Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
I have been suggesting that following the way of Christ has practical applications in our everyday life. We are now at the tough one. If God heals by forgiving sin rather than damning us all to hell, then we overcome the suffering of evil in the same manner– returning good for evil. This is the […]
Hope, the third theological virtue, is based on God’s promise to make all right in the future. I am suggesting it has a practical side-affect that is helpful in overcoming personal suffering. Hope gives us confidence that God is working with us to overcome suffering and make a better world. Because there is so much […]
I have been using 2000 year-old biblical language to lay our groundwork. Bob reminds us we often must translate this into contemporary concepts by noting that science teaches us natural diasters are not “evil.” Lupe suggests more helpful biblical language used by the Gospel of John to describe evil as darkness that is overcome by […]
After writing, “Suffering is inevitable for all, but some suffer more, and some feel the pains of life more deeply than others, or so it often appears,” Concordia asked, “Is there a point or purpose to any kind of suffering? Does suffering build character?” The answer to those questions is essential for understanding our way […]
The course will look at some of the components of Practical Christianity, sometimes described as the art of Christian living. It will begin examining how Christianity offers a way to overcome suffering, whether this is from natural disaster, social injustice, or personal problems. God obviously does not promise to shield us from the suffering caused […]
Obviously, the first task is to define what I mean by Practical Christianity. Not so obviously, the second is to point out this is a very controversial subject. When I speak of Practical Christianity I simply mean what faith offers for everyday living here and now. People used to speak of it as “Applied Christianity”. […]
This is a topic that continually comes up, primarily because it is always in the headlines. It is about some nut case gaining news coverage by insisting he has figured out a date, a strange sect committing mass suicide, the Y2K scare at 2000, advertising for a movie, a televangelist charting earthquakes as signs, another […]
Bob wrote, “How rarely we start with the admonition ‘in all we do and say about this let us always keep the beacons of faith, hope, and love before us to guide us.’ We seem rather to be driven primarily by our prior experiences, predilections, and prejudices to which, in the end, we may give […]
Bob has entered the discussion again with his usual critical thought, forcing me to clarify my ideas. He wrote, “I think there is a strong argument that faith, hope, and love endure as constant beacons for the Christian life. Yet for many of us these illuminating beacons do not reveal universal, unchanging answers to the […]
Last week I tried to make the case for faith, hope, and love being a very careful choice for summarizing the Christian life. I’d like to take a few weeks to examine the features that make the triad so important. First, the three proclaim how Christians handle the very basic human activity of relating the […]
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