Ask the Pastor

 Q: Do the pastors at Epiphany provide any counseling services for members of the congregation?

 Pastor Jon : We provide what I call "pastoral care and Biblical guidance." I am not a licensed counselor and often refer people who have       need of more in depth counseling to Christian Counselors who have more specialized training. Both, Pastor Rob and I, however, do provide services to members who need to talk about various issues and are looking for God's guidance and will.

 Pastor Rob : Both pastors do provide short-term Biblical counseling to members. However, neither are licensed marriage and family therapists. We both care very deeply for the Lord's flock at Epiphany and often attend to the hurts and the losses they experience. We are both listeners who desire to guide God's people, not through a secular approach to self-esteem and marriage enrichment, but through Christ-esteem, and the clear testimony of how God feels about His people in Christ's sacrificial love. We are both trained in pre-marital Biblical counseling for couples planning to spend their life together, and these same resources can be used for couples already married.

Pastor Jon

   Q: Why does the Lutheran Missouri Synod not allow a women to be pastor's in the church? I came from another Lutheran church which did have a woman pastor and I though she was wonderful. I also refer to Galatians chapter 3 v 26-28, to me it seems that Men and women are one union with Christ Jesus and can preach the same thing.

   Q: If Christ died for all and gave His Body & Blood for all, Why do Lutherans practice close communion? Shouldn't it be for all Christians?

   A: This is a very good question. Many people have wondered and asked about this very subject.

Many people do not believe that the sacrament of Holy Communion is Jesus' actual body and blood and that by taking it they receive forgiveness and strength of faith. For people who believe in this way, we discourage them from taking the Lord's Supper because they do not believe as we do nor do they understand how seriously we take it. Moreover, there are many who do not understand what should be done before receiving the Lord's Supper; as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:27-29 "Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself." Many people do not understand this nor do they practice it before they come to take part in the sacrament. As a shepherd of people, I do not want to hurt the soul of anyone. That is why we ask people to be instructed in what we believe before they take Holy Communion. That way they can make an informed choice whether or not they want to be part of our fellowship. For more info on this subject please refer to: www.lcms.org and go to the "FAQ's" link and then to "Doctrinal Issues" and there is a much more detailed discussion of this very issue.

   Q: Has God any need to change his mind? And why would an omniscient God need to change his mind?

   A: Thanks for your question. The short answer is "no" God does not change his mind. He knows what He is going to do and He does it. This answer needs a little explaining as the Bible gives the impression that at times maybe God does change his mind. For example, Jonah proclaimed to the people of Ninevah that God would destroy their city in 40 days. But they repented of their sin and so in verse 10 of chapter 3 Jonah writes, "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened." Did God changed mind? It would appear so. First he threatened to destroy them but then he does not bring it about.

   Q: If you are born in Afghanistan (or some place where Christianity is not prevalent) and no-one ever tells you about Christ, will you go to Heaven?

   A: If you are born in a place outside of the Gospel, we don't know. The Bible is silent. One thing we don't do as Lutheran Christians is make a theological statement when there really isn't anything said about it in Scripture that's clear.

   Q: What is the Church’s position regarding tarot card readings and astrology?

   A: The church's position on tarot cards and astrology is that it is evil and of the Devil and should be avoided at all costs. It is sin and is quite dangerous. Putting one's trust in something other than Scripture is always dangerous because it leads a person away from the cross of Christ.

   Q: Sheol in Bible – What is it? Do you just "sit around?"

   A: "Sheol" was a word for hell in both testaments. Jesus describes it as a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" for eternity. It is a place where one knows that he is there and that he is paying the price for rejecting Christ.

   Q: Did the Sumerians actually author the story of Noah and the flood? If so, why?

   A: We don't believe the Sumerians authored the story of the flood. We believe the first five books of the Old Testament were written by Moses.

   Q: Was there a person named Sargon the Great who was also put into a basket and sent down river as an infant (kind of like Moses) The reason I ask is that I have been told that the Bible story is false and just a rip off of an older story?

   A: Moses lived 1400BC. Sargon lived 800BC. Moses lived 600 years before Sargon. If anyone ripped anyone off, Sargon ripped Moses off.

   Q: I have heard that a lot of the stories in the Old Testament are actually borrowed folklore from the Sumerians and Egyptians. Is this true?

   A: We don't believe that the Old Testament is a rip off of Sumerian literature. That's a believe held by some critics but not by evangelical Christians.

   Q: Is the Church aware of the Gnostic Gospels? Does the Church recognize that the books in the Bible were selected by men and that some books were left out? For example, the Gnostic Gospels??

   A: The Gnostic Gospels began to appear around 100AD. Greek philosophy influenced many of the early Christian writers. This is why 1 John, 2 John and 3rd John were written as a response to this threat. Because of the influence of Greek philosophy, which basically stated that flesh is evil and spirit good that Jesus could not have been flesh because flesh is evil which took away his human nature. John, the last living disciple, dedicated himself to eradicating the church of this heresy.

   Q: What is the Church’s position regarding Creationism and the Big Bang Theory along with Darwinism? Is there no reconciliation?

   A: No, there really isn't any reconciliation between Darwin and the Theory of Creation. We simply believe that God created the heavens and the earth. We believe in "Microevolution" that is, dog breeds changing and changing etc. But we don't believe in "Macroevolution" which holds that fish turn to apes and apes to humans etc, etc.

   Q: When Jesus made His appearances after the resurrection was He fully God or Fully man?

   A: Thanks for your question. The answer is both. Jesus from the moment of the incarnation (when the Word became flesh) is both fully God and fully man. The Nicene Creed puts it this way, "I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being on one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man." Jesus is the God-man. After the resurrection he still held the two natures (God and man) that he held prior to his resurrection. The Epistles continue to refer to the resurrected and ascended Christ as the God-man. At the Last Day when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven, he will come as the God-man.
Pastor Jon

   Q: If a sinner must repent to be saved, does this mean that the sinner must DO something to receive salvation? Can an unrepentant sinner be saved?

   A: Thanks for your questions. The first question is clearly addressed in Eph. 2:8,9 where St. Paul writes,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not of works, so that no one can boast."

In other words, salvation is a gift of God and the sinner cannot do anything to earn it period. I would add, however, that repentance is a natural part of the Christian life. So believers, who are also sinners, will repent as the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin not because they have to in order to be saved but because they are saved by grace they will repent.

Secondly, the Greek word for repentance is "metanoia." Metanoia is a change of attitude which leads to a change in behavior. In other words, if I am walking in a path that leads me away from the Lord and I repent, I will turn around, change and go back. If I am unrepentant I choose to continue walking in the path that leads me away from the Lord. At the core of all unrepentance is the self exerting itself and basically saying "I choose my sin over a relationship with Jesus." Therefore the unrepentant will not enter the kingdom of God.
Pastor Jon

   Q: If God wants all people to be saved to be with Him, and that salvation is provided by God alone with no action by people. Why is it that some people are saved, and some people are not saved? Some come into a relation with Christ and some do not?

   A: Thanks for your question. You have hit upon what theologians have come to call the "Crux theologorum" the cross of the theologian. Which is the question: "Why are some saved and others are not?" The Bible presents the following answer: People are saved only by the Grace of God, through Faith in Jesus Christ. St. Paul tell us this is a gift, not of works lest anyone should boast. Eph. 2:8-9. The Bible also teaches that when a person is damned it is because they have rejected Jesus Christ and the gift of forgiveness and new life he offered through his death and resurrection. Mark 16:16 says, "he who does not believe shall be damned."

God sends the Holy Spirit, through His Word, to as many who hear or read it. We can, however, reject the Spirit's work and Jesus Christ as the free gift of God.

Human reason would lead us to believe that if we can reject Christ which leads to damnation, then we must also be able to accept Jesus and thus become saved. The Bible, however, teaches that this is not the case. Prior to our conversion, where the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and brings us to saving faith, we are spiritually dead and therefore are unable to accept Jesus as Lord. As I like to say in the information class, "dead people don't do a whole lot except decay." Once, however, the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts and brings us into the family of God we are also made spiritually alive. We can have a living relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can enjoy living in his will and doing those things that testify that God has indeed made us alive, he has indeed created faith in our hearts.

I hope this is helpful to you. And again, thanks for your great question.
Pastor Jon

   Q: What is your opinion regarding the physical age of the Earth and Charles Darwin's evolution theory?

   A: Thanks for your great questions. In regards to the physical age of the Earth, the Bible does not say how old the world is and since none of us were there to document the beginning it's anyone's guess. Lutherans are taught that "Where the Bible speaks we must speak, where the Bible is silent we must remain silent." The reason for this is that once we get away from the Bible as the source of our teaching (doctrine) we go into the realm of speculation which offers no assurance.

I personally believe in a "young earth" meaning I do not believe the world is as old as many evolutionists teach. I believe that when God created Adam and Eve they lived in a world which already had fully grown and mature trees, plants, shrubs, etc. Furthermore I believe the process for dating the earth's age is suspect because it makes assumptions that may not be true.

Your second question was about Darwinian evolution. The Bible says that the Lord God created the heavens and the earth during a six day period. To many this sounds impossible, and yet, we confess week after week that we believe in "God the Father, Almighty . . ." As the Almighty God he has the power to do whatever He wants to do. As we allow Scripture to speak for itself we learn that these six days are not ages or epochs they are six 24 our days as we define days. Although this may raise more questions than answers I nonetheless hold to the Biblical teaching of a six day creation.

I am often asked, "Well couldn't God have created the earth by using evolution?" The answer is obviously "yes, he could have. He is God the Father Almighty." The Bible, however, tells us he didn't create through evolution he merely spoke creation into existence. Again thanks for your questions.

Pastor Jon

Please see the LCMS FAQ for more questions and answers about the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church.