<> Ask the Pastor The Rev. Walter Snyder Q: How do you respond to the "health and wealth" gospel I hear on TV and radio? Specifically, that Christians are divine beings in the same way as Jesus, having the power to use the "force" of faith, through spoken words, to master our circumstances? A: "I am surprised that you are so quickly leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to another kind of gospel, which is really not gospel [good news] at all. Rather, there are some men who are troubling you by wanting to change the Gospel ["Good News"] of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any other gospel than the one we preached, a curse be upon him! I say again what we said before: If anyone preaches any other gospel that the one you received, a curse be on him! (Galatians 1:6--9)" Health, wealth, and any earthly success are wondrous gifts of God. However, they are *~gifts~*, not ours by right nor by manipulation. Also, they are secondary gifts. Not all people, even all Christians, are blessed with them. The true Gift is Christ himself and the true Gospel forgiveness in his Name. We take up our crosses and follow him---and though we don't like to face it, the fact is that the cross brings trials and suffering. Earthly glory is fleeting ("the grass withers, the flower fades") and is often of the devil (e.g., Jesus' temptation in in Mt. 3; Mk. 1; Lk. 4). Q: I read in Bible concordances that Baptize is the Greek word, ~baptizo~, which means "immerse." Doesn't that make Baptism by definition, immersion? How can you immerse an infant in water when they can drown in a few feet? Whether or not you believe infants inherited sin isn't the point, the definition of ~baptizo~ is. A: Concordances don't agree: Many list "wash" or"apply water" as the primary definition. Also, secular usage doesn't define the Scriptural or churchly term. Some insist that Jesus was immersed in the Jordan River. No eyewitness accounts say anything but that he was "baptized." At many times and places, the Jordan is so shallow that the only way to immerse would be to lay someone down on the river bottom and bury his face in the silt. Many early Christian baptistries or fonts were too small for adult immersion: The recipient knelt in the water and had more poured over himself. As for immersing children, this was common practice in much of Christendom. The old fonts were wide and deep enough to pass a child through completely underwater. If you do it fairly quickly, smoothly, and head-first, there's little chance of a problem---even if you do it three times, once for each Person of the Holy Trinity. Q: "Jesus answered him, '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and most important commandment. The next is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.' (Matthew 22:37--40)" Don't churches teach that we are not to love ourselves; at least anything that resembles pride is to be avoided? If I am to love my neighbor as myself, I would think that I am to love myself. How can I do this without pride entering the picture? A: "Love" is not only a many-splendored thing. It is also variously defined. This is especially true when Scripture uses several words which are rendered in English as "love." The root of "love" in Matthew 22 is ~agapao~. It has to do with non-reciprocal love. Ultimately, it is divine love, God's love for the unloving and unlovable sinner (e.g., me). It's doing the right thing for the right reason. It's the love of the Samaritan for his wounded Jewish neighbor. It's the love of Christ which led him to the cross. It is also, in weakened, human form, the kind of love most parents have for even their most disobedient or rebellious child. Paul wrestles with self-love and self-loathing in the closing verses of Romans 7. Verses 22--25 say, "In my inner being I delight in God's Law, but all through the parts of my body I see another law fighting against the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner to the law of sins which exists in the parts of my body. What a miserable person I am! Who will rescue me from this body which brings death? Thanks be to God---He does it through our Lord Jesus Christ! So on the one hand I serve the Law of God in my mind, but on the other I serve the law of sin with my flesh." Godly love is created, sustained, enacted in and through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no vanity in being a redeemed sinner. Rather, the love of God in Christ moves us to treat even the most unlovable person with divine love. As John says, "We love because God first loved us." It is "the law of sin" which loves the self with pride and foolish vanity. Our pride, our "boasting" is in Christ alone. Along with Paul, all of us poor, miserable sinners who are also the redeemed of God will struggle throughout our lives, until God calls us home, rescuing us from "this body which brings death." That's it for now. You can submit questions by mail to "Ask the Pastor," PO Box 1080, Jasper, Texas, 75951; E-mail xrysostom@aol.com; or just stop me on the street. Walter Snyder is the pastor of St. Paul and Faith Lutheran Churches in Jasper and Woodville, Texas and coauthor of the book "What Do Lutherans Believe? A Study Guide in Christian Teachings for Adults." Copyright (c) 1999 by Walter P. Snyder Permission is granted by author to reproduce or retransmit this by any means, provided that its content is not altered, that this notice of copyright and permission is included, and that no financial gain is realized.