Mothers Don’t Let Your Babies Grow up to be Presbyterians

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

So sang Willie and Waylon about cowboys, buy you can be a Confessional Lutheran and be a cowboy. The same can’t be said of being a Presbyterian. Never the twain shall meet. The thing conservative Presbyterians are closest to meeting is Unitarianism. I say this after visiting Redeemer Presbyterian, Austin, Texas. Continue reading →

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Execrabilis     

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

That is the title of a papal bull of 1460. Its name comes from the opening word of the Latin text declaring it “execrable” to appeal to a council concerning a papal ruling.  No confessional Lutheran is a Catholic, big “C” but we are Execrabilis. Continue reading →

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Two Blogs in One: Another Letter Not from the Trashcan & Bombs Away

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

This is a June 27, 2000 letter I sent to the Austin American Statesman, and they published it. They titled it.  Medicated society 

       We now have a pill to kill children in the womb (‘FDA approves abortion pill,’ Sept. 29). This is in addition to a pill to keep children from being conceived and one to control them if they do manage to somehow escape the other two. Pity we have yet to make a pill to control adults who cannot control themselves. Rev. Paul R. Harris, Austin Continue reading →

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Luther in a Second Language

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

In reading Albrecht Peters’ Ten Commandments I was surprised by some of what he told me Luther believed, taught, or confessed. At first I thought this might be due to the translator, but it was Holger K. Sonntag whom I know to be a native German speaker and a faithful theologian. So, look out 2017. Us non-German speakers may be surprised by the German Luther. Continue reading →

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Visit to a Calvinistic Baptist Church – A High Point

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

Finally, after visiting a Pentecostal Church, a Bible Church, a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Church, Redeemer Presbyterian, and St. Albert the Great Catholic church, I heard the Gospel proclaimed clearly, more than once, and not as adjunct to something else. It was at High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, Texas. Continue reading →

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Send Me Romans and I’ll Send You John or Money – An Open Letter to All Missionaries Seeking Money

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I have been bombarded in the last two years with LCMS pastors seeking funding for their mission field. My response is “Send me the Book of Romans.” Continue reading →

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A Laughing Matter that isn’t Funny

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I have a thirty-year-old cartoon in my files from Christianity Today. It depicts an absolutely frazzled man on the edge of a bed, phone plastered to his ear, with a freaked-out expression. The caption is: “My wife just left me, I lost my job, I need surgery, and my spirits have hit bottom! Pastor, you’ve gotta help me. What’s the difference between pre-, post, and amillennialism?” That is a laughing matter that isn’t. Continue reading →

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Spiritual Pornography?

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

I know I have a blog referring to Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion as spiritual pornography (3-13-08), and I’m sure I have referred to Guideposts magazine that way in Bible Classes. I note that no pastor worth his salt would not confront a Playboy magazine lying on a member’s coffee table, but many, myself included, have let Guideposts so slumber. I did so under the rubric of how to treat sleeping dogs and the fact that Guideposts was usually found in the homes of the elderly who have long known that dog as a pet. Then I read it. Continue reading →

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Levels

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

There is a “Seinfeld” episode in which Kramer is obsessed with levels particularly having them in his apartment. It was the usual send-up. Perhaps, though, we should pay more attention to levels. Continue reading →

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Consumer Reports is Inaccurate

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Rev. Paul R. Harris

If you know anything about Consumer Reports, the magazine and the research group that supports them, you know they are fiercely independent. They accept no advertisement so that they can’t be accused of bias. Well I’m here to tell you they are. Continue reading →

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