Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
Let’s take a few weeks to construct a 21st century Sabbath life style. That will mean discussing a modern application of the reasons the scriptures offer for observing a special day of the week. Some of my friends still practice a day of rest. They remain in bed until mid morning, take time to read […]
If you ask Christians my age to identify big changes that affected the Church in their life times, I bet most would mention elimination of the Blue Laws. Just about all of us remember with warmth when civil law prohibited business on Sunday and families used the day to practice their values. Of course, we […]
I think the comment John posted last week captures the gist of Jesus’ words concerning the Sabbath. He wrote, “The wealth we experience is embarrassing. Yet we always want more and find excuses not to give it away or find some reason why our less fortunate are not worthy. We must pray for strength and […]
If you had any doubts about the Sabbath commands being more than setting aside a special day for worship, take a look at how the commandment is explicated in other parts of the Torah. Exodus 23: 10-12 expands it to include the land, wild beasts, and the poor. “For six years you shall sow your […]
Our project is seeking ways to observe the Sabbath Way of life in our technological society. Let’s begin by looking at the two versions found in the Ten Commandments. Respected scholars claim we should regard these as teachings or guidelines rather than as laws. Exodus 20: 8-11: “Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. […]
I have attended many, many academic talks. An Anglican bishop at a Muhlenberg college commencement gave the best I’ve heard. He argued observing the Sabbath as a way of life enabled Christians to live with integrity in our technological society. In fact, he went on to suggest the Sabbath was the key to healing our […]
One of the biggest dilemmas in our time is deciding what we should be doing. Science shows us what is going on, but not what should be changed. The present gridlock in government only reflects how much our society cannot move beyond the status quo. Sometimes we justify our inactivity by claiming our actions would […]
After looking at the creation stories where Nature is declared “good,” then Visions of Hope where redemption includes the restoration of the proper relationship between God, humans, and Nature, and Torah Law that describes how we should be treating Nature; it becomes pretty clear we are a part of Nature. We often think this is […]
It is not only the ancient Torah Law that teaches us to respect Nature. Biblical visions of hope picture God, humans, and Nature in perfect harmony when God redeems his creation. If that is the way things will be, then we should be acting to help bring this about here and now. The first of […]
I have been surprised that so many responses to this series on Nature refer emotionally to climate change. They argue either that we are not following the data or that we do not have any conclusive data presently. None of our readers who contacted me argued we can go on raping Nature any way we […]
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