Running Through History

What’s with the rather non-descript railroad photo, taken while on a run near the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport? This Norfolk & Southern rail was once in the vicinity of another rail line, the Macon & Western Railroad, which on August 31, 1864 was the last vein of life supporting the Confederate city of Atlanta. At the time Atlanta was under siege by the artillery of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. Directly abeam this spot stood the Rough and Ready Tavern, a retreat for Confederates fleeing the city, and likely the temporary command post for Confederate Lt. General William J. Hardee.

General Sherman, after weeks of standoff because of Atlanta’s stiff defensive fortifications, opted to move the majority of his forces south and west of the city in a flanking move to cut off the two remaining rail lines into the city. The Atlanta & West Point Railroad line was cut on August 30, and the Macon & Western was cut just south of where I took the photo on August 31. A few miles further south, one of the most significant battles of the Civil War was fought at Jonesborough (now spelled Jonesboro). On September 1 the vastly outnumbered Confederate force was defeated, spelling the end of Atlanta’s resistance. Nearly 7,000 Confederate and Union soldiers were killed. That evening, Confederate General John Bell Hood ordered the evacuation of Atlanta, which was occupied by Sherman the next day. While much of Hood’s Army of Tennessee, led by Hardee, was able to escape, they were no longer able to stop General Sherman’s famous march to the sea. The Confederacy was dealt a severe blow.

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman

Like many war battles, Atlanta was not just militarily significant, but of equal political importance. The war was not going well for the Union. With General U.S. Grant unable to take Richmond, the upcoming Presidential election hung in the balance. Had Atlanta not been taken, Democratic candidate George McClellan might very well have defeated the incumbent, Abraham Lincoln, in the election and sued for peace. Had that happened, the United States we know today would not exist. Not unlike today, the fates of politicians and citizens alike are often determined on the battlefield.

You romanticists will remember the famous burning building scene in the movie Gone with the Wind as Rhett and Scarlett flee Atlanta. This scene takes place on August 31, 1864. Rhett decides to join the cause against the Yankees, leaving Scarlett to fend for herself with the memorable and apt words “God help the Yankees if they should get you.” Scarlett must slip past the Union forces located in the area of Rough and Ready (now called Mountain View) and Jonesborough to make it back to the family plantation, Tara. The book is historically accurate at this point. You can read this particular part of the dialogue here. You can also read about the background, and the interesting twists and turns of the Battle of Jonesborough, that helped seal the fate of the Confederacy, from an excerpt of William R. Scaife’s book The Campaign for Atlanta here. The area around Jonesboro and its history was one of the inspirations for Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind. There are still several antebellum homes in the area, as well as a couple of Confederate cemeteries – the final resting place for those Confederate soldiers who fought and died in the Battle of Jonesborough.

It Pays to Know Your Books

While thumbing through the religion books at Brused Books in Pullman, Washington, I came across a book I knew I had to buy. “What was it?” you ask, in eager anticipation. Why, it was The Emphatic Diaglott. “Oh, awesome!” you say, unsure of what that might be, other than that it’s something with two tongues.

The Emphatic Diaglott is an interlinear Bible – but not just any interlinear Bible, it’s a bad interlinear Bible. Originally published by Benjamin Wilson, who was anti-Trinitarian in his beliefs (being a Christadelphian). His anti-Trinitarian leanings show up in his translation, originally published in 1865 and based on the Codex Vaticanus. Where this monologue finally gets interesting is the entrance of a mystery person who buys the rights to Wilson’s Bible. The mystery man is Charles Taze Russell, the inventor of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their organization, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. Russell was interested in The Emphatic Diaglott because of its anti-Trinitarian and anti-hell bias, as well as its usefulness in backing up Russell’s belief in Christ’s invisible return to earth in the 19th century.

The Watchtower printed the Diaglott, using the original plates obtained from Wilson, in 1902. They reset the type for publication on their own printing presses, running editions in 1927 and 1942. Eventually, the Watchtower tired of this Bible, translating and adding and subtracting to their own Bible, The New World Translation, in 1961. The Diaglott is useful because it can be used to show the Witnesses, using their own materials, how the Diaglott and The New World Translation differ. Of course, the easier route to take is to obtain a copy of the Watchtower’s own interlinear, called the Kingdom Interlinear Translation, and use it to show how the Greek markedly differs with their translation. You can download the Kingdom Interlinear (lovingly called the Purple People Eater by Christian apologists because of the purple cover of the 1965 edition) here.

So why was I so intent on buying The Emphatic Diaglott? Partly because I didn’t have one – it’s one of the few significant JW books I didn’t have. The other reason? It was $9.00, and the actual value for this early print edition is at least ten times that price – not that I’d sell it. It pays to know your books.

Coming Up: Issues, Etc. 24

You Don’t See This Every Day: Space Shuttle Endeavour Rolls Through L.A.

While on a layover last Saturday, I was enjoying the panoramic view of balmy Los Angeles from my room at the Westin on Century Boulevard. I noticed four helicopters hanging around to the north of the hotel, just to the north of the final approach for runway 24R. I figured it was another sensationalized media coverage of some jet inbound to LAX with a landing gear problem – except that the helicopters just kept hanging out. A couple of hours later I glanced out the window and immediately knew why the helicopters were there – a mile-and-a-half to the north was the unmistakable sight of a space shuttle tail sticking up above the urban sprawl. I immediately grabbed my wheels (i.e. my running shoes) and camera and was out the door within 60 seconds for my second run of the day. This was one piece of history I wasn’t going to miss.

Rewind to earlier in the morning. As we were inbound to LAX, the First Officer mentioned that they were moving the space shuttle today. I didn’t give it much of a thought as to from where and to where. The shuttle was making its way from the airport to the California Science Center, its final home, retiring after 25 missions. This was a really big deal. The total cost of the two day, two mph drive from the airport to the museum was estimated at $10 million. They removed 200 streetlights and nearly 60 traffic signals, and cut down 393 trees. Clearly nobody in L.A. planned on hauling an orbiter across town.

This was the closest I’d ever gotten to a shuttle. Though I’d seen the shuttle piggybacked to its 747 taxi cab in Salt Lake City, this time the wingtip went nearly right over my head. It was great seeing the reaction of the crowds. Michael Jackson wouldn’t have caused this much of a stir – people everywhere clapping and hollering with more cameras than I’d ever seen before. Coupled with the warm weather and sunshine, it certainly seemed like an appropriate ending for this historic piece of America’s space program.

Click on the photos for a larger view.

 

Endeavour in its prime. Photo courtesy of NASA.

 

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Denying Justification

Quoting Dr. Carl Fickenscher, from  the October 18, 2010 Issues, Etc. segment on the doctrine of justification:

Denial of justification isn’t just a matter of official church teachings that say if you believe in justification by grace by faith alone you are condemned, you are anathema. Not just that at all. It really is a denial of justification to put it on the back burner, to make it unimportant, to fail to mention it. And then there are even ways that in fact deny justification much more subtly even among those who would affirm it. For example, a church that denies the efficacy of the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion often has behind that denial an implicit idea that something like Baptism couldn’t save a baby, because something in that baby isn’t quite right yet, quite mature yet, like the baby for example isn’t yet able to make a decision for Christ. Ultimately what that’s doing is saying there has to be some kind of work, something in a person that can’t be present yet at a very very early age. And any time some kind of work, even a work as seemingly attractive as confessing your faith in Christ, is required for right standing before God, that actually is a denial of justification. And that’s done as I said by churches that absolutely would say “Oh no no no no no, you’re of course not justified by what you do, solely by what Christ has done.” The de facto denial of justification is certainly widespread.

Cataphatic Mysticism?

“Contemporary songs aren't necessarily trying to teach the faith, so much as proclaim it. The point is to provide a vehicle for praise or prayer. Instead of singing doctrinal discourse or narrative content, the relatively simple message is sung repeatedly as a meditation. The repetition serves as an opportunity to reflect on the point of the text so as to deepen awareness, appreciation, and experience of the truth that is being sung. The purpose of singing the song is to lead the worshipper to this point of meditation and reflection, and so hopefully engage the worshipper in a way that goes beyond the intellectual or cognitive. …The ultimate purpose of the contemporary song is meditation on God in the presence of God.”

Does that quote sound a little “off” to you? I thought so too. It was written by LCMS pastor Michael Schmid, and quoted in Pastor Paul Strawn’s paper titled “The Praise Chorus as Unwitting Introduction of Cataphatic Mysticism into Christian Worship.” What’s cataphatic mysticism? Ah, for that answer, you’ll have to read Pastor Strawn’s paper. You can find it here. It’ll be worth the trip.


photo credit: Krisztina Tordai

"...My wife dragged me, kicking and screaming...."

On Higher Things Radio episode 137 on May 27th, 2011, Pastor Jon Sollberger shared his experiences while in a church praise band. This is a powerful quote, because it contrasts the often un-evangelical emotional roller coaster ride that you're treated to at many "contemporary" church services with a doctrinally sound proclamation of the Gospel, in which the Word does its work. This quote comes at the 31:15 minute mark : 

This was a couple lifetimes ago, and I was very much involved in the church where I grew up – that church was all about the show and how it made you feel. And so I was a guitarist and I got into that, and we really did the whole thing where we got everyone going via the music, the beat, the feeling, the great progression of the music. That’s how we equated successful worship. And then I took my act out on the road, I traveled all across the country, I did recordings of this so-called Christian contemporary music, I lived it, I performed it, I produced it, I recorded it, and spent a good decade doing this until I actually found out that I was burnt out on it. …It’s a very successful thing outwardly speaking. I mean, all we had to do was show up, plug in, and play, and we had an instant reaction and enthusiasm from all the people, young and old, both, and it was really something. But then you start to – it becomes normal to us, all the music and the generational feeling that it creates – and we started evaluating our worship experience on how the people were reacting to what we played. I mean we could get ‘em up there with some fast paced high energy music, we could get them to be very very mellow and contemplative with some slower, more heartfelt type of music, and when we didn’t get those reactions we didn’t feel that the Holy Spirit was at work because obviously the people weren’t reacting – there was no “success.” After a while you kind of just get burnt out on this sort of thing and that’s when I kind of quit the whole church thing for quite a while and my wife dragged me, kicking and screaming, into a Lutheran church, and I really saw that there was a difference there. I thought it was a cult. I thought it was spare, Spartan. I didn’t think there was any spiritual energy there. I thought it was way too formal, and I could not wait to get back for the next service. And I didn’t know why obviously, but it was because the Gospel had been not only preached, but presented within a context and in such a manner that nothing else got in the way, not my feelings, not how I was doing, not how well dressed the people up front were or anything like that, or how impressive they were to me, but simply the Gospel – that I was a sinner who had been saved by the grace and merit of Jesus only.

The Difference Between a Hymn and a Ditty

Here's a clip from the October 4 Issues, Etc. show on the historic liturgy, with Pastor Will Weedon explaining the difference between a hymn and a ditty:

Sasse on Catholicism: Gospel or Anti-Christ?

There are more than a few Reformed bloggers out there who present a rather merciless view of Catholicism, and at times go out of their way to bash the “Una Sancta.” On the other hand, there are a few Lutheran writers who seem to have a love affair with the Roman Catholic Church, at times giving her more credit than she is due. While reading through the We Confess Anthology, a collection of writings by the now sainted Lutheran theologian Hermann Sasse, Sasse certainly takes a realistic approach to those who call themselves Roman Catholics. Sasse takes a charitable and reasonable approach towards Catholics as he revisits the oft-described death of Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas:

Thomas Aquinas, when he was not yet 50 years old, died on his way to the Council of Lyon. When he received the Lord's Supper for the last time, he said, "I receive you, ransom price of my soul. For love of you I have studied and worn myself out. You I have preached and taught...." Thus the greatest thinker of the Middle Ages took leave of the uncompleted work to which he had given his life. Forgotten is all the wealth of his philosophical and theological knowledge. His system, which takes in heaven and earth, world and super-world, has now shrunk to the "one thing needful." Now, like Paul, he knows only "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2), whose body and blood he receives for the last time on this earth, the price paid to redeem his soul. This Christ is the content of all theology. Forgotten is the theology of glory of the half-heathen proofs for the existence of God at the beginning of the Summa theologiae. Forgotten is the belief in the abilities of the natural man. Forgotten is the "triumph of theology" which Thomas celebrated in overthrowing Averroism, which had become a subject of art.
We dare never forget this genuinely Christian, evangelical side of the Middle Ages if we would rightly understand the Reformation. The original evangelical elements that are preserved in the Mass, with its "You alone are the Holy One" in the Gloria, the "Not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences" in the Canon of the Mass, the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei, the Words of Institution and the formula of Baptism, the "King of majesty tremendous, who dost free salvation send us" in the Mass for the dead, the constant pointing to the thief on the cross-all this, as Luther recognized, sustained the life of the church in the Middle Ages, and sustains it still in Catholicism today. We should never forget that "by grace alone" (sola gratia) is a possibility also in Roman Catholicism, though only one possibility among others, and only in such a way that it can never become "by faith alone" (sola fide). Whatever else the Roman Church may be, it wants to be-and is-church of the cross, church of the Crucified One. His sacrificial death means more in its life and thought than in the life and thought of many a Protestant church. Only God knows whether in our day there are not many more Catholics who die with faith in the saving merit of Christ than Protestants. (44)

At the same time, Sasse doesn’t hesitate to point out, and agree with, the historical Lutheran view that the office of the pope is the Antichrist (though not the only Antichrist):

That there may be no doubt about our position, let it be clearly said: A theologian who merely because it happens to be in the Confessions lets the doctrine stand that the pope is the Antichrist, and is not solidly convinced that it is so, cannot truthfully be called a Lutheran. (118)

He continues:

If there was any doubt on the part of some Lutherans as to the correctness of Luther’s judgment, then this was removed when Pius IX, with the consent of the Vatican Council, on 18 July 1870 promulgated the constitution Pastor aeternus. In it eternal salvation was denied to those who consciously oppose the dogma that the pope has the exercise of direct episcopal power over the whole church, over the infallibility with which Christ has equipped His church, and that his ex cathedra decisions in questions of faith and morals are, “of themselves, and not from the consensus of the church,” true and irreformable (ex sese, non autem ex consensus Ecclesiae irreformabiles [Denzinger 3074]). And when the first of these new ex cathedra decisions was proclaimed—the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, in 1950, on All Saints’ Day, the day inseparably connected with the Reformation—the shock wave hit all Christendom. Here became visible something of the reality which Luther had recognized with deep dread—the reality of the man who puts himself in God’s place and proclaims his fantasies as divine revelation. (120)

Sasse further mentions:

It was Luther’s deep understanding of the Gospel that enabled him on the one hand to recognize its fearful perversion in the papacy, and on the other hand to give a positive evaluation of those elements of the true church of Christ that still live on in the Roman Church. The same Smalcald Articles which so sharply delineate the doctrine of the Antichrist also acknowledge that “the sublime articles of the divine majesty” “are not matters of dispute or contention,” and give a considerable list of those matters which they wish to discuss with the Roman theologians. (124)

The Council of Trent, which established Roman Catholic doctrine and which remains their official position, states in Canon XII: “If any one saith, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema.” This is a clear repudiation of justification by grace through faith, and thus a clear rejection of the Gospel. Thus, while we can be thankful that there are Christians to be found within the ranks of the Roman Catholic Church, we must also point out their church’s false doctrine and be willing to gently instruct those we might have opportunity to speak with and lead them to the truth.


Hermann Sasse, We Confess Anthology, Trans. Norman Nagel (St. Louis: CPH, 1999)

photo credit: Catholic Church (England and Wales)

Regulated Garbage

What is it?  Specifically, it's an airplane catering truck.  This is the truck that brings the pilots' crew meals to the jet.  Let's just say that most of the crew meals that are put on the plane in Seattle, which is the majority of the meals I receive since that's where I'm based, are less than salutary.  Meals catered in any other city, or country, any time, anywhere, are more edible. In what can't possibly be a coincidence, notice what it says on the back of the truck: "REGULATED GARBAGE." It's all part of the glamorous life of the airline pilot.