Ask the Pastor: Things not Found in Scripture: Accepting Jesus, Adam's "Other" Wife, Mary's Mother
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: At about any church they teach that you have to accept Jesus to be saved. Where do
they think they are getting that? I can't believe that they are finding it in the Bible.

A: This has long been a point of contention among those who call themselves Christian. You
don't say what your church membership is, but it doesn't sound like the Lutheran Church. What the
Lutheran Church teaches---based upon our understanding of Scripture---is not that people "accept
Jesus." Rather, the Father accepts us for the sake of Jesus' suffering and death and the Holy Spirit
works through Holy Baptism and the Gospel to convert people to faith in Christ and the salvation he
has won.

Jesus sometimes appears to be a matter of our choice, since it may "feel" as if you have
accepted him. This is because the living and active Word of God and the Holy Spirit change those
who are dead in sin and closed to Christ into believers who discover Jesus in their lives. Thus, we
move "toward" Jesus because he has moved into our hearts. Therefore, I would not say that one can
accept Jesus unless one has first been accepted by God and been made a believer by divine action.

Q: Did Adam have a first wife named Lillith? If so, can I find out about her in the Bible?

A: Lillith is a mixture of Babylonian mythology, the non-Biblical writings of certain rabbis,
certain people's crude sexual fantasies, and much else having nothing at all to do with the Scriptures.
She is especially featured in kabbalistic (magical or sorcerous) Jewish writings of the medieval period.

Sometimes she was said to be made from Adam, as was Eve---or even two different Eves!
Others assigned her to an independent creation by God. Some writers claimed that Adam rejected
her because she was too sexually domineering and that God made a more passive model the second
time. Others said that she was demonic almost from the beginning and one branch of kabbalistic
literature made her out to be a slayer of children---even her own, if she could find no others.

She has become inspiration for such varied things as lesbian vampire stories, portions of the
women's liberation movement, and the tour of various women's rock acts staging daylong concerts
under the banner of "Lillith Fair."

However, if we let Scripture speak for itself, we must dismiss these psycho-sexual-demonic
stories as trashy fables of yesteryear. We might also wonder about those who struggle so hard to keep
the name of Lillith alive and who try to push her even more into popular culture. Instead, we are
better off returning to God's own story of creating Adam and Eve and the two becoming one flesh.

Q: Where in the Bible is mention made of Mary's mother?

A: Church tradition has given us the name of Anne as the mother of Mary the mother of
God. It was to this Saint Anne that Martin Luther allegedly prayed when caught in a violent
thunderstorm and promised that if he were spared, he would become a monk.

By tradition Joachim is named as Mary's father. We have no historical, Biblical evidence of
any elements of the lives of Mary's parents, including their names. Any stories about Mary's father
and mother come to us only through legend and tradition.

The oldest story comes from a document called the Gospel of James, though in no way
should this document be considered to be historical or the Word of God. The legend in this story
says that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would
have a child. Much as Hannah dedicated Samuel, Anne promised to dedicate this child to God.

To Ask the Pastor, please write Ask the Pastor, PO Box 12, Emma, MO, 65327 or send
email to askthepastor@aol.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."