I know a lady who's committed to speaking and praying against abortion. And I've been convicted by her stance.
You see - she's right. Abortion happens.
In my city each Wednesday, medical professionals kill unborn babies and get paid for it, pregnant mothers are lied to and scarred for life, and innocent babies die. And there's seemingly no end in site.
I recently added to my daily prayers, "Pray for the unborn."
This week I happened to see a video that portrayed abortion as an attack on women's equality and worth. The upshot was, "Women are awesome because they can bear new life."
Growing a baby inside of you and giving birth is an amazing thing! One minute, you're struggling with the pain. The next minute, a new human being is alive in this world.
My youngest son and I sometimes argue and jest about who's worked the hardest on a current project. Eventually I play the mommy card, "Hey, I grew you inside of me for 9 months and then gave birth to you."
His reply is priceless, "Quit bragging."
"Quit bragging!" Ha! He knows how incredible it is that women have babies.
In today's world, there's confusion about sexual identity, sexual orientation, and the act itself.
Fact is...two women can't create a baby. Two men can't create a baby. A trans-woman can't become pregnant. A trans-man can't impregnate a woman.
And the sexual act, when between a man and a woman, always has the potential of creating a child. God created women's bodies to bear and nurture new life.
All our sexual issues and conflicts today are attacks on that life.
Just go back to Genesis and Adam.
Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Genesis 2:18
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
The two becoming one flesh actually happens with the birth of that one flesh, that baby.
And when sin entered the picture, it entered as a conflict and attack on life. God told Satan:
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15
That's the first gospel, the first promise of a Messiah, the One Who is to come. It's the promise of Jesus.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law. Galatians 4:4
That Son, Jesus, the Life that saves and gives life to all, was promised to us as being born of a woman.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:4
May our society wake up and see all new life as God's work and His gift.
I just finished The Art of Exegesis: An Analysis of the Life and Work of Martin Hans Franzmann by Pastor Matthew E. Borrasso.
I was at first intimidated by this book's title, which is somewhat of a misnomer. Martin Franzmann was a theologian and a college professor. He's famous for a lecture series called The Art of Exegesis. But the book isn't a textbook on exegesis. It's about Franzmann's work, his influence, events that influenced him, and his approach to God's Word.
Besides being a theologian, Franzmann was a hymn writer, and he authored one of my family's favorite hymns, Thy Strong Word. He also translated many hymns from German into English.
And being both a hymn writer and a theologian, Franzmann incorporated the idea of "music" into his theology in a way I'd never considered.
Whether it is Exegetical, Historical, Systematic, or Practical, there is a temptation to let "divisions become separate compartments of study, not clearly and organically related to one another and to the whole." (page 18)
Our aim is to keep theology whole, that mind and heart, according well, may make one music. (page 18)
This idea of bringing unrelated topics together reminds me of the university. A university, by definition, has a diversity of subjects and areas of study, but the subjects are brought together in unity.
I like that Franzmann advocates a theological "unity within diversity" and calls it "music." God's word is the greatest "writing" we have. It's beyond the words on the page, and it's abundant in meaning and beauty. And Franzmann understood and articulated the beauty and "music" of God's Word.
I have three takeaways from this book:
1. Franzmann's passion for God's Word convicts me on the
importance of Bible study and of listening to preaching. God brings people to truth through His very Word.
We
can teach men languages, and we can teach them history...we cannot
"teach" them to deny themselves and follow the Good Shepherd...For here
God Himself must take over, and He does take over. (page 44)
For
I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. Romans 1:16
2. Franzmann had things he called "PSHA!"
...there are things not worth a person's time; as such, one must be willing to dismiss those things...time should be spent on the things that see the biblical text as life-giving. (Pages 51-52)
I'm going to remember and use this one, as I find myself getting caught up in "PSHA."
3. Franzmann lived through many conflicts - including conflicts within his own church and between church bodies. The book portrays him as disliking the controversy, and working to bring peace while remaining faithful to God's Word.
We also live with conflicts, both within Christendom and within our own churches. In these conflicts, we should neither compromise nor be too harsh. I'm convicted to remain in prayer and keep my faith and trust in the Lord who brings all things to His glory.
Thanks, Pastor Borrasso. It's valuable to read about the lives of influential Christians. I was inspired by many aspects of your book.
My good friend, BethAnn, uses metal forearm crutches to help her walk. We were together recently, and a new acquaintance came up and jokingly asked BethAnn, "So, what did you do to make you a cripple?"
Really, she said that.
Of course, this lady thought BethAnn had been in an accident, had maybe broken her leg, and that her condition was temporary.
And BethAnn gave me that look, and politely answered, "I was born prematurely, and this is how I walk."
And now, we keep laughing about the cripple comment.
But there's a bigger truth here.
You see, someone could look at my life and legitimately ask me, "What's wrong with you?"
Or I can ask myself, "What's wrong with me? Why am I like this?"
And the answer is, "I was born crippled, sinful, from my mother's womb."
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5
And that's each one of us. We're all born sinful and lame.
We literally stumble around, in broken bodies, unable to "walk" correctly in this life.
And because we're ashamed and uncomfortable with our sin, we try to hide it or pretend it isn't there. We don't like to talk about our crippleness; it doesn't seem appropriate to mention.
But the Bible abounds with verses about the lame person.
And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them. Matthew 15:30
That's why Jesus came - to heal the lame, to deal with our sinfulness, so that we no longer walk crooked, but walk in straight paths.
...and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Hebrews 12:13
For now, today and in this life, God's Word and Spirit help us and strengthen us to walk straighter and better, as we live as both a sinner and a saint.
Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
But we're looking for that day, when we're no longer crippled, either in spirit or in body. We're looking for the day when we're free from the bonds of our sinful flesh, free from sickness, disease, lameness, and sin, and our bodies are made new.
...in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 1 Corinthians 15:52–53
Until that day, just call me cripple.
I recently had a conversation with a lady who's very involved with her church. She said it was a non-denominational church that "believes what the Bible teaches." She also said that her church baptizes infants.
At that point, my curiosity was piqued. Most non-denominational churches don't believe in infant baptism and only practice believer's baptism.
I was right to be confused. I discovered that her church is: 1) part of a major Pentecostal denomination, and 2) most certainly doesn't practice infant baptism.
This isn't the first time I've encountered a person who's unaware of his or her church's beliefs and practices.
When I was young, I went to a Baptist church. While in college, I met passionate Christians from many denominations. I was confused and bothered by their various beliefs, and I spent years reading and researching both the Bible and church history.
I'm now "invested" in my faith, some would say "to a fault." But I don't care, because faith is given by God and His Word, not by my own ability.
Indeed,
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord...not having a righteousness of my own that comes
from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the
righteousness from God that depends on faith - Philippians 3:8–9
When I hear people "get their denomination wrong" or meet people who belong to a non-denominational church (What does that even mean?)...I think of Martin Luther's preface to Luther's Small Catechism:
The common person...has no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine. And unfortunately, many pastors are completely unable and unqualified to teach...Yet everyone says that they are Christians, have been baptized, and receive the holy Sacraments...
To belong to a denomination means that the church is, in some way, accountable to a higher authority, both in leadership and in beliefs. When a church isn't accountable, that's a church that's open to following anyone and believing anything and everything.
My encounter with this lady is proof that belonging to a denominational church doesn't guarantee that one knows what his church believes or what he, the individual, believes.
And that's our culture. Practically everyone I meet has, at some point in life, been involved in a church, has a belief in God, and has a personal set of convictions about faith.
But I can't be naive in thinking that someone who's involved in a church, someone who wears the name "Christian" actually knows and understands the gospel. Martin Luther's words ring true.
Even with the abundance of Christian churches, Christian books, Bible teachers, and all the other Christian materials available, the gospel gets missed. All the more reason to...
...preach
the word; be ready in season and out of season...For the time is coming
when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears
they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into
myths. 2 Timothy 4:2–4
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
Suffice it to say, once our physical needs are met, each one of us is looking for something to satisfy us, somehow or in some way. And a big part of what we think will satisfy us is love.
When I think of love, I think of that boy-girl romance and those "feelings" that start sometime around puberty and are a mixture of affection, caring, and physical attraction.
But truthfully, I'm not really sure what love is. I just want to know that someone cares for me.
And deep down, I don't think I'm worthy enough to be loved, or at least as good as other people, people who seem to be loved and accepted.
At that point, life becomes a game in which I have to "prove" to others and to myself that I'm good enough.
And ultimately, behind all of this, is the question, "How do I get right with God? I'm not worthy enough. Does God really love me? Is He on my side?"
From The Apology of the Augsburg Confession:
...God wishes to be reconciled to us, not because of our own righteousnesses, but because of another's merits: Christ.
God wishes to be reconciled to us, to me. God wishes it! And it's not because I'm good or worthy enough. But because He loves me, because of Christ.
I always make the same mistake because I get it backwards: I think about the commandments - loving God and loving my neighbors. I attempt to live that out, and then I wonder why people don't respond.
But...
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10
Knowing love is knowing that God loves us, that He loves me.
Not only that...
...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Romans 5:10 uses the phrase, "while we were enemies." While still an enemy, Jesus died for me. That's love.
It's similar to how parents love their children, children who are naughty, who get into trouble, who don't seem to "learn their lesson." And we still love them.
That's love, and that's how God loves us. It's His love that matters, not my love for others or their love for me.
And it's also His love that enables and compels us to selflessly love other people.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7
And the sexual act, when between a man and a woman, always has the potential of creating a child. God created women's bodies to bear and nurture new life. 
