Ask the Pastor: The Chosen People; IHS; Procrastination; The Third and Fourth Generations
by the Rev. Walter Snyder
Religion Columnist

Q: I remember my pastor from many years ago said that Jews would not go to heaven because they
didn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God. Yet the Bible says that they are the "chosen
people." What do you think of this?

A: They are chosen---but most of them have chosen to go a way other than the Way, Jesus Christ.
Those who do not have Christ have ignored the Bible's promises concerning him---promises first
given to Israel.

Paul commented on this, lamenting Israel's rejection of its own seed, the Messiah and speaking of
how the whole body of believers in Christ is now "Israel." Here's what he said in Romans 9:1--8:
"I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy
Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself
were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. They are
Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the
worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the
flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen.

"But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel
belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but
'Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.' This means that it is not the children of the
flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants."

Q: Please explain the origin and meaning of the letters "IHS" found on the  front of the altar in
our church.

A: Many churches have these initials in stained glass, on altars, or on crosses  (there's a
particular model of a brass cross that I've seen countless times in churches and in church
catalogs that has the "IHS" at the intersection of the pole with the cross bar). With the
exception of an actual corpus (body of Christ), these letters are probably among the most
appropriate things to display on a cross. Why? They are actually the Greek letters iota, eta, and
sigma ("i," long "e" or "ay," and "s" sounds in English) and are the first three letters of the
name "Jesus" in Greek. Greek is an inflected language and the ending changes depending upon
whether a noun is a subject, an object or another part of speech. These first three letters are
constant in all instances.

Q: I was wondering if you could give me some verses in the Bible about procrastination.

A: The Proverbs are full of them, as is much of Ecclesiastes. A favorite of mine, from the King
James, is Proverbs 6:6--11: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which
having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the
harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little
sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that
travelleth, and thy want as an armed man."

Jesus reminds us that salvation is not a matter of "wait until I'm ready, Lord" in Matthew 8:21--22.
Likewise, the judgment passages in Matthew (see 24:45--51 and 25:1--13) remind us to always be ready
and about our Father's business. See also 1 Thessalonians 5:2--3 and Hebrews 3:7--19 and 4:1--7.

Q: When the Bible talks about "suffering" from the sins of our fathers (to the third or fourth
generation), what does it mean? I'm not sure about the texts, but I know I've heard it several
times. Are we plagued with the sins of our great-grandparents without even realizing it? How do we
break these sins, if they've been passed on to us?

I think that many modern translations do an injustice to the text in Exodus 20. Often they speak
of "punishing" the succeeding generations. The older translations, such as the King James, speak
of "visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children." This catches more of the sense of a
word that has searching, hunting, taking care of, longing, or avenging as some part of its
meaning.

God doesn't necessarily promise to extend punishment. He is also talking about the generational
effects of sin and his judgment on it. We see quite often, with child abuse, spouse abuse, drug use,
and other sins and crimes that the visitation still lingers through the generations. It is likely
that in all families, the children of Adam still face the consequences of certain sins of previous
generations, even as all of us are born inheriting the original sin of Adam himself.

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."

Ask the Pastor is copyright (c) 2001 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced  in totality,
including this disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication
and redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States and
any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions concerning the
property of others.