I have been sick today.  So while sitting in bed, I decided to read this book, The Dawkins Delusion?  Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine(Intervarsity Press, 2007) by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath.

I read some things that were interesting.

And I reacted to some things that I thought to be a sloppy, careless, unscholarly lumping together of atheist fundamentalism and Christian fundamentalism.

But here is one statement as we approach October 31 that I vigorously agree upon in the book,

Legitimate criticism of religious ideas can all too easily give way to the rather more disturbing and dangerous vilification of a people (80-81).

It is a very valid warning.

On October 31, 1517, a fiery, fearless, tempestuous, monkish man by the name of Martin Luther decided to issue 95 theses in addressing the corruptions he saw within his mother Holy Roman Catholic Church.  He despised the selling of indulgences.  And he hated the manipulation of the Catholic doctrine of purgatory for the robbing of the poor.  He was ready to debate, caring not that his words infuriated others.  In every way, St. Peter’s Basilica became the greatest monument to the Protestant Reformation.

As a college student, I can’t recall the number of times that I watched the classic Louis De Rochemont production of the black and white film, Martin Luther.  I enjoyed listening to the accomplished Shakespearean and church historian professor, Dr. Edward Panosian, act out in first person the life of the boisterous reformer.

So after seminary days, I decided to take my wife to Germany and hunt down this historical figure.

I will never forget Worms.  In the garden of the modern Heylshof House of Art, I personally located all the German plaques that marked the events of that notorious day where Martin Luther stood before Kaiser Karl V.   In a blow by blow account on that sunny day in Germany, I reconstructed the explosive events that shook the world.

From there, I examined every detail in the Luther Room, reconstructed in 1983 on the occasion of the 500^th anniversary of Luther’s birth.  And after strolling through the big Catholic Romanesque Church and the Holy Trinity Church (built in honor of Luther), we finally headed to the centralized Luther Monument containing the bronze-cast figures of Friedrich der Weise, Philip the Magnanimous, Johann Reuchlin, Philip Melancthon, Augsburg with the palm of peace, Protesting Speyer, Magdeburg in mourning, Dr. Martin Luther, Petrus Waldus, John Wyclif (Wiclef), John Hus, and the Italian Girolamo (Hieronymus) Savonarola.

To see Martin Luther, towering high in the center of the monument, wearing preacher’s garb, and holding a Bible, is an impressive sight.  He is staring at the Bishop’s palace, which once stood overshadowed by the cathedral.

The upper block underneath Luther’s sculpture provides these famous four statements by Luther alongside the portraits of contemporaries (John of Saxony, John Frederick, Justus Jonas, John Bugenhagen, Ulrich von Hutten, Franz von Sikkingen, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli):

“Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise.  God help me.  Amen.”

“Faith is nothing other than the true and real life in God himself. – To really understand the Scriptures one needs the spirit of Christ.”

“The Holy Gospel, given us by the Lord through the mouths of the apostles, is his sword and with it he will strike in the world as though with thunder and lightning.”

“Christianity in its true sense will not be held captive by any human law. – They are free, not according to the flesh, but according to their conscience.”

There are some ideas by Luther, wherein I stand in opposition to him.  To carelessly affront the Jewish race is sad.  I relished walking quietly through the oldest Jewish cemetery in Europe, the “Holy Sands”, next to the Luther Room.  My wife thinks Martin Luther to be ugly in appearance.  Well, I would say that some of the things he said were bestial and ugly.

But Martin Luther courageously stood for the soteriological doctrine of justification by grace alone and defended with all his heart biblical authority.  Thank God he was not blasé on these fundamentals.  Bravura happened to be the need of the hour.

I have neither the cultural shaping nor the scholastic training of Luther.  My temperament is both shy and blithe compared to Luther’s bombastic personality.  Yet as Luther felt burdened at almost age 34 (birthdate, November 10, 1483) to share his convictions to the greater religious populace of his day, at age 37, I earnestly desire to share my 95 Theses to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dominating my Intermountain West I-15 corridor.  Independent apologist, Blake Ostler, even encouraged me in such a wild idea somewhere on one of those threads on New Cool Thang.  Thanks.  Some time soon, I will be mailing my 95 Theses to both the first Presidency and the Twelve Apostles.

On the heels of a first ever National Student Dialogue Conference sponsored by Standing Together Ministries in Salt Lake City, involving both evangelical and LDS professors and students, I am trying something a little different.  Scholars today, like John Morehead of Salt Lake Theological Seminary and others, would encourage evangelicals and LDS in the dance of dialogue.  Some conversations I saw in the conference as beneficial; but other things I saw as unhelpful tip-toeing, leading to theological compromise in the name of not hurting any good friend’s “sacred” feelings. (more…)

Most of you know that our church family has been studying John’s Gospel on Sunday mornings.

A number of you recognize that John’s Gospel quotes Isaiah in powerful ways.

Many of you have observed that our church family is also working through an inductive study of Isaiah on Wednesday nights.

But listen to this uncanny development where I feel like I am on a parallel Bible track with Joseph’s scripture treasure hunting around 170 years ago.  (more…)

Now, wouldn’t that be a wild example of those serious in their religious faiths and yet acting in political co-beligerance?

If this ever happened, it could be turned into an epic LDS movie.

It would be the firestorm film of the century for delving into the American religious experience.  Hands down.

First, I sat in a breakout session with John Thomas of Brigham Young University-Idaho, who basically lead a group discussion on “Dealing with Difficult History.”  He recommended for us all to pick up the latest book, written by three LDS scholars on the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Secondly, I briefly sat in to listen to the panel discussion on “Evangelical Churches, why so many, and do they work together?”  The three pastors were Pastor Mike Imperial of First Presbyterian Church, Pastor Dave Nelson of K2 the Church, and Pastor Jim Ayers of Valley Assembly of God.

Because of my time schedule, I need to head back to Idaho Falls, thus missing the last session of the conference, “The Role of Grace & Works As It Relates To Doctrine & Tradition”.  Some one will have to fill me in later on the talks by Dr. Craig Blomberg (Denver Seminary) and Dr. Camille Fronk (Brigham Young University).

Students have sat down that had questions.

The two professors are debating.

This has been the best part of the whole conference!

Authentic public engagement.

Thanks.

No man ends up in hell by God’s calling; no man ends up in heaven by man’s cleverness.

– Dr. Jerry Root (Wheaton College)

He just gave a full tremendous presentation of the evangelical gospel to Dr. Richard Bennett

These two speakers were totally opposite each other, both in topic and presentation. 

Session four:  Spiritual Formation and Interfaith Dialogue

Dr. Jerry Root (Wheaton College, Associate Director of the Billy Graham Center) (more…)

Session Three:  The Legitimacy of Mormon/Evangelical Dialogue, and Should We Even be talking? 

Dr. William Heersink (Professor of theology and missions, Salt Lake Theological Seminary)

Ten years ago, an LDS friend of mine handed me a book, How Wide the Divide? This book was a landmark volume.

Twenty five years ago, a campus pastor felt burdened to start a school.  It was called the Utah Institute for Biblical Studies, now Salt Lake Theological Seminary.  The founder was kind, seeking to understand LDS in a holistic context and culture.  And today, we would love to have students, even LDS students, pursue our studies offered.

Fifty years ago, an evangelical tuned into the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  He sent a large contribution.  They refused his money.  He made a phone call and connected with Richard L. Evans. 

In their conversations, they felt their needed to be a lot more interchange. The Richard L. Evans Chair for Christian Understanding was established.  The first person to hold that chair is Truman Madsen, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School, student under Krister Stendahl and Paul Tillich. 

William Heersink asked Truman Madsen to come up to share a few things about this particular chair.

They gave me a chair but not a desk.  Richard Evans told this evangelical:  We had more in common than in separations.  And this man said, “The two greatest Christians he ever knew was Billy Graham and Richard Evans.”  The responsibility of the chair:  “Your assignment is teach that there are other good Christians but also to convince others that we are Christians.”  This chair has now expanded to three in the chair. Robert Millet, and one to Asia, and one elsewhere.  “Does this get us started Brother Bill?” (more…)