Craving Answers, Craving God St James Lutheran Church - Glen Carbon Illinois

What makes the books of the Bible sacred scripture is that they were written by prophets (Old Testament) or apostles (New Testament). The books of the New Testament bear witness to the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, either as a first-hand account of his life, death, and resurrection (we call these the four Gospels) or by reflecting on and applying this Gospel to the life of the Christian communities of the first century (these are the epistles written by Paul, Peter, and others).



These books were not “decided upon” by anyone; instead, the earliest Jesus followers recognized that they were about the historical Jesus and carried his continuing power in the reading of them. Only later, in the fourth century, did the church feel the need to put down on paper an official list of the books they had already recognized as scripture.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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After a discussion about how it’s impossible to prove things like whether spirits exist or not, Chuck and Aaron talk about how the Bible describes the spiritual world.



The existence of angels - powerful, supernatural beings whose job it is to serve God - is assumed by the Bible, and there are times when angels interact with humans. Most of us have never had an experience of an angel, but the Bible says that sometimes humans can interact with them without being aware they are talking with an angel. The Bible also describes fallen angels, or demons. These beings have rebelled against God and are determined to do harm to humanity.



Chuck and Aaron discuss the possibility that “hauntings” are actually the work of demonic forces. Ghosts, on the other hand, if they are to be understood as the souls of deceased people, don’t typically inhabit this universe, since the Bible says that it is appointed to each human being to die and then face the judgment. In other words, the souls of the deceased either go to hell or into the presence of Christ. Interacting with spiritual forces under the misconception that they are harmless wandering souls can therefore be a very dangerous thing.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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For Christians, the question of how we can be saved has too often been framed as a future question: how can I know I’m going to heaven when I die? But the Bible just doesn’t talk enough about going to heaven when we die for us to justify making that the baseline of our assurance of salvation.



Instead, the Bible talks about our assurance in terms of what God has done in the past and is now doing in the future; namely, he has become a human being in space and time so that he can - in the middle of human history and on the planet earth - die the death we should have died and rise from the dead to take away the barrier between us and God, and that he gives us this salvation in concrete, objective ways.



These concrete applications of his salvation are his word, which regardless of how we feel announces to us that he loves us for the sake of his son, Jesus Christ, and his sacraments, which are physical, objective promises of salvation to us. I might sometimes doubt, I might sometimes not understand the Bible like I should, I might sometimes do things that are sinful, but what never changes is that God’s word announces my salvation and my baptism into Jesus really happened.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep91.

For the past three hundred years it has seemed obvious to many modern Westerners that cataclysmic, global floods are impossible, and so the biblical story of the great flood has been seen as a legendary myth highlighting the vindictive judgment of the Bible’s angry God.



But this assumption fails to acknowledge the existence of great flood narratives spread throughout the ancient world - from the Cheyenne in North America, to the Chinese, to the Mesopotamians. How could all these different groups tell such similar stories? Is this a coincidence? Or instead does there remain in the collective memory of all these people groups the flood event described in Genesis 6-9?



This last option seems more likely than the myth that modern, scientific man is more right than the remembered and recorded experiences of all these ancient peoples. But the larger question is not, did the flood happen? But, what does the flood mean? And in the Bible, the great flood happens because the creator God simultaneously refuses to tolerate sin, and also loves to create salvation from that destruction. Like the Red Sea crossing, God drowns those who hate him, but saves - through that same water - those who trust him. The culmination of this truth is the redemption given to those who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, in the water of baptism.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

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The question of whether Christians should go to church or not can only be answered by answering the question, are Christians the church or not.



Once again, Western-style individualism blocks us from even understanding the nature of the problem. The Bible insists that our highest value comes not from our individuality but from how our individuality flourishes in community. By ourselves we have no way of overcoming our personal weaknesses, but in community others cover up these weaknesses with their strength, as we do for them.



Unfortunately, Christians in America tend to be more individualistic than biblical: the notion that we can be Christians on our own outside of the Christian church creates a personal atmosphere of isolation and ignorance, but embracing the strange and scary reality of Christian community leads to flourishing and knowledge.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep89.

Legalism is the belief that humans flourish best when they have order, structure, and rules to guide them. The opposite philosophy is liberty - the belief that humans need freedom from restrictions to flourish. Christianity, while definitely promising freedom from the burden of sin while also providing order and rules for living, definitely holds that humans flourish best when in relationship, especially the relationship all humans were created for - with the creator God in Jesus.


Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep88.