it can be suggested that these should be written down before the service. If the pastor greets the congregation with more than five words, this can be considered a waste of time. General announcements about upcoming activities of the Body of Christ may be deemed unnecessary as people who want to know “should” read them in the bulletin or newsletter. Hymns are evaluated by how long they are, not by content. Sermons are subject to the same standard. Choirs, soloists, prayers, and just about anything else can be subject to the same tyranny of time. It can even be suggested that services that last longer than an hour hamper a church’s outreach activities as people certainly couldn’t imagine inviting someone to a worship service that lasts more than an hour, and people who are not regular attendees at worship certainly would not stand (or sit) still for a worship service that lasted longer than an hour. They might do so for a movie or football game, but never for the worship of God.

I suggest that focusing on the time spent in the worship service is not appropriate. As we gather on Sunday morning, it is not because we simply need to fill an hour in our day. You can stay home and watch the talking heads on television if that is all you are trying to do. “How long is your worship service?” is simply the wrong question and leads down paths that are not pleasing to the Lord.

The question we should be asking is, “Why do we gather?”

I suggest that we gather as the Body of Christ, as it is expressed in this or that local congregation. As the Body of Christ, as the expression of our Lord in this locale, we manifest who we are through what happens on Sunday morning. That is expressed in prayer, sermon, song, scripture, sacrament, and so on. If the congregation greets each other on Sunday morning, perhaps “sharing the peace,” this is an expression of the love Christ has for us. The sermon, the hymns, the choir pieces, are all words of Christ; it is the Lord’s voice in the Body. Announcements of upcoming events are expressions of the life we have as the Body of Christ. Even a car wash by the youth or a Christmas party by the women are expressions of who we are as the Body of Christ. To artificially limit the time for announcing such expressions of our identity is to say the most important aspect of our life together as the Body of Christ is time. It is to say that we may be the Body when we sing a hymn or hear the sermon, but not when we hear about a new Bible study that is beginning or learn of the upcoming Christmas schedule. It is to say that nothing of value can happen beyond a certain time limit.

Others may answer the question “Why do we gather?” differently. However, if they are asking that question, and not the question of time, then they are asking the right question, at least in my opinion. The more we can get the members of our congregations to ask the right question, the better their time will be spent on Sunday morning as the Body of Christ, no matter how long or short that time is.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Worship for Pentecost 23 - 2011

Wednesday after Pentecost 22
November 16, 2011

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost according to the liturgical calendar used by most LC-MS congregations. Other liturgical calendars can identify the day as Christ the King, Last Sunday of the End Time, and the Last Sunday of the Church Year. I would not be surprised if many churches that use the same calendar as Lamb of God still use one of the other names for this Sunday. I can’t blame them. The other names are far “cooler.” But, no matter what you call the day, the appointed lessons for the day will deal with the End Times.

As one of the alternate names suggests, this is the last Sunday in the Church Year. The Sunday following (November 27) will be the first Sunday in Advent. Therefore this coming Sunday marks the end of “ordinary” time and we are moving into the festival half of the church year. In the USA the first service will be a Thanksgiving one. Thanksgiving is not a liturgical holiday but a national one. However it always falls at the beginning of the festival half of the Church Year and so becomes the first service churches have in that half of the Church Year. This is only true in the USA. Other nations also often have an annual Thanksgiving celebration, but they just choose some other day in the year.

We will be using Matins for our liturgy (LSB page 219) so we will be using the appointed Psalm for the Day instead of the Introit. The lessons are: Psalm 95:1-7, antiphon v. 7a; Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24; 1 Corinthians 15:20-28; and Matthew 25:31-46. The sermon text will be Matthew 25: 31 and is titled “Judgment.” Our Opening Hymn will be “The Clouds of Judgment Gather” (LSB 513). Our Sermon Hymn will be “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near” (LSB 508). Our Closing Hymn will be “Built on the Rock” (LSB 645).

The video below is of the LutheranWarbler singing and playing our closing hymn, “Built on The Rock.” It was written by Nikolia Fredrik Severin Grundtvig and translated into English in 1909 by Carl Dövig. Grundtvig was born in Denmark in 1783. He died in 1872. He wrote so many poems and hymns that it took five volumes to publish them upon his death. Only two, however, made it into the Lutheran Service Book, this one and “God’s Word Is Our Great Heritage” (LSB 582). Some have called him “the most important Scandinavian hymn-writer of the 19th century.”



Our adult Bible class this coming Sunday will pick up at Matthew 11:2. Class begins at 9:00 AM. As always, everyone is invited to come.

Preview of the Lessons

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24: Ezekiel’s career began about seven years prior to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 587 BC, and concluded around 570, almost 20 years after the deportation of the Jews. Ezekiel is one of the most difficult books in the Bible to understand. The rabbis of the Jews said a person should not read the beginning and ending few chapters until they were 30 years-old, that is, until they had a mature enough faith to not misunderstand it. The idea that a reader should have a good understanding of biblical teaching before tackling Ezekiel is sound. Many false ideas that circulate among Christians, that twist portions of this book, could be brought back into line with the Bible if this rule was observed. Ezekiel was a priest and so lived to see his beloved Temple destroyed by the Babylonians. Some of his imagery is drawn from his priestly background. He also engages in physical acts which are prophetic. His language can be shocking, using sexual images. These sexual images depict the unfaithfulness of Israel in quite graphic terms. Ezekiel 34:1-10 is a strong condemnation from the Lord against the “shepherds of Israel.” This is a metaphor for the priests, Ezekiel’s co-workers in the Temple. It is also a strong word for pastors and denomination leaders. God is watching and God expects us to be faithful. If we do not care for the “sheep” (the parishioners) God will judge us for our unfaithfulness. Even though the “shepherds” have proven to be unfaithful, the “sheep” are not abandoned. Picking up with verse 11, God promises to search for the “sheep” himself. Verses 11 through 16 ultimately are about the Last Day, when all the dead will be raised and those who have been brought to faith in Christ enter eternal joy. However it is also about the “in-time” reality that the Church (which is the Body of Christ) reaches out with God’s love and grace, bringing all that receive God’s mercy into God’s fold. The prime example of both of these gatherings is Jesus. In-time he came to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). At the end of time he will return to gather his sheep into eternal pastures. Verses 17-19 are a warning to “sheep” (parishioners). There are those who seem to specialize in troubling congregations. Many problems in churches are caused by members, not the pastors. God is watching you also, and judgment awaits those who will not repent. Verses 20-24 are God’s solution. Not surprisingly, it is the same solution – Jesus. God will set up Jesus as the “shepherd” who will protect the “sheep” from those other sheep that would prey on the weak, and ensure that they receive their food (word and sacrament). So, basically, the appointed reading kind of skips over the Law portions of Ezekiel and focuses us on the Gospel portions. The closing verses of Ezekiel are also Gospel, looking forward to the blessings of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:20-28: This chapter is sometimes called the “Resurrection Chapter” of the New Testament. In verses 1-11 Paul covers the highlights of his gospel message. A point he emphases is all the people Jesus appeared to after his resurrection. The rest of the chapter unpacks the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus for us. Those who deny the resurrection of Jesus deny a critical element in the Christian Faith, a linchpin, a foundational truth. It is, in reality, a denial of Jesus himself. It is so important that it is in all three of the Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian). This particular pericope focuses on the connection between Jesus resurrection and our own on the Last Day. Our Lord’s resurrection means that he will return, raise the dead with bodies, and rule for all eternity. Denying Jesus resurrection, then, is tantamount to denying his return, denying our physical resurrection, and denying Jesus as God in the flesh who rules all things. For those who have faith in the Resurrected Christ, this passage is pure gospel, the promise of our future is secure, as secure as the physical resurrection of Jesus is sure.

Matthew 25:31-46: Sunday’s sermon is based on this passage so I’m not going to say much. The whole chapter deals with the Second Coming of Jesus. In these verses, Jesus describes the Last Day with a courtroom scene. Humanity gathers before him, separated into two groups. The evidence of their faith is examined. Those who have faith, and therefore expressed their faith in various “good works,” are invited into heaven. Those who lack faith, and therefore have no “good works” to be examined, are expelled. Those who lack faith will go to “eternal punishment” but those who receive the righteousness of faith will go into “eternal life.” A key difference between this week’s reading and last weeks’ is that the nature of our “good works” come into sharper focus.

Tidbits

• After our worship service Sunday we will have a voters’ meeting. At this meeting we will be voting on our budget for the coming year. We will also be voting on whether we want to nominate various people from around our circuit for district positions. Finally we will be casting our vote for Circuit Counselor. The selection of Circuit Counselors is different from other district positions. For those other positions congregations and circuits nominate individuals and the district, in convention, elects individuals to fill the various rolls from those who have been nominated. The position of Circuit Counselor is filled by the member congregations of the Circuit in question and the district convention ratifies the selection made by the Circuit.

• Information for the December newsletter is due Sunday.

• Next week we will have a Thanksgiving worship service on Wednesday, at 7:00 PM. This is our custom at Lamb of God. The office will be closed for the national holiday Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 24).

• Junior Confirmation class has been meeting on Wednesdays this year. For the Advent season the students will be attending the Advent services and writing a paper on each of the homilies.

• Our first Wednesday Advent service will be November 30. We will again offer a service at 12:15 PM and a second service at 7:00 PM. The evening service will be preceded by a soup supper, which will begin at 6:15 PM. .

Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Transforming This Christmas

Commemoration of Emperor Justinian, Christian Ruler and Confessor of Christ
November 14, 2011

The Lord be with you

The Church Year is rapidly drawing to a close. The Advent season, the first season in the Church Year, will officially begin Sunday, November 27. This is followed by the Christmas Season, which lasts 12 days and begins on December 25. Epiphany (January 6) commemorates (among other things) the arrival of the Wise Men in Bethlehem.

For the next month and a half we will be hearing Christmas songs, watching Christmas specials, buying Christmas gifts, and generally getting ready for December 25th in some fashion. The goal is often to have a Christmas to remember, one full of laughter, joy, friendship, hope and peace.

However times are tough. Many people are having a difficult time making ends meet. Maybe you have been out of work far too long. Maybe your marriage is in a bad way. Maybe your children have gotten caught up in the wrong crowd. Maybe one of your loved ones is in the military and engaged somewhere around the world. Maybe you, or a loved one, is struggling with a serious illness. Maybe you have lost a loved one to death.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this Christmas we could rise above the turmoil in our lives? Wouldn’t it be great if you could really find joy and peace despite all the burdens you carry and the mad, hectic preparations for Christmas?

This is just the point of the Lutheran Hour Ministries Advent/Christmas devotions this year. Copies of “Transforming This Christmas” have been placed in the mail boxes at Lamb of God. However you can also have the devotions sent to you by e-mail, read them on line, or listen to them read to you by clicking here.

These devotions were written by LHM’s Theological Editor and Writer Rev. Wayne Palmer.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Kakuma Refugee Camp

Commemoration of Martin of Tours, Pastor
Veterans’ Day
11/11/11

The Lord be with you

Rev. Shauen Trump is a missionary of the LCMS in East Africa. Kitty and I have supported him this past year with our prayers, and a small financial gift. He has, in turn, keep us informed concerning his work through his newsletter, which is available on line (http://TheTrumps.org/newsletter/). The following post is from their October newsletter.


In a shallow depression of a parched and desolate land lies the Kakuma Refugee Camp. Approaching its 20-year anniversary, the refugee camp is located close to Kenya’s border with Sudan and at its peak provided living space to 70,000 refugees. Today the camp contains an unknown number of refugees from Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Uganda.

Years ago, as part of its work with the developing Lutheran Church in Sudan, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) began to provide pastoral care for the Sudanese Lutherans in Kakuma. At one point there were four Lutheran congregations in the camp, each ministering to a different people group. A lay leader provided for the day-to-day spiritual needs of the congregations and LCMS missionaries or pastors from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK) visited as they were able. It’s been three years since a Pastor was able to visit the congregations in the camp.

Last month the ELCK’s Archbishop asked Shauen if it would be possible for LCMS World Mission to send someone to visit the congregations in Kakuma. Shauen’s immediate response was “I myself will go. Who will you send with me?” So this month, as part of an Advance Trip for New Hope Missions Church of Mooresville, NC, Shauen and seven others were able to visit the three congregations in the camp.

Together we rejoiced as Water and the Word flowed in 150 baptisms of men, women, and children. We presided over scores of confirmations and celebrated Holy Communion with those who had not received it in three years. In one congregation a small group of eight children sang, danced, recited Scripture, and presented a dialogue with energy and conviction that astonished us: “We are the young soldiers of Jesus Christ that will move the church forward into the battle of tomorrow. Yes, we are bishops, pastors, and evangelists of tomorrow. But without some foundation we cannot hope to go on… We must be sure we are in the Lord, the One Foundation … Remember we are marching through the world with the cross of Jesus Christ!”

As is often the case, Shauen set out to joyfully serve and encourage God’s people here only to find that it was they who served and encouraged him. Praise the Lord for His people in Kakuma!

(The first picture is of Shauen as he Baptizes in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. The second picture is of the children in the Kakuma Refugee Camp sharing their faith.)


I am reminded of the following wonderful hymn.

Hark, the voice of Jesus crying,
“Who will go and work today?
Fields are white and harvests waiting—
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the Master calleth;
Rich reward He offers thee.
Who will answer, gladly saying,
“Here am I, send me, send me”?

If you cannot speak like angels,
If you cannot preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus,
You can say He died for all.
If you cannot rouse the wicked
With the judgment’s dread alarms,
You can lead the little children
To the Savior’s waiting arms.

If you cannot be a watchman,
Standing high on Zion’s wall,
Pointing out the path to heaven,
Off’ring life and peace to all.
With your prayers and with your bounties
You can do what God commands;
You can be like faithful Aaron,
Holding up the prophet’s hands.

Let none hear you idly saying,
“There is nothing I can do,”
While the multitudes are dying
And the Master calls for you.
Take the task He gives you gladly,
Let His work your pleasure be;
Answer quickly when He calleth,
“Here am I, send me, send me!”

As verse three reminds us, supporting missionaries with our prayers and financial aid is a real and valued way to respond to our Lord’s call to reach out with the Gospel. Everyone can’t go to Kenya, or China, or wherever. But “with our prayers and with our bounties” we can, and should, fill the roll of Aaron.

Maybe you would like to support a mission/missionary with your prayers and with your bounties, but East Africa just isn’t pulling at your heart. I strongly recommend “Mission Central,” headed up by Gary Theis, as a place where you can be put in touch with men and women who are doing the Lord’s work and in need of support. Mission Central is sort of a clearing house for missions/missionaries associated with the LC-MS. If there is a need they go to Gary and Gary finds a way to meet the need. Mission Central’s web address is: http://www.missioncentral.us/missioncentral/welcome. Mission Central put Kitty and I in touch with Shauen. They can connect you with a missionary or mission of your own.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Worship for Pentecost 22 - 2011

Thursday after All Saints’ Sunday
Martin Luther’s Birthday
November 10, 2011

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost according to the liturgical calendar used by most LC-MS congregations. Other liturgical calendars can identify the day as the Third Last Sunday of the Church Year and the Third Sunday of the End Time. As you might surmise from the other names, the Church Year is almost over. With our three-year lectionary there is the chance for up to 27 Sunday’s after Pentecost. Just how many you have depends on what date Easter is. We have but one more (November 20) this year.

The accent of the lessons at the end of the Church Year are themes that deal with the “eschatology.” Eschatology is the study of end time things. This obviously includes the Second Coming of Jesus, but also our death, heaven, judgment, and eternity. Some of these traditional themes come through in our assigned lessons for Sunday. They are: Zephaniah 1:7-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; Matthew 25:14-30. The sermon text will be Matthew 25:19 and is titled “Will Christ Say, ‘Well Done’?”. For our liturgy we will be using the third setting of the Communion service, which begins on page 184 of the hymnal. The opening hymn will be “Why Should Cross and Trial Grieve Me” (LSB 756). The sermon hymn will be “Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying” (LSB 516). Our closing hymn will be “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers” (LSB 515). The distribution hymns will be “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive” (LSB 609), , “Glory Be to the Father” (LSB 506), and “Sent Forth By God’s Blessing” (LSB 643).

The video below is of the LutheranWarbler singing and playing “Glory Be to the Father.” This hymn by Horatius Bonar was first published in 1866. It has been in all four of the main English hymnals used in the LC-MS.



Good Lord willing, we will finish chapter 10 in Matthew in our adult Bible class this coming Sunday. Class begins at 9:00 AM. As always, everyone is invited to come.

Preview of the Lessons

Zephaniah 1:7-16: Zechariah is one of the so-called Minor Prophets. These twelve prophets received this title, not because their writings are unimportant, but because they are short when compared to the Major Prophets. All twelve could fit on one scroll. (Zephaniah is only three chapters long.) Zephaniah was active from 640 to 609 BC. This puts him about a generation prior to the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586. Jeremiah was a contemporary, beginning his work after Zephaniah did, and ending his work after Zephaniah. Not surprisingly there are many similar themes in Zephaniah and Jeremiah. The fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians in 722 BC happened a generation or so earlier, so only the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained. Zephaniah spoke of the coming judgment on Judah because of their sin and rebellion against God, as well as providing great comfort in speaking of God’s mercy in Christ. Of course few listened to him, just like few listened to Jeremiah. The same is always true when God’s Law is spoken. Does our nation listen when told that sexual relationships outside of marriage are sinful? Does our nation listen when told that even “committed” homosexual relationships are sinful? Do people listen when told that skipping worship services Sunday after Sunday so they can sleep in, watch NASCAR, or whatever, is sinful? Do people change when they are told that profaning God’s name by using it casually or as an expletive is sinful? Do people cringe when the True God of the Bible is placed on a pare with the idols of the nations? In this particular pericope Zephaniah warns the people of the coming disaster (a warning they ignore). As always, these disasters not only warn of some calamity in time, but also the great calamity for those who reject God at the end of time. Scripture consistently uses such temporal judgments to warn us about the final judgment. However most will respond just like the Jews of Zephaniah’s day. Most said in their hearts, “The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill” (verse 12). Such are the proud of heart today who believe God will not judge. They interpret his patience as either an endorsement of their sin, or as evidence that God cannot, or will not judge.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11: Paul writes about the coming “Day of the Lord.” He tells us to not be concerned, because we are ready by grace through faith in Jesus. The Last Day will mean destruction, but not for Christians. However we are told that we do not know when the Last Day will be. So we are encouraged to always be ready. As believers we are to “put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (verse 8). Faith denotes our relationship with God. Love denotes our relationship with our fellow man. Hope denotes our confidence in our future in glory.

Matthew 25:14-30: This reading is a parable Jesus told about a man who goes away on a journey. Before going he gives sizable amounts of money to three of his servants, entrusting them to use it in their master’s best interest. After a long time the master returns and receives an accounting from the servants concerning how they used the money. This parable is sometimes called the “Parable of the Talents.” All of chapter 25 in Matthew deals with Christ’s return on the Last Day, and this parable is no different. However, as this text will serve as the foundation for Sunday’s sermon, I’ll say no more.

Tidbits

• Our Cub Council will meet Sunday after the worship service.

• The Arbors Homeowners Association will be meeting at Lamb of God Monday, beginning at 7:00 PM.

• The Kappa-Alpha Fraternity of Wofford College will be using our building Monday through Wednesday, 8:00 PM to midnight, for their induction ceremony.

• Our Greek Club will meet Monday morning at Panerra’s Bread Company for breakfast and some translating.

• The office will be closed Thursday, November 17. Pastor will be attending his “supervision group” meeting in Asheville, NC. This is part of his D.Min program.

• Our Beading Class will meet Saturday, November 19, from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The gathering includes lunch. Cost is $10.00.

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARTIN LUTHER. If alive today he would be a spry 528 years old.

Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Atheist Delusions

Commemoration of Martin Chemnitz (birth), Pastor and Confessor
November

The Lord be with you

I receive a journal named Logia: A Journal of Lutheran Theology. One of the features I enjoy are the book reviews. Trust me on this; the books they review are not reviewed by the New York Times. In Volume XX, Number 4 (Reformation 2011) there was a very interesting review by Jack Kilcrease. I thought I’d share it with you.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies. By David Bentley Hart. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.

Atheist Delusions is the attempt on the part of Eastern Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart to write a rebuttal to the new atheist movement (Dawkins, Hitchens, and so forth). From the first page, Hart demonstrates his extreme erudition as well as a keen writing style. He displays a thorough knowledge of classical Christian thought and the Western philosophical tradition. His first few chapters debunk the "Scientism" that is the presupposition of the new atheists. Hart shows himself to be a master of demystifying their faulty thinking and ignorance of post-Enlightenment Western thought. Despite their pretense at being "Brights" (Dawkins’s suggested alternative name for atheists), they show a profound ignorance. Frequently they are simply repeating long-discredited philosophical, theological, and historical fallacies. Hart suggests their popularity stems not from the theological or philosophical viability of their proposals, but rather from the appeal of their metanarrative of nothingness. Modern and postmodern people think of themselves as self-positing, free-willing, and unconstrained subjects. They see God as interfering with this autonomy and ability to self-create. Nevertheless, to be totally undetermined means to be nothing in particular. Only nothingness is pure indeterminacy and absolute autonomy. Modern and postmodern people, in effect, argues Hart, believe in nothingness more than anything.

Most of the rest of the chapters deal with historical questions and the impact of Christian theism on world civilization. The Christian narrative is the ontology of peace rooted in the inner life of the Trinity and the peaceful act of creation ex nihilo. Paganism held a narrative of order and chaos in a perpetual conflict (see Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy). Here Hart echoes John Milbank, among others. The claim that Christianity is actually an ontology of violence masquerading as ontology of peace is unfounded, notes Hart.

Similarly, the claim that Christianity maintains its peaceful charade in order to perpetrate violence is false. The claims that historically Christians have been responsible for the lion’s share of violence and intolerance in world history are also false. For example, the new atheists frequently attack Christianity for causing religious wars, from which only the secular state can save us. This is pure propaganda. Hart notes that the Thirty Years' War, frequently credited with showing Westerners the need for religious toleration, was about the birth of the secular state, not about religious rivalry. The modern secular state has bequeathed the human race far more violence and misery than Christianity ever did. Furthermore, Christian values—the belief in the order of creation and value of each individual—have informed the West’s cultural striving in ways that directly contradict paganism. Nietzsche was correct that one cannot reject a Christian worldview and expect to hold on to its ethical dimensions. If each human is not made in the image of God and therefore valuable, then why respect them? If the world was not created by a rational and intelligent mind, then why look for order in it through scientific inquiry?

The new atheists demonstrate their profound historical ignorance when they posit that Christianity has constrained peace, freedom, and scientific inquiry. In fact, the ancient pagan world, which Christianity conquered, was not the sphere of tolerance and scientific inquiry that they imagine it to be, but a gloomy place, stagnating in its technological and scientific advancements. (By the time of Augustus, all discernible scientific or technological development had more or less ceased.) Regarding liberties and freedom, the Pax Romana was a tyranny much like the empires that preceded it. Its literature, philosophy, and religion all presupposed a tragic metanarrative. In effect, it was nothing like the ethical, optimistic, and scientific world Dawkins and Hitchens believe would exist if the Christian church were to blip out of existence. In truth, to the extent that the secular metanarrative upholds these values, it is simply parasitic upon the Christian worldview. It posits a meaning, peace, and order to the cosmos that its own tragic atheism cannot logically sustain. In the end, Hart demonstrates that the atheistic worldview stands in great conflict with its own moral compass, as well as its scientific and historical pretensions.