The House of God Or Animal House?

The fad has been around for a while, but is becoming more prevalent. Some churches are going to the dogs—literally. We are speaking of the sacrilegious practice of bringing animals to church for a blessing. These same churches that show such an inordinate sentimentality for soulless creatures might well show a little more concern for the souls of the humans they are meant to serve. It is a sad but revealing development among such churches, that when they have lost the Gospel they have to resort to some kind of entertainment—and everybody loves a circus.

Reporting on a much publicized animal blessing at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan, the Religious News Service said: “This year's pet procession brought about 3,500 human participants and an uncountable number of fuzzy, furry, prickly and scaly friends… The festive day ended with dogs, cats, humans, cows and all the rest of the animals lining up on the lawn outside for personal christening.” That may have been the largest of such “services,” but the same idea has been promoted on a smaller scale even in some Lutheran (ELCA) churches. The practice at best is a demeaning of the purpose of Christ's Church. That it has a pantheistic element can be detected in such a comment as was made by one of its promoters: “We host the event because we want to celebrate the connection between humans and nature.” One wonders whether the promoters have been so influenced by evolutionistic teaching that they can no longer distinguish between humans and animals.

A good pet can be a blessing for its owner. We can cite any number of examples, such as seeing eye dogs or hunting dogs. Pets are known also to have a therapeutic affect for people in rest homes and the like. They do have a beneficial function in our world. But to receive a divine blessing? That should be reserved for that special created work of God into which “He breathed the breath of life” “and man became a living soul” (Gensis 2:7).

Nature Religion On Display In New Museum

A new museum in honor of the American Indian was dedicated recently in Washington, D.C. The impressive 254,000 sq. ft. edifice is made of light brown limestone (otherwise known as Kasota stone found in quarries at Kasota, MN). The Christian Century magazine sees some connection in the subtle earth tones of the museum and the spiritual undercurrent on exhibit there. The magazine observes that the building “features a permanent exhibition that highlights how spiritual beliefs and values merge with the everyday life of native peoples across the Western Hemisphere.” That the museum intends to convey American Indian spirituality is suggested in the comment of its director: “Spirituality is really a rather fundamental tenet of native life. It imbues everything, as far as I'm concerned.”

A teacher on Indian culture gives a good description of American Indian spirituality when he says, “Everything has a spirit and everything is interconnected.” This kind of religion has been adopted by some extreme environmentalists, who have substituted love of nature for love of God. They make use of the native American's pantheism to develop an environmental “religion” and speak of the “sacredness of nature.” The bottom line is this: The native religion of the American Indian is incompatible with the Christian religion. Attempts to harmonize the two result in a false and misleading spirituality. The American Indian needs to know the Triune God and the Father’s Savior Son.

Should Christians visit the museum? By all means, if they have the opportunity. But as they do so, they might do it with a prayer that the light of God's Word would dispel the darkness of nature religion.

The Texas Remnant

For nearly twenty years a group of LCMS pastors in Texas have published a little paper called “Concord.” Its purpose was to discuss theological issues “in the light of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions with the goal of generating honest discussion that could bring about ‘concord’; that is, unanimity in doctrine and confession among us.” But what once was called “Concord” is now to be called “The Remnant.” How come? One of the editors explains: “The editors have concluded that concord will no longer be in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.” Hence, their paper states, “We go now to The Remnant, those who seek to hold fast to the Scriptures and the Confessions of the Lutheran Church.” Their expressed prayer is that God would give them the grace to encourage the remnant to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23), “exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (10:25). We can only hope that the “Remant” in Texas will bear fruit and that this doesn't become just another Alamo.