Posted on 01/14/2011 5:57:52 PM PST by topcat54
Evangelical book catalogs promote books such as Planet Earth: The Final Chapter, The Great Escape, and the Left Behind series. Bumper stickers warn us that the vehicles occupants may disappear at any moment. It is clear that there is a preoccupation with the idea of a secret rapture. Perhaps this has become more pronounced recently due to the expectation of a new millennium and the fears regarding potential Y2K problems. Perhaps psychologically people are especially receptive to the idea of an imminent, secret rapture at the present time. Additionally, many Christians are not aware that any other position relative to the second coming of Jesus Christ exists. Even in Reformed circles there are numerous people reading these books. Many of these people are unaware that this viewpoint conflicts with Scripture and Reformed Theology.
(Excerpt) Read more at reformed.org ...
Well then who pray tell has been appointed to guard your church if everyone is ‘looking past’ these happenings and those who are committing them... and not acting with the authority Christ has given them to act!
First catholic church I entered had a Priest who had his own private male concubine. The laity knew it...and the Priest knew they knew. The kid was a troubled kid the Priest took under his belt, in more ways than one. I asked why nobody said anything about this, (I wasn’t even a Christen then.) I was told these stinging words..” We just accept this is how it is, he (the Priest) is truly loved here and no one can imagine him not being our Priest, the kid is better off with the Priest than on his own”. The year was 1987.... I was in that community 7 yrs. and watched that kid grow to be a damaged young man.
As I see it your sheep don’t have to worry so much about leaving the flock to run into wolfs...they’re already huddling next to them by remaining there...they lack the discernment to distiguish a wolf in shepherds clothing.
Cronos...if you saw a little girl on the street being raped by a man would you just look to Christ...would you not act to help her?
Well it sounds like the catholic church is haaving serious issues with their Priesthood and Bishops worldwide.
As I mentioned...God has waited for the church to act...they didn’t so he exposed not only the problem but the churches refusal to address the problems...then we find the problem is widespread and the church is infested...still barely a whimper of action...then the church decides to instill new programs to plug the holes...yet continue to keep those who are guilty protected.
And now the Bishops are told not to report suspected abuses to the police...
So you see it is nothing at all about a focus on Christ....in fact quite the opposite...the churches refusal to act is simply putting itself in the hands of an agry God and He will not wait til “Dante’s Inferno” to count heads of Bishops....this is going to go all the way to Rome and the leadership there....which is what they are trying to protect...not the children...the leadership.
Simple...remove them...but then they cannot reason with simplicity PSSN....it has to be complicated and confusing...they are conditioned this way.
I know...this “faulty” stuff is Priestly garbble they speak to one another within the Priesthood I think. And that’s coming from the top down.
But they have been around for sooooooo long - supposedly all their church fathers had all the answers for a universal church and what to do about homosexuality stumps them?
Bring in a 3rd grader, and the answer would be ‘remove them’.
Who knows how long this has been going on...but when you have people stepping forward from 20 some years ago that does make a statement in itself. And then more and more Priests are confessing they did this...It is such an infestation.
I’m so livid they compare with other churches....in those churches I have seen things surface in... it is dealt with immediately. Adultry...your done. One young Pastor was sleeping with a thirteen yr. old babysitter of his children. Out within 24 hours. But those are the only times I’ve seen this action necessary or the problem as such in all the churches I’ve been in. They just deal with the issues head on.
Read the link....and no wonder I am not Luthern if they all adhere to that. Much of which I disagreed with....and evidences they are not the church they once were.
Frankly, that’s a different matter. I’m not Lutheran so will not comment on what they believe. All I will say is that Lutherans have had “Holy Absolution “ right since the time of Luther. This is not an innovation of theirs
And how many of your pastors exactly meet those standards?
The job of the flock is to follow The Good shepherd, Christ, to focus on Him, not on the sub-shepherds who have not one level of the ability of The Shepherd. Yet, the sheep are not to huddle away and form their own flocks with their own leaders because those sheep without shepherds are prone to wolves (from J Smith to Ellen G White to the Taize movement etc).this is related to the pastoral functions and teachings of Christ. We are not like the Northern tribes who broke away. No, the tribe of Judah stayed irrespective of the bad kings because their focus was on God. Kings, High priests, priests may come and go, but God remains and one focuses on God, not on the frail tools.
The focus is to be always on The Shepherd, not on the sub-shepherds/pastors.
So, what is the percentage of conviction rate of pastors in your group who have molested children? How many have been removed?
Now, don’t make up statements, caww — I said the convicted priests should be removed and are. How many of your pastors who have molested children have been removed? What is the conviction rate?
Confession and absolution is the ongoing work of Baptism. It is a return to the water, a sprinkling with the Word of Baptism that first brought us life and cleansing. So basic is confession to the Christian life, that the Large Catechism simply says: When I urge you to go to confession, I am simply urging you to be a Christian. Christians confess their sins and are forgiven. Unbelievers deny their sins and have no use for forgiveness.This is from the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (lcms) website which states "Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is a member congregation of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. We believe, teach, and confess the doctrine of the evangelical catholic faith as it is taught by the Holy Scriptures and faithfully confessed in the Book of Concord of 1580."
Bonhoeffer calls absolution without personal confession a form of cheap grace, a cross-less Christianity. It is the attempt to have repentance without shame, contrition without guilt. It is the equivalent of an out of court settlement - just pay the money admit no wrongdoing. God wants us at the bar of His justice. There is no back room bargaining with the Lord. There is only the Law and the Gospel, our sin and the death of Christ for our sin.
the Reformers were not satisfied with a generic confession, the kind that you, me, and 5 1/2 billion people could all say together. I, a poor miserable sinner. True enough, but what makes you say that?
Confession is directed in three ways - to God, to the neighbor, and to the pastor....
The person who boasts confidently, I can confess my sins to God directly, and therefore dont need the church, misses the basic point. Its not our confession, but Gods forgiveness that matters. And God always deals with us through the incarnation of Jesus, through earthy, creaturely means such as water, bread, wine, words, in this case sound waves that emanate from mouths and go into ear holes.
Christians also confess to their pastor. There are several good reasons for doing this. First, he is ordained to hear confession. Thats what we put him there for. It is one of the tasks laid on a pastor at his ordination. Second, he is equipped by practice and training to help others sharpen and deepen their confession and to square them to the Word of God. Third, he is bound by solemn vow to secrecy, something that a close friends is not. For a pastor to break the seal of confession is grounds for dismissal.
Fourth, the pastor is a public, corporate person. He holds an office. The pastor does not speak for himself but for Christ and for the whole church. The pastor is a minister, a servant of the Word, a steward of Gods mysteries revealed in Christ. He is not there as superior, but as servant. He serves not from above but from below. He is there not to condemn but to forgive. He is under holy orders to forgive
A pastor forgives by the divine order of the crucified, risen, and reigning Son of God, in his stead and by his command. He represents the person of Jesus, not his own person. Even if the pastor doesnt like you, or even if you dont like him, his forgiveness is Christs forgiveness, sure and certain, addressed to you. And thats really all that matters.
I absolve you. I forgive you. This is no cheap, idle word. No smile, be happy, God loves you, saccharine sentimentality. This is a costly Word from God to you. It cost the Son of God his life. He sweat and suffered and bled and died so that this word might be spoken. It is a Word anchored in the past, nailed to the bloody cross of Golgotha, a Word that reaches into our present, into the here and now of our lives. It reaches into our ears and minds and hearts, a divine Word that says, Christ Jesus died for you. It is a word authorized and approved by the crucified and risen Son of God Himself, freshly risen from the dead with the wounds to prove it, who breathed His Spirit and words into His disciples and said, The sins you forgive are forgiven; the sins you retain are retained.
People are sometimes offended by the absolution. Who can forgive sins but God alone? The unbelieving Pharisees asked that of Jesus. How dare that guy speak as though he were God! People should be offended. The absolution is as offensive as the Incarnation of the Son of God. It is as offensive as the God who wears diapers and sleeps in a manger, or the God who hangs naked and bleeding on a cross. Only God can forgive. Thats true. And God only forgives through His Son, who became man, who speaks through His Church and the Ministry He ordained to speak. It is the living voice of God that we hear when we hear the absolution. So if there is a heart that feels its sin and desires consolation, it has here a sure refuge when it hears in Gods Word that through a man God looses and absolves him from his sins (Large Catechism V.14)
AMEN!
In his book Pedophiles and Priests, Prof. Philip Jenkinsa Protestant and an expert in the subject of pedophiliastated, "The most-quoted survey of sexual problems among Protestant clergy states that some ten percent are involved in sexual misconduct of some kind, and that 'about two or three percent' are pedophiles, a rate equal or higher than that suggested for Catholic priests. These figures should be viewed skeptically; the methodology on which they are based is not clear, and they seem to rely disproportionately on individuals already in therapy. However, it is striking to find such a relatively high number suggested for both celibate and non-celibate clergy" (pp. 50-51).Note that -- that 'about two or three percent' are pedophiles, a rate equal or higher than that suggested for Catholic priests.
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