Such an “evil” thought has entered the mind of many a man considering seminary! Men who are excited about coming to prepare for the pastoral office often have their enthusiasm tempered by the reality that the first class they must take before formally beginning their seminary studies is New Testament Greek. They fear that they may not do very well because they do not like foreign languages or—even more frightening—they may fail the class and end their seminary studies before they have really begun.

As one of the professors who teaches Greek, I want to assure you that almost all of our students pass Greek and many do quite well. Moreover, most of our students find studying Holy Scripture in the original languages to be an exciting and rewarding experience, opening up a deeper and richer understanding of God’s Word. They come to realize why Martin Luther valued the Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible and urged the faithful use of these languages: “In proportion as we value the gospel let us hold to the languages. We will not long preserve the gospel without the languages. They are the sheath in which this sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the casket in which this jewel is enshrined.”

Luther’s words remind us of a very strong motivating factor that has helped many students of Greek. We do not learn Greek for the sake of having another language on our resumé. We learn this language because it is the particular language used to reveal the very salvific words and deeds of our Lord Jesus, especially his sacrificial death and victorious resurrection for all sinners of all time. As we read the New Testament in Greek, we are reading the Spirit-inspired words of men who were eyewitnesses of Jesus. These life-giving words are the foundation of the faithful preaching and teaching done by pastors.

There is a familiar saying in education: “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” This is especially true of learning a language. It is not purely IQ that dictates how well students learn Greek, but how disciplined one is in repeating vocabulary, verb paradigms, and noun declensions. A very important element in taking an intensive course like our ten-week Greek class is that you simplify your life so that you can devote your time to learning the language. In fact, once Greek is over, you will probably no longer want to avoid Greek, but will be anxious to take an exegetical class and put your knowledge to work!

So, the bottom line to the question posted above is: no, but who would want to pass up this opportunity?

From Volume 2, Issue 3, May/June 1998

While in Madagascar the cohort visited two tobys (villages of mercy unique to Madagascar), a leper colony, an orphanage, a school for the blind, two hospitals, an agricultural school and a seminary all operated by the Malagasy Lutheran Church, a church body of around four million members. While in the central Malagasy city of Antsirabe, the CTS group worshipped at a Sunday morning service attended by nearly 3500 people. The group also witnessed a service of exorcism at a toby on the outshirts of Antsirabe.

Rioting blocked the highway to Fianarantsoa preventing the group from visiting the Good Samaritan Center for the Poor, a project supported by LCMS World Relief and Human with funds raised by the 2006 Mercy Mission Expedition. Nevertheless, this year’s group was afforded many opportunities to see the church’s corporate work of mercy in action. It was exciting for the group to tour the newly-completed pediatrics unit at the Lutheran Hospital in Antsirabe. The unit was constructed with a grant from LCMS World Relief and Human Care.

Two days were spent visiting the seminary in Antsirabe. Prof. Pless gave a convocation lecture on “The Doctrine of Vocation in the Small Catechism.” The CTS students made a presentation of books to the seminary library purchased with funds from Student Association in Fort Wayne. Copies of Concordia: A Readers of Edition of the Book of Concord and other theological books were presented to each of the Malagasy students as a gift from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Clerical shirts, vestments and communion ware from the CTS Clothing Bank were also distributed. Prof. Pless presented the seminary president, Rev. David Rakotonirina a gift of $1250.00 from Bethany Lutheran Church in Naperville, Illinois to assist the school. A day earlier the CTS group also delivered a gift of $1250.00 from Bethany Lutheran Church to the Lutheran orphanage in Antsirabe.

As with past groups, the students who traveled to Madagascar have selected a project to support in partnership with LCMS World Relief and Human Care. This year’s project will provide cows for the leper colony and the toby in Antsirabe.

Reflecting on the trip, Prof. Pless commented “In spite of the perpetual tension generated by the unstable political circumstances in Madagascar, we had an excellent trip. In many ways this was the best of our trips to Madagascar. The students exhibited a good sense of humor, eagerness to learn from the Malagasy experience and a real empathy for the plight of our Lutheran brothers and sisters there. I am confident that this trip will be a formative event in the lives of these future pastors. We are deeply grateful for the steady support and visionary leadership of Pastor Matthew Harrison in making this opportunity available for our students.”

To:                 The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
From:              Gerald B. Kieschnick, President
Subject:          Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Document
“Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies”
Date:              February 22, 2009

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Grace and peace be with you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

It is with great disappointment and deep sadness that I share with The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod these brief comments on the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Task Force on Sexuality document “Gift and Trust” and the “Report and Recommendations on Ministry Policies.” The “Report and Recommendations” document recommends that the ELCA undertake a process that would result in the incorporation of “structured flexibility in decision making to allow, in appropriate situations, people in publicly accountable, monogamous, lifelong, same-gendered relationships to be approved for the rosters of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.” The two documents were released February 19 by an ELCA task force and are expected to be considered by the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August.

If this recommendation should be adopted by the Churchwide Assembly, it would constitute a change in the ELCA’s present position, which precludes “practicing homosexuals” from being included on its rosters. More importantly, it would constitute a radical departure from the 2,000-year-long teaching of the Christian tradition that homosexual activity, whether inside or outside of a committed relationship, is contrary to Holy Scripture.

As the ELCA Task Force Report itself states, “This church [the ELCA] does not have biblical and theological consensus on this matter.” It therefore concludes that the ELCA “must seek a common way to live and serve in the midst of disagreements” such as “the understanding of the nature of sin,” “the interpretation of the Bible,” “how the Bible guides our lives,” and “the level of disagreement the ELCA can bear.”

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has repeatedly affirmed the biblical truth and historical understanding of the Christian church that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior as “intrinsically sinful” and is therefore contrary to the will of the Creator and constitutes sin against the commandments of God (Lev. 18:22, 24,20:13; 1 Cor. 6:9-20; 1 Tim 1:9-10; and Rom. 1:26, 27).

Our prayer in the LCMS is that our gracious God will penetrate the lives and hearts of the leaders and members of the ELCA in the coming months as they discuss, debate, and determine the outcome of the task force report and its recommendations.

In the meantime, it behooves us in the LCMS, in a spirit of sincere humility, love, care, and concern, to continue to endeavor faithfully to honor Resolution 3-21A of the 2001 Convention of our Synod that while “we cannot consider [the ELCA] to be an orthodox Lutheran church body . we of the LCMS recognize that many of our brothers and sisters of the ELCA remain faithful to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and we resolve to reach out to them in love and support .”

God’s grace, mercy, and peace be with us all.

Dr. Gerald B. Kieschnick, President
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod

“Transforming lives through Christ’s love …  in time … for eternity …” John 3:16-17

This is a very important question for us to ponder. In fact, Jesus asked this all important question to Peter in Matthew 16:15, when, after discussing what everyone was saying about Jesus, He asked Peter: “What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered by confessing: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus was not merely a wise teacher. He wasn’t just a future telling prophet. He wasn’t just an example to us of how God wants us to live our lives. True, He was indeed all of these things, but He was much more than these. He was our sin sacrifice. He is our atoning Savior, paving the way to heaven for us by shedding His blood on the cross. He was God in flesh.

God wants us to know this truth, and so He reveals it to us in His Word. This is why Jesus performed all of the miracles and healings. Not to call attention to Himself or to randomly provide thrills and entertainment, but to show the world that He was indeed God in flesh. God sent Jesus to reveal the Kingdom of God to the world, as it is written in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God, because that is why I was sent.” God loves us! Our sins are forgiven in Christ! Jesus is Lord! This is the reality of truth that God reveals to us in Epiphany, and this is what He wants us to know. See John 20:30-31 – “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name.” Thanks be to God for revealing this truth to us in His Son!

Reiterated over and over in Scripture, Christ is as bridegroom as the Church is as Bride. These are distinct gender representations to illustrate the Gospel. Christ laid his life down for his church, so it could walk in newness of life. So too, a husband (and a gentleman) will put himself in harm’s way to protect and provide for a wife and woman. Likewise, because women are the recipients of these actions, they respond in like, gracious manner, tending to the needs of her counterpart. Of course, this is hard to see at times because we live in a fallen world. Dead beat dads, divorce and abusive relationships marr that image of Christ and His church. Even good and godly relationships suffer because of sin. But thanks be to God that His grace is made known at the cross (not in our faulty behavior); in that love is NOT a feeling, but an action fulfilled on our behalf by our bridegroom, Christ, in his death and resurrection.

Woman can roar, (i.e., learn, work, achieve, and nurture their families) but suffice it to say, we cannot be fathers. There is a special role set aside for each gender. We can demonstrate Christ’s mercy, but his headship? No. A woman’s recourse is hymnody, prayer, praise and thanksgiving with all the company of saints in her daily life and in the liturgy. Dare I ask, as a Christian woman, what can be better than that?

How do atheists celebrate Christmas? The ever articulate, never boring, Dinesh D’Souza asks this question here.

My other question is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?

The new atheists like Sam Harris, Philip Pullman and Christopher Hitchens like to claim that religion, and Christianity in particular, is responsible for the bulk of the world’s woes. If I believed that to be the case, I would find it disingenuous to participate in any fashion in the global commemoration of the birth of Jesus.

But then again, people who try to seriously argue that religion, and Christianity in particular, are a blight on human history are not especially clear thinkers. Have Christians or others done horrid things supposedly in the name of Christ or His Church? Yes, sadly. But the burning of witches and heretics is not all there is to say about Church history, surprising as that may be for some.

If you affirm the value of clear balanced argument, then I commend a book to you by Dr. Alvin Schmidt called How Christianity Changed the World. You will find that everywhere the Church has exerted cultural and social influence, that society became more humane, more compassionate, more peaceful, and generally more prosperous. I liked the original title of his book, Under the Influence, but I guess the connotations were distracting.