Ask the Pastor: Old-Time Religions; Millennialism; Why Breasts?
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: Is Islam older than Christianity? Which is the oldest religion and which is newest?

A: Islam is a latter-day mingling of Christianity, Judaism, and Arab religion and superstition. As
for religions, the oldest is that of the world, which Martin Luther called "enthusiasm," or looking into
oneself or a source other than the true God and his Word for knowledge, guidance, and protection.
Adam and Eve were thus the first enthusiasts as they disregarded the clear word of the Lord.

The oldest (and only) true religion is Christianity. Until the coming of Jesus in the flesh, this
faith began when sinners trusted in the promise of the One to come who would crush the Serpent's
head and who believed God as he made his promises to them, starting with Adam and Eve believing.
Some of this recorded in the early part of Genesis and the beginning of Hebrews 11. Faith in this
Messiah was part of the faith of Israel as revealed by God through the patriarchs, Moses, the
prophets, and the holy authors of the Old Testament Scriptures. Judaism is actually only a partial
form of the faith of the Hebrews which grew out of the Babylonian Captivity. However, when the
Jews rejected Jesus as the promised Christ (or Messiah), they ceased being possessors of true religion.

Many groups claim to be the oldest formally organized religion. Some are older than the
Jews, but since they do not claim Jesus as Son of God and Savior, they are false religions. As for the
newest, I'd be hard pressed to answer, since new variations of age-old falsehoods continually arise.
This century has seen pseudo-Christian supremacy groups, Marxism, the Unification Church,
Scientology, and more all claim to bring some universal "truth" that is no truth to people.

Q: What is the Lutheran understanding of Millennialism?

A: Article XVII of the Augsburg Confession states: "[Lutherans] teach that at the
Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment, and will raise up all the dead; He will
give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, but ungodly men and the devils He will
condemn to be tormented without end. They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be
an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils. They condemn also others who are now
spreading certain Jewish opinions, that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall take
possession of the kingdom of the world, the ungodly being everywhere suppressed."

To this, The Lutheran Church---Missouri Synod added the words of the Brief Statement
(1932): "With the Augsburg Confession (Art. XVII) we reject every type of Millennialism, or Chiliasm,
the opinions that Christ will return visibly to this earth a thousand years before the end of the world
and establish a dominion of the Church over the world; or that before the end of the world the
Church is to enjoy a season of special prosperity; or that before a general resurrection on Judgment
Day a number of departed Christians or martyrs are to be raised again to reign in glory in this world;
or that before the end of the world a universal conversion of the Jewish nation (of Israel according to
the flesh) will take place.

"Over against this, Scripture clearly teaches, and we teach accordingly, that the kingdom of
Christ on earth will remain under the cross until the end of the world (Act 14:22; John 16:33; 18:36;
Luke 9:23; 14:27; 17:20-37; 2 Tim. 4:18; Heb. 12:28; Luke 18:8); that the second visible coming
of the Lord will be His final advent, His coming to judge the quick and the dead (Matt. 24:29, 30;
25:31; 2 Tim. 4:1; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 9:26-28); that there will be but one resurrection of the dead,
(John 5:28; 6:39, 40); that the time of the Last Day is, and will remain, unknown (Matt. 24:42;
25:13; Mark 13:32, 37; Acts 1:7); which would not be the case if the Last Day were to come a
thousand years after the beginning of a millennium; and that there will be no general conversion, a
conversion en masse, of the Jewish nation (Rom. 11:7; 2 Cor. 3:14; Rom. 11:25; 1 Thess. 2:16).

"According to these clear passages of Scripture we reject the whole of Millennialism, since it
not only contradicts Scripture, but also engenders a false conception of the kingdom of Christ, turns
the hope of Christians upon earthly goals (1 Cor. 15:19; Col. 3:2), and leads them to look upon the
Bible as an obscure book."

Q: Why did God give breasts to women?

A: Functionally, the only reason I can see is for them to nurse their young. If men also find
them attractive, this may be an added benefit. And perhaps many men find them attractive because
God wants us to then desire our own young to be nursed on a woman's breasts.

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."