{"id":672,"date":"2010-03-05T14:48:30","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T21:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=672"},"modified":"2010-03-05T15:43:27","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T22:43:27","slug":"cross-niagara-v-cross-resurrection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=672","title":{"rendered":"Cross Niagara v. Cross &#038; Resurrection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cJesus invites each of us <strong>to climb on his shoulders<\/strong> so he can carry us from sinfulness to God\u2019s eternal grace. It is by faith that <strong>each of us chooses<\/strong> whether to climb on Jesus\u2019 shoulders and let him take us there,\u201d writes an ELCA pastor in <em>The Lutheran <\/em>(March 2010, p.3).<\/p>\n<p>This article is part of <em>The Book of Faith <\/em>series on how to use the Bible. The author says that \u201cMartin Luther suggested that Bible verses pulling in opposite directions create a <strong>tension<\/strong> that enables readers to better understand the message of grace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The message of grace: Life is like a tightrope over Niagara   Falls. While we can\u2019t get from sin to grace ourselves, we can choose to climb on Jesus\u2019 shoulders and let him carry us.<\/p>\n<p>Is this really our dilemma and the solution? Is this how Luther resolves the <strong>tension<\/strong>? Is this the right way to read Scripture?<\/p>\n<p>No. The cross shows us that we cannot choose rightly or climb on Jesus\u2019 shoulders.<\/p>\n<p>Our dilemma as <strong>Luther<\/strong> said: I believe that I <strong>cannot<\/strong> by my own understanding or effort <strong>climb<\/strong> on Jesus\u2019 shoulders or choose him (<em>Small Catechism, <\/em>Third Article).<\/p>\n<p>The real gospel: God snatches us.<\/p>\n<p>As <strong>Luther<\/strong> writes: \u201cThus we see what a great and excellent thing Baptism is, which <strong>snatches<\/strong> us from the jaws of the devil\u2026.\u201d (<em>Large Catechism, <\/em>Fourth Part, Infant Baptism, 83, p. 446, Tappert edition).<\/p>\n<p>Thank God my salvation does not depend on\u00a0 choosing Jesus or climbing on his shoulders. Read <a href=\"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/2006\/WorshipResources\/Godsnatchesus.pdf\" target=\"_blank\"> here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cJesus invites each of us to climb on his shoulders so he can carry us from sinfulness to God\u2019s eternal grace. It is by faith that each of us chooses whether to climb on Jesus\u2019 shoulders and let him take us there,\u201d writes an ELCA pastor in The Lutheran (March 2010, p.3). This article is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=672"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}