Thanks to Todd Wilken and Issues, Etc. for making Balaam’s Ass blog of the week for this quote.
Issues Etc.
Blog of the Week!
Blog of the Week!. Thanks to Jeff Schwarz and Issues, Etc. for picking Balaam’s Ass as Blog of the Week last week. If you haven’t listened to IE, do yourself a favor and do it now.
Hard to Find the Best Construction
Sue them to shut them up. That will probably work.
Listen here:
Rebellious Pastor’s Wife here.
Sign the petition. (Didn’t they learn from the last time not to make Issues fans mad?)
UPDATE: The opposition to Harry Madsen acquiring the trademark for “Issues, Etc.” has been withdrawn “with prejudice” (whatever that means–can anyone explain?) [Thanks to Dan at NR for the link, via the Brothers]
Questions? “Issues” Has Answers
Listen!
“The Pharisee Card”
Those who play the Pharisee Card hope to dismiss
Christians like you and me as ultra-conservative doctrinal
purists with no love for the lost. But like a fifth Ace up the
sleeve, the Pharisee Card is a cheat. Those who play it
ignore the real errors of the real Pharisees. They wrongly
apply the name to those who stand in the way of false
teaching, compromising change and a watered-down gospel.
In the end, The Pharisee Card amounts to nothing more than
name-calling. And, like the Race or Gender Cards are in
politics, in the Church, the Pharisee Card is always the sign
of a losing hand.
See more from Pr. Wilken here.
Life after Death
“Issues, Etc.” Q&A
I had not seen this before, and didn’t know it existed until Pres. Kieschnick mentioned it at a conference. Haven’t had a chance to read it, but I wanted to make sure people know about it.
UPDATE: My comments: there is very little else that can be said. When the questions have been answered, even if not completely satisfactorily, what else can a Christian do but accept the answers at face value? It is inappropriate, without actual evidence, to continue to accuse another Christian of doing something wrong simply because you or I may not like it. Continue to pray for Pr. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz and for KFUO and the Synod. God is still God.
A Couple of Links
Happy Mother’s Day, indeed. Happy Mother’s Day to my mother and my wife.
I didn’t know that Dr. Nagel (Professor Emeritus at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis) was writing for CT. That’s a joke, but do yourself a favor and listen to any or all of these mp3s in the “Issues, Etc.” archives. Nagel deserves to be the most influential Lutheran theologian going now. (Of course, he couldn’t care less about such a designation, but he has a knack for cutting to the heart of any question and hitting bedrock for the sake of the comfort of salvation.)
More in the Post-Dispatch on “Issues”
Here‘s Tim Townsend in the STL Post-Dispatch on “Issues, Etc.” and the Missouri Synod.
Here’s David Strand continuing to attempt weak justifications for pulling “Issues”:
Strand also said the program’s audience was too narrow. —”‘Issues’ was a strong show, but where we stand now in terms of listenership, it seems wise to try some news things to broaden our reach,” he said.
[…]
The church currently produces seven religious shows, one of which is a replacement for “Issues, Etc.” The new program, called “The Afternoon Show,” is different from “Issues, Etc.,” said Strand, in that “it doesn’t dwell largely on Lutheran apologetics at a sophisticated level. It still takes its Gospel proclamation seriously, but it finds new ways to capture attention.”
Come on. “Issues” took Lutheran teaching seriously, but either Strand is saying Lutheran theology is too sophisticated for regular people, or he’s saying the people are dumb. Either way, it’s not flattering. “Capture attention…” Dancing bears capture attention, too.
Strand said politics had nothing to do with the decision to pull “Issues, Etc.” “This was a financial decision. All 2.5 million of our members would call themselves confessional Lutherans, so I’m not sure where this idea of division comes from,” he said. “Like most denominations, we have differences of opinion on things … but Dr. Kieschnick wants a deeper sense of peace throughout the church.”
I think Mr. Townsend knows better than Mr. Strand what “confessional” means. Having read the Confessions is at least a minimum requirement for bearing the word confessional. I’m guessing that not quite 2.5 million even know what the Augsburg Confession is, let alone have read it. I’m guessing it might be a minority of pastors who have even glanced at the Lutheran Confessions since seminary. “I’m not sure where this idea of division comes from.” Mr. Strand, you might want to spend a little more time out in the Synod’s congregations; perhaps where the idea comes from might come more clear. Unless, of course, differences ranging from open to closed communion, whether women should serve in the services of the Church, and whether we can adopt wholesale worship styles and content from foreign theologies are mere “differences of opinion.” We all want a deeper sense of peace, we all do, but it ain’t gonna come from pretending that there is no division. Saying “peace, peace,” where there is no peace is not a good idea.
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