A Sunday Night Post

Well I haven't posted on here for a couple days. So how about a post.

There was a post that was put up on one of my friends sites. Everyone said it was awesome, but I didn't think it was that great. It was supposibly about CCM, but this person didn't seem to address what's wrong with it. He just put it down with really no way of backing it up. In this post he also put in lines to have a "way out" lines such as, "I'm not saying all churches that do this are bad" or "I mean.. Its fine... But I'm not brave enough to listen to that crap..." Wait, did you just say it was fine after trying to put together an argument about why it was wrong?

Now, more about the content of the post. It was said that "normal" Christians hate it. What exactly is a normal Christian. I mean we have Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans and many others that would call themselves Christian.

The Next point that was made was on why people go to church. This got me thinking and is basically what made me decide to write this post. The answer given in his post was "because you love God" (I'll come back to this a little later) He then went on to say church isn't about making you feel all warm and fuzzy. Which its not, but the next line is what got me. "Church is suppose to make you feel like crap, because you are crap." There is no doubt that we are all "crap" If church was about making us feel like crap why would anyone go? We first must understand that we are "crap" to understand the gospel. "Then you take a deep breath and remember your ass is saved without you lifting a pinkie finger" That was the line that came after the last one. This line is strange in my point-of-view. If church is all about making you feel like crap how do you even know that your saved. Do we have to do the remembering in order to be saved. What did God give us pastors for? To remind us that we are saved. Not to put a law twist on the gospel saying that you need to remember your saved. The pastor is there to tell you that all your sins were paid for. All the sins of unbelievers were paid for. On the cross, Jesus took on the sins of the entire world. All those that were committed up to his time. Those that were committed during his time and all those that were committed after his time until the time of his return. That included every single second that you are alive. We are sinning constantly.

Next, there is talk about how some churches to have communion every Sunday. That part is good. Through communion we receive forgiveness of sins. Communion is very key as was stated in the post. Then there was a little about sermons. How some pastors make the pulpit (if they use one) to make jokes or make political stands. "Crux sola nostra theologica est." The Cross alone is our theology. We preach Christ crucified. My Dad has told me that there are three things in a good Lutheran sermon. Law, Gospel, and reference to at least one of the sacraments. Too many times the Law is given in such a way to make it seem like gospel when really there is no gospel at all. In our troubs chapel there was one line of gospel in the speaking parts, even that had a law twist on it saying that we need to remember.

A couple last comments on the post. "The only sin that could POSSIBLY be greater is forsaking God." Everytime we sin we forsake God. By sinning we are forsaking God so apparently the only sin that is greater is all sins. Which is true because all sins are equal in God's sight.
" and yeah I guess God isn't all fire and brimestone anymore... " I was pretty sure that God was unchanging. "no.. The hurricanes were not him." I believe it says in scripture even the winds and the waves obey him. So from the conversations I have had with Mr. Pierson I can pretty confidently say No that did not sound like Pierson.



Now to make the post even longer, I'm going back to Why we go to church. I asked this question and I got 2 responses besides the one that was stated in that post.

The First response I got was this.

"we go to church to worship God, because he is infact worthy of praise. We go to church to hear the gospel, that is our salvation through Christ (definitely helps if its infused with the fact that we NEED to be saved). Going to hear the word of God as well as the sacraments in which God comes to us."

The first part of that response at least is all Law. Especially considering Church is a very "gospelly" thing. We go to church to worship God. Yes, that is part of it but are we capable of worshiping God in any worthy way? God coming to us is an awesome point in this answer. For that is what happens in Church its God coming to us in His word and Sacraments. Its nothing that we do.

Another response I got.

" worship," "hear God's Word, that we are sinners and NEED a Savior!"

This a much shorter answer contains pretty much the same points. Worship, we aren't capable of worshiping God in a worthy manner. We do hear God's Word. Not because we want to but because God allows us to. The last part to hear that we are sinners an NEED a Savior. Where is the gospel in that answer? Yes we need to hear that we are sinners and need a savior or the gospel makes no sense. In that answer where's the part that talks about us hearing that we have a Savior and we are forgiven?

So why do we go to church? Not to feel like crap. Although we do worship in church that is not the reason we go. We do hear that we are sinners and need a Savior at church. But what's a good answer to that question. Actually, what's a "gospelly" answer to that question. We go to church because God in his mercy sent his Son to take away every sin of ours. Also, In His mercy God allows us to hear that he sent his Son, and receive the word and sacraments. To receive forgiveness of sins in the Lord's body and blood during Communion. What a great gift of God church is!