Missouri school pulls "evolution" T-shirts in the name of "religious neutrality"

[JustAsking]

Very interesting, JA. I don't know if you welcome the task of teaching Protestantism 101 here, but I was under the impression that Luther held that one is saved through faith and faith alone -- sola fides -- and that this was a point of difference with the Catholic Church, which holds good works also to be necessary.

Edited to add: In my previous post, I used the word "insidious." I suspected at the time that that was not quite the right word, but only now that it is too late to edit the post do I realize that what I meant was "invidious"!

Haha, obviously, I don't mind at all. This "sola fide" for Lutherans is a tricky thing to explain . Noted Lutheran theologian Carl Braaten puts it this way:

"To say we are saved by faith alone means we let God-in-Christ do all the saving that needs to be done, apart from any works we can perform.... If I confess that God has saved me, a lost and condemned sinner, whom else can he not save? Faith is precisely awareness that God’s accepting love reaches out to all sinners, even to me. Faith is the opening of heart and mind to the universal grace and goodness of God." - Carl Braaten

This is why we call it the 'good news'.

For Lutherans, faith means something more like 'trust in God's promise'.

 

[Calboner]

Okay, but the doctrine is that all and only those who accept the Good News are saved, right? What happens to the rest, I wonder?

 

[SpeedoGuy]

This t-shirt topic reminded me of another t-shirt graphic that was intended to poke fun at saber fencers (who are generally not known for nuance or artistry during bouts).

http://www.fencingsucks.com/humor/evolution.gif

 

[JustAsking]

Okay, but the doctrine is that all and only those who accept the Good News are saved, right? What happens to the rest, I wonder?

Nay nay! Our hope is that all are saved. We teach our children in Sunday School that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less.

All that "accepting" stuff is layered on by schism denominations later who need to bring it back to a God from whom they can earn their salvation. Since they are Protestants, they can't use "works" anymore, so they substitute faith or "accepting the Lord", as a kind of work. For them it is an If... Then proposition as in "If I do x really well, Jesus will save me." , whereas Luther's point was that it is a Because... Therefore.... proposition as in, "Because of God's unconditional grace and love, theferore I am saved."


Let me quote Braaten again, because he says it better than I do.

" If Jesus is the Lord and Savior, he is the universal Lord and Savior, not merely my personal Lord and Savior. Because Jesus is the unique and universal Savior, there is a large hope for salvation, not only for me and others with the proper credentials of believing and belonging to the church, but for all people whenever or wherever they might have lived and no matter how religious or irreligious they may have proved to be themselves. It is clearly God’s announced will that 'all people shall be saved and come to the knowledge of truth' (1 Timothy 2:4)." - Braaten

Outrageous, isn't it?

 

[JustAsking]

This t-shirt topic reminded me of another t-shirt graphic that was intended to poke fun at saber fencers (who are generally not known for nuance or artistry during bouts).

http://www.fencingsucks.com/humor/evolution.gif

Speedo,
Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said something like,

"God put man between the angels and the apes. Then God put the French between man and the apes."

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Speedo,
Wasn't it Oscar Wilde who said something like,

"God put man between the angels and the apes. Then God put the French between man and the apes."

What do you call a French Sabre fencer?
- A Hungarian wannabee

What do you call a Hungarian Foil fencer?
- A French wannabee

What do you call an American fencer?
- An immigrant

 

[JustAsking]

What do you call a French Sabre fencer?
- A Hungarian wannabee

What do you call a Hungarian Foil fencer?
- A French wannabee

What do you call an American fencer?
- An immigrant

Haha, yes, there are class systems everywhere. For example, amongst musicians:

"What do you call a person with no musical ability of his own who follows the band around from performance to performance."
"A groupie?"
"No, the drummer."

or one of my favorites musical snobbisms:

"What is the difference between an accordian and a concertina?"
"I don't know, what?"
"The accordian burns longer."

 

[D_Tyrone_Tittickler]

Yikes! The author of this stunning essay is probably our local school board president. I am acquainted with several Jesuits. They each must be at least 150 years old, but don't look a day over 40.

Here the history of the Reformation for ya, compiled from student essays (source):
Quote:
The Reformnation happened when German nobles resented the idea that tithes were going to Papal France or the Pope thus enriching Catholic coiffures. Traditions had become oppressive so they too were crushed in the wake of man’s quest for ressurection above the *not-*just-*social beast he had become. An angry Martin Luther nailed 95 theocrats to a church door. Theologically, Luthar was into reorientation mutation. Calvinism was the most convenient religion since the days of the ancients. Anabaptist services tended to be migratory. The Popes, of course, were usually Catholic. Monks went right on seeing themselves as worms. The last Jesuit priest died in the 19th century.

That's odd: I had heard that what Luther nailed to the church door was 95 feces. (The National Lampoon once had a hilarious cartoon showing this.)