Monday, August 14, 2006
HT to Jeremy at Eating Words for pointing out this post at Pastor Alms's blog.
Lutherans of the uber-conservative stripe (the ones, for example, who support the efforts of groups like the apologits cum junk-science supporters at Answers in Genesis) don't know who they're getting into bed with sometimes when they support other (so-called) conservative groups. More often than not, these groups go hand-in-glove: literal reading of Genesis=literal reading of Daniel=literal reading of Revelation. I suppose I should say "literalistic". Personally, I read Genesis literally, and I have yet to find 6 24-hour days in the first two chapters.
Anyways, yes, as Confessionalists, we have an obligation to oppose this crap.
I have only one nit to pick with Pastor Alms: the church does not replace Israel. It is the same thing as Israel: the congregation of people who have been called to worship the One True God. Remember that when the Jewish scholars at Alexandria translated the OT (the Septuagint), the Greek word they used to describe the congregation standing outside the Temple was "ekklesia".
Using the word replace sells the farm to the Hagee miscreants.
Tolle lege!
UPDATE: Doh! My nit was addressed in the comments section. Tolle lege, indeed!
UPDATE: Have I leanred anything? Apparently not. Alms's follow-up post runs along similar lines to my rant above.
Lutherans of the uber-conservative stripe (the ones, for example, who support the efforts of groups like the apologits cum junk-science supporters at Answers in Genesis) don't know who they're getting into bed with sometimes when they support other (so-called) conservative groups. More often than not, these groups go hand-in-glove: literal reading of Genesis=literal reading of Daniel=literal reading of Revelation. I suppose I should say "literalistic". Personally, I read Genesis literally, and I have yet to find 6 24-hour days in the first two chapters.
Anyways, yes, as Confessionalists, we have an obligation to oppose this crap.
I have only one nit to pick with Pastor Alms: the church does not replace Israel. It is the same thing as Israel: the congregation of people who have been called to worship the One True God. Remember that when the Jewish scholars at Alexandria translated the OT (the Septuagint), the Greek word they used to describe the congregation standing outside the Temple was "ekklesia".
Using the word replace sells the farm to the Hagee miscreants.
Tolle lege!
UPDATE: Doh! My nit was addressed in the comments section. Tolle lege, indeed!
UPDATE: Have I leanred anything? Apparently not. Alms's follow-up post runs along similar lines to my rant above.
