Rachel Held Evans, 37-year old mother of two, died yesterday; I prefer to remember Aaron D. Wolf, 45-year old father of six, who died on Easter

The LCMS Calls a Post a Post:

Liberal onlookers will never understand or accept the public and decisive condemnation of [same sex] heresy, because they hate Christian doctrine with the zeal of a fundamentalist.  It is not enough for them to mock the Bible and its teachings; they cannot fathom the continued existence of a millennia-old religion that, when pressed, refuses to embrace everything it has always opposed.  They clutch their pearls and express surprised horror whenever a conservative church body like the Missouri Synod expels someone for repeatedly and openly violating its clearly stated beliefs. ... [T]he liberals are winning in the public square.  But they can never win in our churches, so long as faithful clergy and laity stand up to them boldly, decisively—and swiftly, before damage is done.

 

Red Letter Rachel is preoccupied with the wrong first person

Rachel Held Evans, quoted here:

My mother used to tell me that we weren’t the type of people to air out our dirty laundry.

What she meant was good Southern girls didn’t go around talking about their troubles or divulging their secrets.

But this is a cultural idiom, not a Christian one.

We Christians don’t get to send our lives through the rinse cycle before showing up to church.

We come as we are–no hiding, no acting, no fear.

We come with our materialism, our pride, our petty grievances against our neighbors, our hypocritical disdain for those judgmental people in the church next door.

We come with our fear of death, our desperation to be loved, our troubled marriages, our persistent doubts, our preoccupation with status and image.

We come with our addictions–to substances, to work, to affirmation, to control, to food.

We come with our differences, be they political, theological, racial, or socioeconomic.

We come in search of sanctuary, a safe place to shed the masks and exhale.

We come to air our dirty laundry before God and everybody because when we do it together we don’t have to be afraid.

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". . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling . . . whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

-- Philippians 2:12; 4:8

Rachel Held Evans joins the enemies of Christ

Quoted here:

"I felt drawn to the Episcopal church because it offered some practices I felt were missing in my evangelical experience, like space for silence and reflection, a focus on Christ’s presence at the communion table as the climax and center of every worship service, opportunities for women in leadership, and the inclusion of LGBT people."

The formerly pro-slavery denomination has blessed same-sex unions since December 2012.

I Doubt Rachel Held Evans Would Follow The Real Jesus Even If She Met Him

No one else has.

In "Why Millennials Are Leaving The Church" here:

"You can’t hand us a latte and then go about business as usual and expect us to stick around. We’re not leaving the church because we don’t find the cool factor there; we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there. Like every generation before ours and every generation after, deep down, we long for Jesus."

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You mean this one?

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

-- Matthew 19:21f.

The authenticity sought by the young is ever disappointed, but not until they are older and take a good long look in the mirror and meet all the hypocrites they've ever known.