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Just Ask Questions

Posted in Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Life issues, tagged abortion, creator of life, discussion, hope and change, humanism, pro-life on March 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Do you have a friend, professor, or neighbor who claims to take the moral high-road, yet stubbornly defends abortion? Take a breath, and keep your composure. Don’t make statements; rather, ask questions.

Mike Adams (Townhall.com 3/7/2011) offers 35 questions he gleaned in large part from Scott Klusendorf (www.prolifetraining.com). Here are 18 of those questions:

If abortion is not murder because the fetus is not a person then why make it “safe, legal, and rare”?
If a woman were raped and got pregnant, which one would you kill: a) the baby, b) the rapist, or c) both?
Are you comfortable with the fact that “a” is the only answer you may choose according to (the present interpretation of) the Constitution?
Abortion advocates frequently focus on the size of the fetus. Why is that relevant?
Do tall people have more rights than short people?
Is murder permissible when the victim is sleeping and hence unaware of the surrounding environment?
Should a woman abort a baby because it may be expensive and time-consuming to raise a child to adulthood?
Should a woman be able to kill a puppy because it may be expensive and time consuming to feed and care for a dog?
What gives human beings more value than dogs?
Who do we expect better behavior from humans than from dogs?
Which one of these is not like the others: a) Adult, b) toddler, c) unborn baby, d) dog?
Does secular humanism assume that humans are inherently different from other life forms? If not, why is it called humanism?
Can a thoroughly materialistic (or Darwinist or secular humanist) worldview explain how or why anything has value or a right to life?
Does the “right to choose” come from man or from God?
If man grants rights can he also take them away?
It has been said (by three Supreme Court Justices) that “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.” Does that mean a woman can define a baby’s rights out of existence because a woman is more powerful than a baby?
Or does that mean a man can define a woman’s rights out of existence because, in a patriarchal society, a man is more powerful than a woman?
Rights often confer power. Should power also confer rights?

A long time ago, I learned the wisdom of asking questions. Questions don’t condemn. They just help people think.

I want to be a thinking person, don’t you? (Thanks Mike! Thanks Scott!)

(Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina and author of Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts “Womyn” On Campus. Scott Klusendorf is a Summit Ministries faculty member and vibrant pro-life advocate.)

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Jane Russell Opposed Abortion

Posted in Commentaries of others, Faith & Practice, Life issues, tagged abortion, adoption, celebrities and abortion, film stars, infertility, Jane Russell, Jennifer O'Neill, Lutherans For life, Natlie Portman, Silent No More, Word of Hope on March 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Jane Russell was a Hollywood personality of my parent’s generation. She recently died at age 89. She was beautiful, but did anyone know what she thought about abortion?

John Smeaton, Director of The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), posted a blog on March 2 that explains why this Hollywood film star of the 40s and 50s spoke out against abortion. At 19, she resorted to an illegal abortion which almost killed her and left her infertile. Jane did not conclude that abortion should be legalized. Instead, she said, “People should never, ever have an abortion. Don’t talk to me about it being a woman’s right to choose what she does with her own body. The choice is between life and death.”

I don’t pretend to know much about Jane Russell, but it doesn’t surprise me that her opinion of abortion was kept under wraps. I wonder how many people know that Jane Russell founded an organization called WAIF (World Adoption International Fund) to help people adopt unwanted children from various parts of the world. She, herself, adopted three children.

John Smeaton points out that Jane Russell isn’t the only celebrity to have “stuck out her neck by making comments in support of unborn children or the dignity of motherhood, for example:

Charlton Heston gave the introduction to Eclipse of Reason (1986), the second of the late Dr. Bermard Nathanson’s documentaries on the reality of abortion
Jennifer O’Neill, an actress from the 1970s onwards, now speaks out about her abortion experience on behalf of the Silent No More campaign
Justin Bieber, the 17-year-old pop star, last month said that he doesn’t “believe in abortion” because “it’s like killing a baby.” (He was attacked for being “too young” to have opinions on abortion!)
Natalie Portman, who won best actress in this week’s Oscars, has been attacked for describing her motherhood as “the most important role in my life.” She also described pregnancy as “a miracle” giving meaning and importance amidst superficiality.

Together with John Smeaton and the SPUC, Lutherans For Life, Priests for Life, The National Right to Life, and all individuals, organizations, and ministries that speak up for life, I encourage you to pray for courage to defend our littlest neighbor and his or her mother. Jane Russell’s first and only child died at the hands of an abortionist. Jane was hurt by abortion and could never again bear another child. But, she was encouraged by the truth that choosing life is always better than choosing death. And, so, she welcomed children into her life and home through adoption.

In memory of Jane Russell and her stand for life, please consider giving a donation to your local caring pregnancy center.

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An Agnostic Responds (Hope Abounds!)

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, tagged biology, Christianity, decadence, decency, evil, evolution, hope, morality, purity, society, wrestling on March 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Did I get carried away with too many blogs about girls and wrestling? Just when I was beginning to think so, I received a surprising e-mail from a man I’ve never met. This gentleman (I’ll call him Bill) has a PhD in biology. Apparently he pays close attention to any and all discussions of boys and girls on the mat. Somehow, he found ezerwoman.

It’s important that you hear from this gentleman, not only because he agrees that “equal” does not mean “the same,” or that he encourages me to continue mentoring Biblical manhood and womanhood, but because he proves that Christians help build bridges for the benefit of the human race when we ask questions that help people think. When we enter into dialogue on moral and ethical issues. When we appeal to what was once called “common sense.”

This gentleman wrote, “I am an arrant agnostic — a self-styled poet-philosopher-canary-priest-with my spiritual roots in nature. But I could not agree more vigorously with your objections to the decadence — as in Roman — of allowing (or more accurately) of forcing boys to wrestle girls. I have been following this issue for at least ten years.”

It was obvious that Bill had carefully studied the most physically intimate of all contact sports. He offered many sane and sensible reasons why boy/girl wrestling is a terrible idea. He is concerned that civilization is wounded by such foolishness. He wrote, “I believe in self-sacrifice for others, in kindness, in consideration for others before myself. I remember the mantra of our YMCA boys’ camp: God first, others second, me third. Today, as we watch boys and girls in violent combat on wrestling mats, that mantra seems to have become ‘Me first, me second, me first.'”

Then, he really caught my attention. “The values you mention in your blogs are simply ignored in our modern culture,” wrote Bill. “Even as an agnostic biologist, I think your Christian values are essential to any civilization that wants to live above the animal level of material-sensual gratification.”

I thanked Bill for taking the time to write me. He responded with a second e-mail, explaining that he had become a writer after leaving the scientific community. But, after some time passed, he wanted to get back in touch with biologists. For a few months, he subscribed to the blog of an evolutionist. Bill found the site “instructional in professional matters,” but disappointing in its Christian bashing. “Christianity was dismissed as sheer stupidity without any redeeming value.” Bill explained to me that he felt “uncomfortable in this steady current of arrogant meanness,” so he unsubscribed. He didn’t agree with such hatred being poured upon an institution (Christianity) “that embraced all of life, from birth to death, from reason to faith, from beauty and goodness to ugliness and evil.”

Then, wrote Bill, “this wrestling incident occurred, and because the young man cited his Christian faith, it catapulted the small, cloistered world of wrestling into the national spotlight and presented to view the grotesque, distorted values that have evolved there. It seems like a microcosm of society at large and the moral decadence we have enshrined as moral good. And against all this, the best aspects of Christianity began to emerge from the smoke — the dignity, the calm, the pure, measured decency of 2000 years of Christian ‘evolution’ (can’t help myself!). Anyhow, just wanted to express this to you.”

Thank you, Bill. You remind me that Christianity is needed in this hurting world as much today as yesterday. I’m so sorry that we Christians do such a poor job of following Jesus Christ and are more easily influenced by false teachings.

But, I am encouraged to stay the course by a secular biologist who sees that good and evil, right and wrong, morality and decadence really do exist. Each rises from a core belief. Each has a consequence.

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Good Sense on the Mat

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Relationships, Vocation, tagged behavior, boys and girls, common sense, competition, gentleman, good sense, hope, values, wrestling on February 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The debate over boys and girls in contact sports continues. With ears open, I hear good sense and hope for civilization in the comments of both men and women. Here, as I promised, are some of those comments —

As a former high school wrestling coach, I see it this way. If we are teaching young men to be pure until marriage, then wrestling a teenage girl (woman) is not appropriate or helpful. Many wrestling holds require close contact with the opponent’s crotch or hips close together. Tight holds across the chest or laying chest to chest are common. If done in a high school hallway, it is considered groping, even if consensual. If done without consent, it is sexual assault. Putting on a pair of wrestling shoes doesn’t eradicate the moral overtones of the situation.
I know a girl wrestler who is well-endowed. The boys enjoyed wrestling her. She admitted that she liked the attention and ended up sleeping with a few of the boys. In the name of equality, the system actually “used her” and made her more vulnerable.
My experience as an athletic trainer brings me to this: Outsiders looking in can say, “Boys! Turn off your hormones,” or “You just don’t want to get beat by a girl!” But, the fact is, boys are put in a very uncomfortable position when matched in a contact sport with a girl. Also, girls are led to think they’re better than they really (physically) are because when a boy wrestles a girl he doesn’t wrestle the way he would against another boy.
Why do people think that boys and girls need to do the same things? Or, if they do the same things, why do they need to do them together or in a competitive way? Do parents really think that a boy wrestling a girl has no influence on his (or her) thinking?
Boys learn lessons from sports that help them later in life professionally in business and in working relationships with other men. They learn what it means to work as a team. Women participating with men in contact sports mess with that camaraderie.
I was a tomboy, but I know there are some things we females should and shouldn’t do. I’m disappointed when I witness situations where people are so absorbed in today’s “accepted” societal practices, but disregard simple things like respect, consideration for others, self-discipline, servitude and so on. We are caught up in a “I deserve what I want, when I want it” mentality.
A reporter commented that Joel Northrup, the Iowa wrestler, was in need of “counseling” because he forfeited a match to a girl. In reality, young Joel was exhibiting qualities of decency, integrity, and leadership.
Whether a person is a Christian or not, nature itself is not in favor of boy-girl wrestling. The entire purpose of aggressive male sports is defeated when females participate. Male sports with girls become games. Games are fine for social events, but not for wrestling (or the military, for that matter).
Freedom requires that good men and women will stand up for what is right. What is right? It is found in God’s Word. There is maturity in choosing right over winning worldly recognition.
I am reminded of a story. A man opened the door for a woman behind him. The woman snarled, “I suppose you are doing this because I am a lady!” He replied, “No ma’am. I’m doing this because I am a gentleman.”
There is nothing more liberating, right, and helpful to society than identifying and honoring the male and female differences created by God.

There is good sense… on the mat — and with all issues of life. It comes when we begin to trust the Creator of male and female.

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Males & Females on the Mat

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Relationships, tagged contact sports, Joel Northrup, men, moral choices, physical intimacy, women, wrestling on February 26, 2011| 1 Comment »

In Titus 2 Retreats, we consider God’s Word as it applies to current issues that affect modern women. One of the issues that can stir a little debate is athletic competition between boys and girls.

A few days ago, I commended Joel Northrup of Iowa, the young gentleman who forfeited his match rather than wrestle a girl. Jim Daley of Focus on the Family also posted a blog. He received dozens of responses. One of them is from a mother. It may serve as an example of how our thinking has been more influenced by the world than by God’s Word. The mother’s comments are in italics. My questions — to perhaps help us all think — are in parenthesis.

The mother wrote, “My daughter loves to wrestle. She is the only girl in a family of three brothers and is very much a tomboy. Don’t get me wrong, she is totally female and knows how to be and act like a lady. (Q: How does a “lady” act? Will she knowingly place a gentleman in a position that compromises his convictions?) She knows how to be rough with boys and take it, knowing full well they can hurt her.” (Q: Does she want to put boys in a position where they can hurt her? Is it ever o.k. for boys or men to “hurt” girls or women?)

The mother continues, “My daughter wanted to wrestle. There are no all-girl wrestling teams in our area so she had to join the boys’ team. The only boy who would even practice with her was a boy that had been part of our family since she was born. (Q: Is there a message from the boys in their reluctance to even practice wrestling with a girl? How is a Christian boy or young man taught to treat a girl or woman?)

The mother concluded, “My daughter gave up something she loved because the boys wouldn’t wrestle her. Is she supposed to refrain from something because it’s a ‘boy’s sport'”? (Q: Isn’t the Christian often called to “give up” something we love because it might be wrong or harmful to others? Aren’t we called to “refrain from something” that might cause another to lower their standard of behavior or be tempted to sin?)

What, after all, does this mean:

. . . Decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother (Romans 14:13b).

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Twisted Thinking

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Citizenship, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, tagged behavior, Dennis Prager, language, logic, men and women, mind control, speech, The Washington Times, Titus 2 on February 17, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Dennis Prager is a favorite author of mine. Here are a few observations from his recent commentary in The Washington Times. I selected these because they speak to areas of my concern. Prager writes:

“The left owns the language. Married women are not to be referred to as ‘Mrs.’ but as ‘Ms.’ And the words ‘lady,’ ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ have largely gone to their graves.”

“One can only speak of male-female differences if the difference shows the female superior. Thus to say women are innately more intuitive is perfectly acceptable, but to say men are innately more likely to excel at math is ‘sexist.'”

“A woman may reveal as much of her body as she wishes. But if a man is perceived by a woman as looking too long at what she reveals, or if he comments on what she reveals, he may be fired from his job and/or sued for ‘sexual harassment.'”

“A woman may wear a miniskirt and crop-top, but a man may not have a calendar of women wearing miniskirts and crop-tops on his desk at work. That constitutes sexual harassment and a ‘hostile work environment.'”

Thank you, Dennis Prager, for including these examples in your commentary “Put Totalitarian Mind Control in the Cross Hairs” (The Washington Times Weekly Edition, 2-7-11). The behavior that follows such twisted thinking is discussed at great length during our Titus 2 Retreats. Then, we encourage one another to

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness . . . set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

(1 Timothy 4:7-12)

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Choices Affect Our Attitude Toward God

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Faith & Practice, Identity, Life issues, Relationships, tagged behavior, child of God, choices, hope, Jesus Christ, love of God, value, wisdom on February 9, 2011| 2 Comments »

Here are more pearls from my grandmother’s book. (Once again, truth has a way of deflating the progressive thinker’s much inflated balloon.)

In What a Young Woman Ought to Know, Mrs. Mary Wood-Allen, M.D., writes that we are not only body and mind, but spirit (or soul). Whether we’ve thought about this or not, the fact remains. “No failure to recognize God as your Father changes His relationship to you. No conduct of yours can make you any less His child.”

“Well,” you may say, “if that is so, what does it matter, then, what I do? If disobedience or sin cannot make me less God’s child, why should I be good and obedient?” Because… “your conduct changes your attitude toward Him.”

“The most worthy and dignified thing we can do,” wrote Dr. Wood-Allen, “is to recognize ourselves as God’s children and be obedient. It is a wonderful glory to be a child of God . . . even the most ignorant or degraded have . . . divine possibilities.”

My grandmother’s choices and behavior evidenced that she was in a merciful relationship with her Heavenly Father. And, no matter what anyone else thought of her, she knew she had “divine possibilities” because she was a child of God.

This woman physician from the late 1800s continues, “Being children of God puts on us certain obligations towards Him, but it also puts on God certain obligations towards us. ‘What!’ you say: ‘God the Infinite under obligations to man, the finite? The Creator under obligations to the created?’ Oh, yes.”

Human parents are under obligation to care for, protect, educate and give opportunities to their children. In a similar way, God is obligated to do the same for His children. The difference is, He fulfills these obligations perfectly. All our earthly blessings are from Him. Every good thing we have is a gift of love from our Creator and Heavenly Father.

Our life matters to God. And, why wouldn’t it? He created it! He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for it! And, as Dr. Mary Wood-Allen observes, “God takes such minute care of us that if for one second of time He would forget us, we should be annihilated.” What does that say to you? I know what it says to me. And it pulls me down on my knees in humble, speechless gratitude.

But, if God is truly taking care of us, why does He allow failures, hardships and worries? Sometimes, the things we call hard and cruel are actually little tumbles on our way to learning to walk. A trial or difficulty in the school of life may be God’s way of opening our eyes to see that we need Him and can trust Him.

Our choices affect our attitude toward God. The most dignified thing we can do is to recognize ourselves as God’s children and try to do those things that bring glory to Him.

It is a wondrous thing to be called a child of God. It means we are heirs of God’s wisdom, strength, and glory. It means that when we fail to trust and obey Him, we are still God’s child because of what Jesus did for us (Galatians 4:4-7). Only a personal question remains:

As a child of God, how shall I choose to live?

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Yes, Abortion Does Hurt Women

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Life issues, Relationships, tagged abortion risks, Danish study, Lutherans For life, post abortion, pro-life, psychological trauma, Word of Hope on February 3, 2011| 1 Comment »

Twenty five of my friends, relatives, or acquaintances have had an abortion. Of the 25, 18 are Lutheran. Two are wives of pastors. At least three have had more than one abortion. These are just the women who have told me.

Each one of these women have said, “Please warn other women: Abortion hurts. It hurts a long time. It affects other choices, relationships and families.”

Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) printed a Danish study that concludes there is not a statistically significant difference in mental health issues in women before and after an abortion. Grace Kern, Executive Director of Word of Hope, writes, “This study is flawed and presents a view that is not at all consistent with more than 30 studies that have been published in recent years showing abortion does increase the risk for a variety of mental health issues.” Grace Kern and I have worked together. She has spent what seems like a lifetime caring for women who suffer from depression, perpetual anger, anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, and thoughts of suicide following their abortion choice. She is called by women serving time in prison who point to the anniversary of their abortions as a “trigger” for some other kind of violence.

My life has been affected by the women who’ve shared with me their spiritual and psychological trauma from abortion. In part, the little ministry of Titus 2 for Life (the mentoring outreach of Word of Hope) came into being because of these women. The very least I can do is help other women — those who may feel trapped between a rock and a hard place — be informed about the very real, long-term risks and consequences of abortion. It would be heartless of me to withhold truth and a word of warning for a younger generation of women.

Grace explains that one of the biggest flaws in the Danish study is it’s duration. “It only followed women for 12 months after their abortion or childbirth . . . [but] negative effects of abortion may not surface for many years.

“The death of a child,” says Grace, “is perhaps the most difficult loss to mourn.” It is for this reason that nurses, doctors, social workers and clergy are encouraged to be sensitive to hurting parents. With the death of a premature baby, a stillborn child, or a miscarriage, parents are attended to and even encouraged to name and hold their dead baby.

“Every woman who has an induced (unnatural) abortion also suffers the death of her own child,” says Grace. “Yet, these women typically find themselves alone to cope not only with the loss of the child she will never know, she also has to deal with her feelings of personal responsibility in the child’s death. She may have difficulty understanding how, on one hand, she feels relief that she is no longer pregnant but, on the other hand, feels a profound sense of loss and emptiness.”

Following an abortion, the woman may feel such relief that she seems cheerful and “o.k.” with what’s happened, but doesn’t want to talk about it. As feelings of relief subside, a period labeled by psychiatrists as emotional “paralysis” or post-abortion “numbness” sets in. “This may explain why research into the psychological impact of abortion in the immediate post-abortion period often yields negative results,” says Grace.

The Danish study does not consider the long-term impact of abortion. Nor, as Grace points out, does it consider “how the mental issues manifest themselves, or that the mental issues do not always result in a measurable event, such as a woman seeking psychological care.”

Women close to me prove that the Danish study is not only flawed, it is harmful. Following her abortion, one woman allowed herself to float from one man to another. She suffered assorted health problems. She abused alcohol and had little respect for herself. One woman married a few years following her abortion. She gave birth to two children but believed, since she had aborted her first child, it was impossible for her to be a good mom. She resisted the love of her husband and children and, instead, made life difficult for her family. Another woman allowed herself to spiral downward after her abortion. She ran with the wrong crowd, abused drugs and alcohol, and was sexually promiscuous. Pregnant a second time, she again aborted. What did it matter, she asked herself. I’m a miserable excuse for a person. She set herself up for failure in relationships. Years later, after marriage and the birth of three children, peace alluded her. Looking at her living children only reminded her of those to whom she had denied life.

So, yes, abortion does hurt women. The Danish study, terribly flawed, completely disregards real women and men — mothers, fathers, and grandparents, too — who experience a delayed reaction to the violence of abortion. If you are the mother or father of an aborted child, I would like you to call my friend Grace Kern at Word of Hope. She will welcome you, be honest with you, and lead you toward a future of hope in the mercy of Jesus Christ. Please visit www.word-of-hope.org or call 888-217-8679.

(Note: Resources for hope and healing are available from Word of Hope and also Lutherans For Life. Two I have authored are the Bible study, From Heartache to Healing, and brochure “The Secret Pain.”)

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Men and Worship

Posted in Biblical manhood & womanhood, Commentaries of others, Culture Shifts, Faith & Practice, Identity, Vocation, tagged divine worship, feminization of church, holy, masculine, music, opinions, spiritual warfare, worship on December 22, 2010| 2 Comments »

This mother of sons and grandmother of grandsons has concerns about what some are calling the feminization of Christian worship.

The Barna Research Group reports that American churches are two-thirds female and one-third male. There is strong evidence to support that music may be one explanation. Instead of asking, “What music do people want to hear?,” we should be asking, “What music is appropriate and pleasing to God?”

Men like my pastor, Rev. Paul Beisel; Rev. Todd Wilken (host of Issues, Etc.); author Douglas Bond (Fathers and Sons Stand Fast in the Way of Truth); and author David Murrow (Why Men Hate Going to Church) have articulated what I am discovering to be true. Contemporary worship leans toward the emotions and perceived needs of women and, perhaps, some “sensitive” men. But, what about men who tend to think and act like, well, like men? Do they have to put their masculinity aside in order to “meet Jesus”?

In contemporary worship, women may comfortably sway with the music, close eyes or be “moved” to tears, and show other visible signs of emotion. But, what does God tell us about men? He created male and female to be equal, but different. God did not create man and woman at the same time, in the same way, or for the same purpose. Non-Christian therapists might not phrase it the way I just did (using Genesis), but years ago, I read a helpful secular book entitled Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus in which the author repeatedly illustrated that men and women do not communicate, think, love, feel or respond in the same way. It makes sense, then, that contemporary worship and music might be one reason why our churches are filled with two-thirds women but only one-third men.

Church growth folks say we need to appeal to a contemporary public. This public flocks (like sheep) to loud, energized, and high-tech amusements where celebrities say things that make us “feel good.” Rather than being different, are Christian churches shapeshifting as if to say, “See! We’re as good as the world”? Is it a good idea to imitate “the nations” around us (2 Kings 17:15) in order to be evangelical? I’m aware that I ask this question a lot but, really, does Jesus wrap Himself around the ways of the world?

I have been told by other Christians that any kind of music — loud, rock, rap or polka — can become gospel. But, in his book Stand Fast, Douglas Bond reminds me of two things. In the Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis describes heaven as a region of music and silence. The demon Screwtape is frustrated by this reality: ‘Music and silence — how I detest them both!'” Screwtape, the diabolical demon, boasts: “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” Later, Bond writes, “Beware. If entertainment-evangelism advocates can convince you that music is amoral, merely a matter of taste, then the discussion ends — and so does discernment. Wise young men, however, will be suspicious of conclusions that sweep away moral judgment.” He also writes, “. . . [L]oud entertainment music . . . conveys its own message. Certainly it makes people clap and feel exhilarated, but it’s not conducive to careful thinking about the whole counsel of God.”

Some Christians say, “Traditional (liturgical) worship is too difficult,” but, what other important things in life are difficult?

Bond continues, “Though the Bible is clear that Christ is ‘a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense’ (1 Peter 2:8 NKJV, quoting Isaiah 8:14), we’re still afraid to offend the world. The Spirit of God removes the offense only through the objective truths of the Word of God — the very thing that postmodern Christians are watering down in their music. Little wonder, then, that the church looks and sounds and acts like the world — instead of the reverse.”

Until recently I, too, believed I needed a little more contemporary music albeit in a traditional worship environment. But, as a mother of sons and grandmother of grandsons, I’m being re-directed away from my “feelings” to understand what the Divine Service really is and why I need it. Why my family needs it.

So, here’s where I stand. The Creator of male and female gives us not what we want, but what He knows we need. We may want to “feel good” singing love songs to Jesus, but we need to be equipped for battle against powers and principalities. The Psalmist and other great male hymn writers knew this. In his hymn, “A Mighty Fortress,” Luther wrote,

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.”

My grandsons are spellbound by the battles between good and evil in C.S. Lewis’ land of Narnia. In this present culture war, my grandsons need the armor for battle — and the songs that inspire them to fight the good fight.

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