Click On A File To Learn More:
These files are from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's popular "What About" series which explains many of the important teachings of St. Peter's Lutheran Church.
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
|
|
| ||||||
| ||||
Most of the core teachings of the Lutheran Church are summed up in the six chief parts of Luther's Small Catechism. You can read Luther's Small Catechism in the file below:
| luthers_small_catechism.docx |
A "Creed" is a statement of belief. We all use creeds in ways that we may not even realize. The simple statement, "Jesus loves me" is a creed. The Apostle's Creed is probably the oldest public confession of the Church. You can read about it in Luther's Small Catechism above. Another important creed of the church is the Nicene Creed which is a fuller confession of what we believe about our Triune God. The following file breaks the creed down into individual statements and gives Bible references for why the church has historically believed these things about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
| nicene_creed_scripture.docx |
WHAT ABOUT...SOME TOUGH MODERN ISSUES?
LIKE ABORTION...
Can We Support Planned Parenthood?
No! And Here's Why --Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion industry in the U.S. For a long time, and with tax-funded dollars, Planned Parenthood has been aborting babies and harvesting their organs for profit. Now, the evidence is available for all to see. You can view the video of an interview with Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Abortionist and Senior Director of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood, with someone posing as a procurer of organs. The video footage is not pleasant to see or hear. We ask: How can a person be so cold and heartless? If you have the stomach, please watch here. Know what Planned Parenthood is really doing.
A second video has also been released showing Planned Parenthood negotiating for baby parts. Please don't be naive! Don't look the other way! Don't be supportive of Planned Parenthood, a federally-funded organization that exists under the guise of "family planning" but is really not about marriage, children, and family at all.
You may listen to what Brit Hume has to say here in what is being described as the most bold commentary on abortion in secular news.
There is a great deal of information, statistics, and revelation about Planned Parenthood available to the Christian citizen who wants to know truth and be able to speak it. The Christian citizen is called to engage a fallen and sin-filled world with the Word of God. The Christian citizen is to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The Christian citizen, loving God first, is called to love even their tiniest neighbor as themselves.
In loving God, we also love the mothers who fear pregnancy for whatever reason by offering to connect them with a caring pregnancy center such as The Lighthouse Center of Hope in Iowa Falls. The Christian citizen can welcome women who have already had an abortion and are grieving the loss of their child. Mothers, fathers, and grandparents of aborted children need the welcoming arms of friends and church family.
LCMS Denounces Planned Parenthood
Lord have mercy.
We cannot remain silent while the reprehensible act of killing a child in the womb is made even worse by selling portions of that child's dismembered body simply because there is a market for them.
Speaking up about the shameful act of children -- as well as harvesting their body parts -- may be uncomfortable. We may lose friends and create awkward tension at work. Our professors may mock us, and our family may roll their eyes at us. If that is the case, so be it. Because as Lutherans, as Christians, we are for life, no matter the cost.
As Lutherans, we confess that every life has value, that it has worth, that it matters... from the moment of conception until natural death occurs. We confess that what Dr. Nucatola (in the Planned Parenthood video) calls "17-weekers" are actually children -- with beating hearts and little moving fingers and toes.
We confess that even the tiniest of humans are just that -- regardless of what scientific term the culture uses to make them seem like something else. We confess that they are created in the image and likeness of our Lord Himself. And we confess that because of Him, their hearts and lungs and livers matter, no matter how small they might be.
We also admit our own failing in this regard. Where we have failed to speak and act for life, we repent. Where we have not cared for mothers in crisis-pregnancy situations, we ask for forgiveness. Where we have thought more of ourselves than giving to an organization that can assist those moms and babies, we are sorry. Where we have been apathetic to this pandemic of death, we grieve.
But we are not without hope, because our Lord is for life too.
He is so pro-life, in fact, that He has given His own life for us, even as He has laid it down for these tiniest of children. Where their short lives are taken, He offers up His willingly. Where their little bodies are sold, He gives His freely to us at His holy table for the forgiveness of our sins.
(Rev. Bart Day, Executive Director,
Life & Health Ministries, LCMS Office of National Mission)
PLEASE PRAY... that our Lord will bring an end to abortion and that He would stop the horrible sale of infant bodies, and let us pray that He would forgive us, renew us and bolster us to make a good confession in season and out of season: one that is always, no matter what, for life . . . in Jesus' name. Amen.
Can We Support Planned Parenthood?
No! And Here's Why --Planned Parenthood is the biggest abortion industry in the U.S. For a long time, and with tax-funded dollars, Planned Parenthood has been aborting babies and harvesting their organs for profit. Now, the evidence is available for all to see. You can view the video of an interview with Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Abortionist and Senior Director of Medical Services at Planned Parenthood, with someone posing as a procurer of organs. The video footage is not pleasant to see or hear. We ask: How can a person be so cold and heartless? If you have the stomach, please watch here. Know what Planned Parenthood is really doing.
A second video has also been released showing Planned Parenthood negotiating for baby parts. Please don't be naive! Don't look the other way! Don't be supportive of Planned Parenthood, a federally-funded organization that exists under the guise of "family planning" but is really not about marriage, children, and family at all.
You may listen to what Brit Hume has to say here in what is being described as the most bold commentary on abortion in secular news.
There is a great deal of information, statistics, and revelation about Planned Parenthood available to the Christian citizen who wants to know truth and be able to speak it. The Christian citizen is called to engage a fallen and sin-filled world with the Word of God. The Christian citizen is to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. The Christian citizen, loving God first, is called to love even their tiniest neighbor as themselves.
In loving God, we also love the mothers who fear pregnancy for whatever reason by offering to connect them with a caring pregnancy center such as The Lighthouse Center of Hope in Iowa Falls. The Christian citizen can welcome women who have already had an abortion and are grieving the loss of their child. Mothers, fathers, and grandparents of aborted children need the welcoming arms of friends and church family.
LCMS Denounces Planned Parenthood
Lord have mercy.
We cannot remain silent while the reprehensible act of killing a child in the womb is made even worse by selling portions of that child's dismembered body simply because there is a market for them.
Speaking up about the shameful act of children -- as well as harvesting their body parts -- may be uncomfortable. We may lose friends and create awkward tension at work. Our professors may mock us, and our family may roll their eyes at us. If that is the case, so be it. Because as Lutherans, as Christians, we are for life, no matter the cost.
As Lutherans, we confess that every life has value, that it has worth, that it matters... from the moment of conception until natural death occurs. We confess that what Dr. Nucatola (in the Planned Parenthood video) calls "17-weekers" are actually children -- with beating hearts and little moving fingers and toes.
We confess that even the tiniest of humans are just that -- regardless of what scientific term the culture uses to make them seem like something else. We confess that they are created in the image and likeness of our Lord Himself. And we confess that because of Him, their hearts and lungs and livers matter, no matter how small they might be.
We also admit our own failing in this regard. Where we have failed to speak and act for life, we repent. Where we have not cared for mothers in crisis-pregnancy situations, we ask for forgiveness. Where we have thought more of ourselves than giving to an organization that can assist those moms and babies, we are sorry. Where we have been apathetic to this pandemic of death, we grieve.
But we are not without hope, because our Lord is for life too.
He is so pro-life, in fact, that He has given His own life for us, even as He has laid it down for these tiniest of children. Where their short lives are taken, He offers up His willingly. Where their little bodies are sold, He gives His freely to us at His holy table for the forgiveness of our sins.
(Rev. Bart Day, Executive Director,
Life & Health Ministries, LCMS Office of National Mission)
PLEASE PRAY... that our Lord will bring an end to abortion and that He would stop the horrible sale of infant bodies, and let us pray that He would forgive us, renew us and bolster us to make a good confession in season and out of season: one that is always, no matter what, for life . . . in Jesus' name. Amen.
LIKE MARRIAGE EQUALITY...
The Sanctity of Marriage
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutionally legal in this country in June of 2015. What does God say? How can Christian citizens respond?
Here are resources for you:
The Sanctity of Marriage
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutionally legal in this country in June of 2015. What does God say? How can Christian citizens respond?
Here are resources for you:
- The Sanctity of Marriage (downloadable PDF)
- "Why Marriage Matters" (Bible study)
- "What Is Marriage" (Bible study)
- What Is Marriage? (Man & Woman: A Defense) by Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George (Amazon.com)
- Why Not Same Sex Marriage (a manual for defendiing marriage) by Daniel R. Heimbach (Amazon.com)
- The Gospel Coalition (a website filled with helps for the church and how to respond to the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. Articles include "How Same Sex Marriage Threatens Christian Schools" and "The Supreme Court and Religious Liberty")
- Conjugality (a website on marriage)
- Family Edge (website)
- The National Organization for Marriage (website)
- Breakpoint (radio and website)
- American Family Association (website)
- The Family Research Council (website)
- Focus on the Family (website)
LIKE SEXUAL IDENTITY ISSUES...
Lutherans & Sexual Issues
There are many biblically-founded resources for the Christian citizen on the subject of homosexuality, "sexual identity," and classroom sex education. Too often, we feel intimidated by friends, family members, fellow workers or students who support gay, lesbian, trans-gender and other unbiblical sexual choices. Or, we think ourselves compassionate by personally opposing homosexuality but supporting it as "ok" for someone else.
Of help to Lutheran parents and grandparents are two books authored by Rev. Matt Rueger, pastor at St. John in Hubbard, and Linda Bartlett, a member of Immanuel. They are Sexual Morality in a Christless World (CPH) and The Failure of Sex Education in the Church: Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity (Amazon). A third book, Ethics of Sex, contains ten essays on homosexuality, transgenderism, self-pollution, polygamy, marriage, contraception, sex education, and male and female sex differences.
There are many biblically-grounded resources for the Christian citizen on the subject of homosexuality. The following are available from The Gospel Coalition. Please search for the desired title.
To watch a YouTube of LCMS Rev. Jonathan Fisk explaining Lutheranism and homosexuality, please visit: Worldview Everlasting
For more information from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, please visit Free To Be Faithful.
Lutherans & Sexual Issues
There are many biblically-founded resources for the Christian citizen on the subject of homosexuality, "sexual identity," and classroom sex education. Too often, we feel intimidated by friends, family members, fellow workers or students who support gay, lesbian, trans-gender and other unbiblical sexual choices. Or, we think ourselves compassionate by personally opposing homosexuality but supporting it as "ok" for someone else.
Of help to Lutheran parents and grandparents are two books authored by Rev. Matt Rueger, pastor at St. John in Hubbard, and Linda Bartlett, a member of Immanuel. They are Sexual Morality in a Christless World (CPH) and The Failure of Sex Education in the Church: Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity (Amazon). A third book, Ethics of Sex, contains ten essays on homosexuality, transgenderism, self-pollution, polygamy, marriage, contraception, sex education, and male and female sex differences.
There are many biblically-grounded resources for the Christian citizen on the subject of homosexuality. The following are available from The Gospel Coalition. Please search for the desired title.
- "On the Wrong Side of History" (a video discussiing aggressive questions)
- "Is Sexual Oreintation Analogous to Race?"
- "We Are All Messy - Rosaria Butterfield on Loving Our Gay and Lesbain Friends" (Note: Rosaria Butterfield, a figurehead for gay rights and tenured English professor on an Ivy League campus, left the lesbian lifestyle and, today, is married to a pastor and is the home-schooling mom of four adopted children.)
To watch a YouTube of LCMS Rev. Jonathan Fisk explaining Lutheranism and homosexuality, please visit: Worldview Everlasting
For more information from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, please visit Free To Be Faithful.
TALKING ABOUT IT...
Questions for Friends & Family Who Wave the Rainbow Flag It’s likely that we have friends, family members and even fellow church members who celebrate the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex “marriage.” Kevin DeYoung of The Gospel Coalition has shaped 40 questions that, if carefully asked, might help our brothers and sisters to slow down and think about the flag they are flying. Here are 20:
PLEASE PRAY that people of God faithfully bear witness to the Truth even in the dark ages of sin . . . in Jesus’ name.
Questions for Friends & Family Who Wave the Rainbow Flag It’s likely that we have friends, family members and even fellow church members who celebrate the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex “marriage.” Kevin DeYoung of The Gospel Coalition has shaped 40 questions that, if carefully asked, might help our brothers and sisters to slow down and think about the flag they are flying. Here are 20:
- How long have you believed that gay marriage is something to be celebrated?
- How would you make a positive case from Scripture that sexual activity between two persons of the same sex is a blessing to be celebrated?
- What verses would you use to show that a marriage between two persons of the same sex can adequately depict Christ and the church?
- Why did Jesus reassert the Genesis definition of marriage as being one man and one woman?
- If some homosexual behavior is acceptable, how do you understand the sinful “exchange” Paul highlights in Romans 1?
- Do you believe the passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Revelation 21:8 teach that sexual immorality can keep you out of heaven?
- What sexual sins do you think they were referring to?
- As you think about the long history of the church and the near universal disapproval of same-sex sexual activity, what do you think you understand about the Bible that Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, and Luther failed to grasp?
- What arguments would you use to explain to Christians in Africa, Asia, and South America that their understanding of homosexuality is biblically incorrect and your new understanding of homosexuality is not culturally conditioned?
- Do you think children do best with a mother and a father?
- If not, what research would you point to in support of that conclusion?
- If yes, does the church or the state have any role to play in promoting or privileging the arrangement that puts children with a mom and a dad?
- Does the end purpose of marriage point to something more than an adult’s emotional and sexual fulfillment?
- How would you define marriage?
- On what basis, if any, would you prevent consenting adults of any relation and of any number from getting married?
- Does equality entail that anyone wanting to be married should be able to have any meaningful relationship defined as marriage? If not, why not?
- If “love wins,” how would you define love?
- What [Scripture] verses would you use to establish that definition?
- How should obedience to God’s commands shape our understanding of love?
- How has your support for gay marriage helped you become more passionate about the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the total trustworthiness of the Bible, and the urgent need to evangelize the lost? (Source: The Gospel Coalition www.thegospelcoalition.org)
PLEASE PRAY that people of God faithfully bear witness to the Truth even in the dark ages of sin . . . in Jesus’ name.
LIKE MARRIAGE...
Talking to Your Kids About Marriage
We don’t always get to choose what we talk about with our children. Events like beheadings by Muslim terrorists and police shootings force discussions on things we may prefer to hold back from our kids.
Now, following the Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, we need to discuss with our children the difference between the world’s ideas and the Truth of God’s Word in Jesus Christ. We need to help our children understand why God created marriage and what being a family means. We need to help them understand why God desires that a child have both a mother and a father.
Parents can begin with Jesus’ own words about marriage in Matthew 19. There, Jesus takes the Pharisees back to the book of Genesis. Moms and dads can pick up the story from there, reminding sons and daughters that God said it was not good for Adam to be alone, and that Adam needed a “helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). Neither the animals nor another man were, according to God, suitable helpers because, in part, what Adam needed help with had to do with procreation and making a family. And how does God make a family? Through marriage and the loving, procreative marital act of a husband and wife.
Parents can also explain to their children that, in this fallen world, authorities sometimes make bad decisions that oppose God and produce disastrous consequences. Examples are the Jim Crow laws, no-fault divorce laws, and the legalization of abortion. There will always be differences of opinion among adults in this world, but children do better if their parents help them keep their bologna detectors geared up and engaged.
Suggested Resources for parents: The Failure of Sex Education in the Church: Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity by Linda Bartlett (Our Identity Matters or www.amazon.com); www.breakpoint.org, www.focusonthefamily.org
PLEASE PRAY for courageous parents to mentor sons and daughters . . . in Jesus’ name.
Talking to Your Kids About Marriage
We don’t always get to choose what we talk about with our children. Events like beheadings by Muslim terrorists and police shootings force discussions on things we may prefer to hold back from our kids.
Now, following the Supreme Court decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, we need to discuss with our children the difference between the world’s ideas and the Truth of God’s Word in Jesus Christ. We need to help our children understand why God created marriage and what being a family means. We need to help them understand why God desires that a child have both a mother and a father.
Parents can begin with Jesus’ own words about marriage in Matthew 19. There, Jesus takes the Pharisees back to the book of Genesis. Moms and dads can pick up the story from there, reminding sons and daughters that God said it was not good for Adam to be alone, and that Adam needed a “helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). Neither the animals nor another man were, according to God, suitable helpers because, in part, what Adam needed help with had to do with procreation and making a family. And how does God make a family? Through marriage and the loving, procreative marital act of a husband and wife.
Parents can also explain to their children that, in this fallen world, authorities sometimes make bad decisions that oppose God and produce disastrous consequences. Examples are the Jim Crow laws, no-fault divorce laws, and the legalization of abortion. There will always be differences of opinion among adults in this world, but children do better if their parents help them keep their bologna detectors geared up and engaged.
Suggested Resources for parents: The Failure of Sex Education in the Church: Mistaken Identity, Compromised Purity by Linda Bartlett (Our Identity Matters or www.amazon.com); www.breakpoint.org, www.focusonthefamily.org
PLEASE PRAY for courageous parents to mentor sons and daughters . . . in Jesus’ name.
LIKE PERSECUTION...
Persecution of Christians by ISIS
From Iraq and Syria to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Christians are persecuted on a scale not seen in living memory. Some of the world's most ancient church communities have been wiped out or displaced by the rise of ISIS, and tens of thousands of Christians have fled the Islamic State's onslaught.
It is time to prepare our own children and grandchildren for the battle between Islam and Christianity right here in America. Islam is not just another "choice" on the buffet of ideas and beliefs. It is a very serious religion with its own Sharia Law which subverts or converts. Now is the time to know what we believe, why we believe it, an how to live it in Jesus' name... even in the face of opposition.
PLEASE PRAY that the Body of Christ--in every part of the world and here at home--be given courage to speak The Word unapologetically, shine light in the darkness, and be strengthened in the Triune God.
Persecution of Christians by ISIS
From Iraq and Syria to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Christians are persecuted on a scale not seen in living memory. Some of the world's most ancient church communities have been wiped out or displaced by the rise of ISIS, and tens of thousands of Christians have fled the Islamic State's onslaught.
It is time to prepare our own children and grandchildren for the battle between Islam and Christianity right here in America. Islam is not just another "choice" on the buffet of ideas and beliefs. It is a very serious religion with its own Sharia Law which subverts or converts. Now is the time to know what we believe, why we believe it, an how to live it in Jesus' name... even in the face of opposition.
PLEASE PRAY that the Body of Christ--in every part of the world and here at home--be given courage to speak The Word unapologetically, shine light in the darkness, and be strengthened in the Triune God.