Fallen From the Desk of Pastor Wayne

I love to study the Bible.  In some small part, I believe I have the Jehovah’s Witnesses to thank for this

blessing in my life.  I grew up in Brooklyn, NY where the Watchtower Publishing House is located and for years, every Saturday, teams of Jehovah’s Witnesses would canvas our neighborhood, ringing each bell and knocking on every door up and down the blocks.  My mother would see them coming and would close the blinds and drapes in the porch, turn out the lights and try to make the house look like no one was home.  I didn’t know any better, so when they’d ring our

doorbell, I’d just go and open up the door and be

polite like I was taught.  (I probably felt a little

camaraderie with those folks because every year I would have to go door-to-door to help sell chocolate bars for our church basketball program.)  So despite all of my mom’s best efforts to pretend no one was home, next thing I was out on the front stoop talking to these very polite Jehovah’s Witnesses reviewing their latest copy of the Watchtower.  I would talk to them for hours.  The problems was that despite our both being “Christians” and our use of the Holy Bible, somehow my form of Christianity was not quite good enough in their eyes and my Bible wasn’t as good as theirs.  I would run back into the house and get my blue Bible that I received early on in Sunday School and to my surprise, it read differently than theirs. 

Forgive me for bragging, but I had them stumped a time or two and the next week they’d be back with some more knowledgeable JW and our Bible battles would resume.  I remember being told that only 144,000 people would be allowed into heaven.  Their Biblical proof for that was pretty vacuous, but then I asked how may Jehovah Witnesses there were around the world and was told there were “millions”.  Now math has never been my strongpoint but millions

vying for 144,000 spots seemed like

uncharacteristically poor planning on God’s part.  Eventually, they stopped ringing our doorbell, and as you all well know, I’ve gone on to bore to tears

countless others with my Biblical acumen throughout the years.

 

While a recent polling of our own members identified Bible study as something strongly desired by our members, past attempts at both evening and daytime sessions dwindled to three each; and I’m really sure these folks are going to heaven no matter how wild

they may have been in their youth.  I would like to propose a practice common to college and graduate level studies — Independent Study.    In lieu of attending scheduled classes, this is where the student and

professor identify a textbook, authors or

bibliographies that the student commits to read,

routinely updating and conferring with the professor, attending a few specific lectures here and there, and then taking a final exam to justify the 3 credits sought by the student.  Sans the exam, I would welcome

sitting with any and all interested folks in helping

select areas of interest and the resources, publications and books that can afford a quality scholarly foray into that field.  {I spent a lot of money getting this Biblical education and I hate to see that money go to waste.  Quite honestly, my ministry often involves answering questions more suited to a social worker than that of a Biblical scholar.  So help me make my seminary

professors proud...}

 

Take your pick:  The Parables of Jesus, the Miracles of Jesus, the Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, the books of Genesis, Exodus, the letters of Paul, the

letters NOT by Paul, the Gospels, the early Christians, the history of Christianity, the history of Lutheranism and the Reformation, the Writings and Sermons of Luther, the influence of Philip Melancthon, Lutheran Social Statements, Christian Spiritual Disciplines, Prayer life..., you name it, we can help feed your

spiritual hunger to grow in faith.  There are wonderful Biblical commentaries available, ESPECIALLY through our own Lutheran Publishing House known as Augsburg Fortress.  Lutheran have and continue to excel in the field of biblical scholarship.  I invite those interested to visit the “online store” at www.augsburgfortress.org to review the catalog of

exceptional resources they offer.  We could even

establish a church bookstore on our own campus that could carry their best sellers as well as more standard resources and tools available for Bible study.

 

I humbly invite you to cultivate your own independent Bible study because it will deepen your faith, it will be a blessing in your life, it will provide strengths to face the struggles ahead and comforts when distressed.  One of Luther’s gifts to Christians everywhere was to place in each of our hands the Word of God in

familiar words that we can read and understand for ourselves.  Let’s not leave that precious gift unopened.