tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post8057524437611500434..comments2024-03-29T04:31:15.219-05:00Comments on Pastoral Meanderings: Who pays the piper calls the tunes. . . Pastor Petershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10653554256101480140noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-28614004803963248282016-08-17T07:22:48.252-05:002016-08-17T07:22:48.252-05:00All of Christendom is hemorrhaging adherents. Not ...All of Christendom is hemorrhaging adherents. Not just the Catholic Church. I understand the point of the article...money doesn't buy membership...but this is a problem we all face, regardless of denomination. I don't know what will come. Perhaps more suffering and martyrdom before things get better. I hope not but it is possible and we should be prepared.<br /><br />I went to a parish in Athens, Greece. The building probably could hold about 150 parishioners...maybe 200 tops. They serve a community of 11,000 Orthodox. 11,000! I asked incredulously how they handled so a large volume of parishioners in the tiny building and the priest said, 'This is a wealthy part of Athens. For the wealthy, things are OK...they think they have less need of God.'Dixiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08511317203353075644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-37307842583579945622016-08-17T05:19:27.931-05:002016-08-17T05:19:27.931-05:00Being state churches is the whole problem, no matt...Being state churches is the whole problem, no matter what the history is. People associate the church with taxes. The German states served their purpose a long time ago. The answer would be the free churches, but Europe has a host of other problems, I.e. Secularism, immigrants who are hostile to Western ideas, etc.Ted Badjehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220879004715648795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-73226674863180562082016-08-16T18:45:41.803-05:002016-08-16T18:45:41.803-05:00The historical reason for the "church tax&quo...<br />The historical reason for the "church tax" is as a compensation to the "historical churches" (both Roman Catholic, but also Protestant [Lutheran, Reformed, and "Unionist"]) for the lands which they once owned, and which were unilaterally "secularized" during the French Revolution/ Napoleonic period. In return for the "church tax" these churches renounced all legal claims to these properties.William Tighehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16634494183165592707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-90247146642544847782016-08-16T10:54:15.730-05:002016-08-16T10:54:15.730-05:00I like the picture of the church in the article. ...I like the picture of the church in the article. Such massive buildings are expensive to maintain. Can you imagine if some of these ancient buildings also have heat/ac? That is another reason why there is a church tax. Church employees get paid by the state and function as sleepy civil servants. It really should be called a museum tax, and the priests are the curators.<br /><br />By the way, the EKD is the German version of the ELCA. The LCMS and members of the International Lutheran Council have nothing to do with the ELCA, nor with the EKD.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-17121793747128793432016-08-16T10:22:06.807-05:002016-08-16T10:22:06.807-05:00Chris
Fr Peters doesn't (and can't) speak...Chris<br /><br />Fr Peters doesn't (and can't) speak for the EKD. We Missouri Lutherans are not in communion with the EKD, because it is not in any meaningful sense a Lutheran body. It is, rather, "a federation of twenty Lutheran, Reformed, and United (Prussian Union) Protestant regional and denominational Churches" (per Wikipedia). Instead, we are in communion with the independent, confessional independent Lutheran Church (Selbständige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche -- SELK).<br /><br />Perhaps the SELK is hemorrhaging members as fast as or faster than the Roman Catholics and liberal Protestant groups like EKD; I don't know. But if you are going to give Fr Peters a <i>tu quoque</i>, at least make sure you identify the "tu" correctly.Chris Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03220498656377282715noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-36413407264793351652016-08-16T09:11:15.257-05:002016-08-16T09:11:15.257-05:00You should talk, Fr. Peters. The "Lutheran&q...You should talk, Fr. Peters. The "Lutheran" church in Germany, the EDK, is also losing members hand over fist and has been for quite some time. They also have failed to catechize, teach, preach, etc. Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07737698278079495810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-72098133973839305702016-08-16T08:39:25.105-05:002016-08-16T08:39:25.105-05:00The Bible clearly addresses the issue of prosperou...The Bible clearly addresses the issue of prosperous churches with a lukewarm message. To see what happens, please open your Bible to the Book of Revelation.John Joseph Flanaganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06596324816480709495noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329600504016968888.post-48155485489013846672016-08-16T08:06:34.146-05:002016-08-16T08:06:34.146-05:00Something the Rick Warrens and Bill Hybels, and th...Something the Rick Warrens and Bill Hybels, and the like would do well to heed. It is disturbing the "churches" of Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Ken Copeland and even those mentioned in the first sentence (plus MANY more) do not have the Gospel. They are in error or heretical and if their faithful desert, they simply move to another similar group. Money has never bought salvation. Pope Francis is still selling indulgences. Indeed, a new Reformation is needed in Europe AND in America. Janis Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02947508427040251166noreply@blogger.com