Southside Oracle Archive

Vol. 49, No 11             SOUTHSIDE ORACLE          May 12, 2006

The Bulletin Board

The Mother-Daughter Banquet is this Friday, May 12th at 6:30 p.m.

Praise and Palate, that ordinarily is the second Sunday evening, has been changed to the third Sunday evening for this month only.

The Christian Workers' Meeting will be at 9:00 a.m. next Tuesday, May 16th. The speakers will be Guy Marshall from Sheboygan on "The Book of Malachi" and Robert Wells from Northtown speaking on "The Spiritual Dimensions of Marriage."

ATTENDANCE RECORD

(*) first service, 148; second service, 103

The annual Southside Retreat will be at Fallhall Glen Memorial Day weekend, May 26 - 29. See the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board or contact John Dickson or Bill Eppler for details.

Address Change - Joaquin and Sarah Borges. Contact us for details.

Congratulations to Christina Anguiano on her graduation from York College last Saturday.

Can you help? The junior session of the Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp is in need of additional staff See Tim Shilts who is directing the session if you can help.

Calendar of Events

May 12 - Southside Mother/Daughter Banquet, 6:30 p.m.

May 16 - Christian Workers' Meeting, 9:00 a.m.

May 16 - Tuesday Nights Together, 6:15 p.m.

May 21 - Elders/deacons meeting, 4:30 p.m.

May 21 - Praise and Palate, 6:00 p.m.

May 26 - 29 - Memorial Day Southside retreat, Fallhall Glen

June 18 - July 1 - Junior session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp; Fallhall Glen

July 2 - 15 - Middle session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 12 - 19 - Mission trip to Dominican Republic

July 16 - 29 - Intermediate session, Wisconsin Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

July 30 - August 12 - Senior session, Wis. Christian Youth Camp, Fallhall Glen

The Meaning of Faith (1)

Some years ago I was present at a discussion centering on the role of faith and baptism in salvation from sin. One position advanced was that we are saved by faith alone, not by works, and since baptism is a work, it cannot be a part of the salvation process. Those advocating this view did not totally reject water baptism, but denied its relevance to salvation. Others with similar views would go farther and deny baptism in any form.

The core issue involved in this discussion is not the necessity of baptism, but the nature of saving faith. In these articles we will explore the question, and then relate it to the function of baptism.

Some history will help us understand the background of our topic. Medieval Catholic theologians propounded the theory of indulgences. This teaching, which we will not go into here, was based on the idea that salvation from sin can be earned by works of merit. John Tetzel, a papal emissary, traveled Northern Germany selling indulgences to raise funds to build St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. He proclaimed to the multitudes, "The very moment that the money clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purgatory and flies to heaven." He even went so far as to assert that an indulgence frees one from the future sin that one intends to commit. In 1517, Martin Luther, a teaching monk at the university of Wittenburg, reacted against this teaching and issued his famous 95 theses His study of Romans convinced him that salvation is on the basis of faith alone and that works proceed from that faith.

For teaching these and other views, Luther was excommunicated from his church and his followers soon began calling themselves Lutherans.

Much of the theology of the Protestant Reformation was based on Luther's understanding of the Scriptures. A close study of Romans must convince us with Luther that salvation is indeed on the basis of faith without regard to works of merit. But was Luther correct in affirming that we are saved by faith alone? This we will consider in our next article.      __Monroe E. Hawley

Are You God?

Joe was asked by a neighbor to drive her son to a hospital. Although he had other things planned, Joe didn't know how to say no. So he put the child in the car and started the fifty-mile journey. Suddenly the boy turned to him and shyly asked, "Are you God?" Startled Joe said no. The boy continued, "I heard Mom asking God for some way to get me to the doctor. If you are not God, do-you work for him?" Joe replied, "I guess so, sometimes. And now that you ask, I'll be doing a lot more of it." ___Pulpit Helps

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