Calvin Synod Herald, 2014 (115. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2014-09-01 / 9-10. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 I’m asking parents, ministers and religious instructors to help teach Biblical allusions and those Bible stories that are such a vital part of our national heritage and supply the content for our religions, no matter the denomination. Proof positive for the need for your Biblical expertise and knowledge will be found by again reading the Bible story above and noting the errors. The correct answers are: Joan wasn ’! Noah s wife (and Arc wasn’t his name). Moses climbed Mount Sinai, not Cyanide. There were 12 (un-numbered) Commandments, and Jews Protestants and Catholics have different versions depending in part on how they compress them into 10. Sodom wasn’t a person. The same for Gomorrah; they weren’t the ones turned into salt. The Virgin Mary was Jewish. The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic doctrine referring to the conception of Mary. Jesus was said to be born in Bethlehem. Epistles are letters. The Golden Rule governs what you do “unto others.” Jesus was crucified once. It’s Calvary, not Cavalry, and it's the same place as Golgotha. Jesus is said to have been resurrected once; although we don’t know much about the gospel writers, they presumably weren’t eyewitnesses but incorporated eyewitness sources. The Gospels of Mark and John do not refer to the birth of Jesus. Armenia was first to adopt Christianity as state religion. The Bible is translated from Hebrew and Greek, not English. But then you pastors knew all this, yet there are so many young people who don’t, and that’s why your instruction is so needed. Kathy Megyeri Kathy Megyeri is a writer who lives in Washington, DC. She can be reached at Megyeri@Juno.com or at 202-332-0082. Largest "annunciation" in the world, sculpted by Hungarian Marton Varo in Florida Review of Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive By Thom S. Rainer Rev. Chuck Huckaby is the Minister of Congregational Life at First Protestant Church in New Braunfels, TX. Disclaimer: This book was provided to the reviewer and came without the obligation of a positive review or for other compensation. Thom Rainer is a well-respected observer of the American Church... at least that part which is amenable to being categorized, surveyed, and able to be statistically observed. While that subset may not be entirely representative of the Body of Christ in the United States, his insights reflect the fruit of commissioned studies brought to maturity in the matrix of a pastor’s heart. “Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive” is a short but helpful survey of the ills that - by Rainer’s count - plague 90% of America’s congregations to some degree! Were a church autopsy like a human’s, the cause of death might be listed as “self-inflicted wounds” or, perhaps, “overdose of painkillers”. The ills enumerated in these pages amount to variations on the common theme long ago termed the “incurvatus in se”, that vicious ingrown turning of the soul to its own ends, that self-service that seeks to smother the love of God and others as distractions in the quest to please itself alone. The death of a church, in other words, is often a failure in corporate sanctification as much as anything else. The painkillers used to slowly kill the church were embraced - as after an auto accident - as ways to numb legitimate pain. In the end, the strategies to escape pain become the crutch that, over time, is accepted in preference to actual fimess. No matter the symptom most prominent as the congregation slinks towards death - idolizing the past, idolizing a building, failing to reach the community, or prayerlessness - each reflects a rejection of Christ’s call to make disciples in the present (Matt. 28:18-20) and not grow weary in the work of the kingdom (Gal. 6:9). Rainer estimates (p. 86) that only 10% of America’s congregations are “healthy”. At the other extreme 10% are actively dying. 40% have “symptoms of sickness”. The final 40% are “very sick”. If Rainer’s estimates are correct, it means America’s pastors and church members are - by and large - more familiar with the spiritual dysfunction of the church than what it means to be a healthy church. No wonder our culture seems to find so little to admire in the Church as a result. The worship of personal preference over God’s will also explains the phenomenon of “call committees” loudly announcing they are ready for new “leadership”, while secretly adding the proviso “as long as they lead according to our every whim!” After vividly describing the effects of original sin manifested Continued on page 8
