Faux Repentance and Contrition
Help support our efforts to contend for the freedom to proclaim the faith.
Click here to learn more or to donate.
Job knew he was a sinner but would not apologize for things he had not done wrong. Not long ago, the Westboro Baptists were the whipping boy and with them those awful meany fundamentalists. You know the type: the kind of people who would not wash the feet of the church's enemies, like I, of course do. Or at least like I would, theoretically. Fake repentance is the refuge of those who would never fight, of those who stand on the sideline and say that what you are doing may be well meaning, but you are not doing it the way I would, if I did such things, but I don't.
How do you spot phony sorrow over sins? When the sins are simply those accusations which the world throws at Christians. I was somewhat amused and gratified to see how the secular world has mocked the foot washing commercial, because they thought it was actually an indictment on their beliefs and way of living.
When I think of fake contrition and advice to be more loving, I think of the friends of Job, but also the weeping women of Jerusalem. Oh, that poor Jesus fellow. He had good things to say and did some wonderful miracles, but He should have stayed in His lane, should have not been so harsh with His words. That white-washed tomb insult broke, I'm sure, the Eighth Commandment. If only Jesus had gone through the proper channel. And don't get me started about John the Baptist.
And so, what is our reflex move when our fellow Christians are chastised by the world for being too this or too that? It's ever so tempting to play the love card, which is really the card of condescension, the card played by the hands of the person whose hands are clean because he hasn't done a darn thing himself. Remember the inquisition? Wasn't that terrible? And Columbus was a bad guy, and we're sorry. Christian missionaries? Well, they were not culturally sensitive.
What should be the first reaction when the world accuses a fellow Christians of being a meanie? First of all, it should be to stand alongside our fellow Christians. And if we think it could be done better, then we ought to go do it. Say you want a clean fight, but by all means, show us how it's done. Get into the fight. Otherwise, really, it's just being above it all, confessing the sins of other meanie Christians, while remaining above the fray, preening in our own unwillingness to get into the game.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is chairman and professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Be Informed
Hear more about a new study claiming 65,000 children have been conceived in rape in pro-life states as well as a New York Times essay that contends Dobbs didn’t reduce abortion with Dr. Michael New of the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
Be Equipped
To call the family an “estate” may sound dated, but it turns out that Luther’s theology on the three estates is perhaps more timely than ever. What does Luther mean when he identifies the three estates of family, church, and state, and what does this actually mean for modern families today?
Be Encouraged
“Jesus is the most precious gift we have! Let Him shine through your whole life this year. Take Him with you everywhere. Remember whose family you belong to! Cling to Jesus, our Father’s Son this New Year! Our Father goes with you and promises His blessings, now and forever!” –Rev. Darren Green
In his younger days, Bob Barker, former host of the television show, “The Price is Right,” hosted another show called “Truth or Consequences.” On this program contestants were asked questions and if they gave incorrect answers, there were consequences. There was a penalty for getting things “wrong.” Now the consequences weren’t life threatening. They involved comical stunts which may have been a bit embarrassing, but were endured as good-natured fun. At the close of every program, Barker signed off saying, “Good night, hoping all your consequences are happy ones.” It was an instant and enduring hit from the 1940s through Barker’s time with the show in the 1960s.
"What is the leading indicator of just about everything bad? The lack of a father, that is to say a Joseph, in the home." Learn why the Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer says the world needs more Josephs!
Thanks be to God, "There is only One who truly loves us 'no matter what' — only one family that will never fail us." Read more from Cheryl Magness.
Was the nuclear family a mistake? Cheryl Magness--in this two-part series--explains why it's the exact opposite.
Jesus is risen; He is risen indeed! But there’s more good news for those who believe in Him. He clearly says, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19). Wow! What a statement. It calls believers to a confident hope that comes from knowing that even death itself has been conquered by the one who created and redeemed us.
For Christians around the world, it’s Good Friday today. I know that it sounds strange to say that the day when Jesus died on the cross is “good,” but it is. The real, lasting solution to the problems in every human heart, even the very problems of the whole world, is the sinless son of God, Jesus, exchanging His perfect life and His innocent death as a substitute for our sinful life. In His death and resurrection, eternal justice is served, enduring mercy is offered, and real, eternal life is possible again for us, for all. The God who created us is the only one who can also redeem us.
After reviewing what was said at their Baptisms, LCMS confirmands affirm their intention “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB p. 273). Nevertheless, confirmation is often the last time we see some of these young people in church. When they become adults, some children return, but many do not.
After reviewing what was said at their Baptisms, LCMS confirmands affirm their intention “to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it” (LSB p. 273). Nevertheless, confirmation is often the last time we see some of these young people in church. When they become adults, some children return, but many do not.
As a new mother, I once had a friend and her daughter over for a playdate. After we set our babies down on a bright red and blue blanket I had spread on the floor, she commented, “I love this quilt. It’s so stimulating!” The comment arrested me. I suddenly felt as though my child were one of the microscopic crustaceans from my college physiology lab to be plied with caffeine so we could observe its heart rate.
Teach them how to think, not what to think. That's what Senator Braun's commercial says we need. And in that, he's typical of much of the conservative movement. But scratch the surface of that phrase, and you end up in a world of hurt. Our kids need to be taught goodness, must be inculcated in the natural law, must be formed in an education that is value laden. Education always includes moral formation.
What is your responsibility to the government—the state? What do you owe the state? While you are contemplating that question, ask yourself this: What is your responsibility to God—the church? What do you owe the church?
When we look at our nation, it is easy to get quite discouraged. For example, we are up to 33 trillion dollars in debt as a nation. House prices are through the roof, eating up over a 1/3 of people’s monthly income. Real inflation with some goods and services is upwards of 10 percent. Socially, things are also chaotic; you can’t turn the television on without getting blindsided by woke ideology. And to make things worse, we indirectly have our fingers in the war in Ukraine and have political connections to a war in Israel.
In his book, The Death of Character, James Davison Hunter says,
When Newsweek poses the question, “How Do We Restore a Sense of Right and Wrong” on its cover, it tacitly acknowledges that our “sense of right and wrong” is less and less present to the living memory of our entire culture . . .
When we look at our nation, it is easy to get quite discouraged. For example, we are up to 33 trillion dollars in debt as a nation. House prices are through the roof, eating up over a 1/3 of people’s monthly income. Real inflation with some goods and services is upwards of 10 percent. Socially, things are also chaotic; you can’t turn the television on without getting blindsided by woke ideology. And to make things worse, we indirectly have our fingers in the war in Ukraine and have political connections to a war in Israel.
We live in a very strange world. It is world that says men and women are the same. In fact, they are so much the same, that a man can decide he is a woman, or a woman can decide she is a man, and everyone around that individual is supposed to act like this is just the way things are. It is asserted that men and women are completely interchangeable, and so marriage can occur between a man and a woman or between two men or between two women.
So, God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam So God brought all the animals to him. He named them all one by one. While they were good, something just was not right. Dogs and cats just didn’t do it. So, God made woman from his own bones. Now at last man was just like God—two persons in one flesh. Adam called her woman—she-man and named her Eve (“life”), because she would be the mother of all people. God’s creation was finally complete. He had made marriage and the family. This was very good..
Most of us never tire of flipping to a new calendar and the new opportunity to begin fresh. There is something about it that feels good. It signals an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, to start anew, and maybe, just maybe, this next year will end better than the one we just put behind us.
And so, it happened among us. Everyone knew, not all that long ago, that marriage was between one man and one woman. Obama said so, and even mentioned God. Hillary Clinton made a speech on the senator floor, invoking time and tradition.
New Year’s Eve is a time when Americans gather to ceremonially put the past behind them and cast their hopes forward for a blessed New Year.
A blessed Christmas day this weekend as you all hear again that “In the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:1112).
It’s Advent! And those who engage the culture from a two-kingdom perspective are fully aware that human efforts, whether political, economic, philosophic, or even religious, are incapable of bringing the fulfillment in life that humans crave and even strive for. Former Senator turned University of Florida President Ben Sasse wrote a persuasive opinion article several years ago in the Wall Street Journal that described the issue in even more stark terms. It was entitled, “Politics Can’t Solve Our Political Problems.”
“I won't indoctrinate my children but will let them decide for themselves.” Non-believers boast that their children are free and critical thinkers, taught to be kind and non-judgmental. Remarkably, though, these free-thinking children end up just like their supposedly free-thinking parents.
Abortion is tragic, a deadly and heartbreaking deceit. No bond is more sacred, more profound, than that of a mother and child. Life’s journey begins in the womb, given by God as a safe space, a place for shelter, warmth and nurture.
Blessed Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving if you still allow the practice of giving thanks in your home. Each year in November there seems to be more and more Americans advocating for the eradication of the Thanksgiving Holiday.
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state
Since the twentieth century, Lutherans have spoken about a “two-kingdoms” doctrine to work out the relationship between church and state
We have a right, not a privilege, to life. Life is a gift from God, and it may not be unjustly taken from us.
Years ago, when my sons were small, we had a delightful friend at church who also had young boys. He often repeated to his sons his own father’s refrain to him: “Be a man!”
We are familiar with the idea of daycare, but perhaps we may be led to adjust our thinking and our language. We call it daycare, because the kids are still our children. But government schools don't see it that way.
Abigail Favale's The Genesis of Gender is essential reading for moms and dads, definitely for high school and college students, teachers and pastors for sure, and really for anyone who is trying to understand what's going on in the gender revolution,