So you’d think that someone as geeky as me would have lived on a steady diet of C. S. Lewis, especially given the fact that I’m a pastor’s kid. Once again, you would be wrong. I didn’t read C. S. Lewis until I was in the Seminary but when I…
Well, I’ve been kind of off in reporting my wordcount, haven’t I? Life has thrown a lot at us here in Missouri, what with kids going back to school (actually, my wife went back to school, but as a teacher, not a student). And with all the changes to life…
Last week, I shared how Lutherans don’t buy into the whole “make a choice for Jesus” rhetoric that we hear in other Christian traditions. We believe in something called “the bondage of the will,” meaning that we believe that, in an unsaved individual, sin makes it impossible for us to…
I bet some of my non-Lutheran readers are maybe bristling a little at some of the stuff I’ve written in that last two weeks. One of the things that sets Lutherans apart from other Christians is our staunch belief that we are saved by grace alone, that there is literally…
By this point, you may have noticed that I’m kind of a big geek. I’m okay with being called that. It’s an accurate assessment of my personality. And I’ve experienced a lot of geeky things. But there’s one thing that I never done, and I actually kind of feel sad…
Well, things have gotten started off with more of a sputter than a bang. Life has a way of sneaking up on us and causing chaos and that’s certainly true in the Otte household right now. I won’t go into details, but suffice to say, finding the time to write…
Last week, we talked about how, for Lutherans, grace is foundational for everything. Grace is what saves us, not anything that I do. There’s nothing that I can contribute to my salvation. It’s all completely up to God, something that He accomplishes because of His grace. I brought up the…
One of the symbols you may have seen during this series is the Luther Rose: The meaning of the rose itself is pretty cool, but I wanted to focus on the three phrases that are wrapped around it. These are the three solas of the Reformation, the foundation upon which…
My last three outings in the Confessional were all about my half-witted attempts at writing movies, so I figured it might not be a bad idea to follow up with a movie-related confession. There’s a certain style that’s emerged in recent years that I really enjoy even though most people…
So last week, we finished talking about Martin Luther. Hopefully it gave you a little window into who the man was. So now, we’re going to transition into what Lutherans actually teach. “But John,” you may be asking. “Is there a place where we can find all of what Luther…