Perri Nelson

I will be returning to my “Bad News” series in the near future. For now though, this is on my heart, and I think it needs to be said. Please note, I am NOT educated in theology, church history, or doctrine. I am a Christian though, and believe that God’s word is clear and understandable. I am willing to be taught, and to have my opinions refuted, but for now I strongly hold to what I write here below.

Yesterday I began a discussion of a newspaper clipping and a tract that I received between the pages of “The Book of Concord”. In particular I addressed the statement, “Even to raise the question about the age at which children can make some kind of rational personal commitment to Christ is to reveal the questioner as the product of a much later Western mindset guided by individualistic and rationalistic models.” Today, I want to continue the discussion by addressing some of the content of the tract. Later on I will address the other claims in that short little newspaper clipping as well.

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I will be returning to my “Bad News” series in the near future. For now though, this is on my heart, and I think it needs to be said. Please note, I am NOT educated in theology, church history, or doctrine. I am a Christian though, and believe that God’s word is clear and understandable. I am willing to be taught, and to have my opinions refuted, but for now I strongly hold to what I write here below.

Glenn Chatfield is a Christian Blogger who pretty regularly gives away books from his library. He recently sent me a copy of “The Book of Concord”. I had requested it because I am interested in church history and the various denominations, and thought that this would be a great opportunity to look into the Lutheran Church. Inside the book were two newspaper clippings and a short tract. One of the clippings was about “proper” forms of contraception. It is an argument that while we are commanded to be fruitful and multiply, certain forms of contraception, those that prevent conception in the first place rather than preventing the implantation of a fertilized ovum into the uterus, are acceptable and not inherently sinful to use. The other clipping and the tract were on the subject of baptizing children. When I asked Glenn about it his response was that he hadn’t even realized that the clippings and tract were in the book, or he would have removed them, but that he thought that they were refutations of the Lutheran church’s stance on contraception and infant baptism.

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