Are You a Heretic?

It's Monday. The beginning of another week of service in my life as a curriculum editor for Concordia Publishing House. I am grateful for my opportunity to serve at CPH and relish the challenge of creating resource for Sunday School teachers and students that teach God's Word accurately, clearly, and age-appropriately. I am often humbled by the responsibility my call represents.

For, you see, I am a heretic at heart. My sinful nature seek always to corrupt my work. It is so easy for bad theology to raise it's ugly head. How do I cope with that?

• I give thanks for and use the best tools I can in my work, including The Lutheran Study Bible, the Concordia Commentary series, and often the Christian Cyclopedia (though the on-line version once found through the LCMS Web site seems to no longer be available).





• I rely on my colleagues. CPH has a system of "second edits" and "senior editor reviews," and copyediting and proofreading, through which knowledgeable colleagues review the material I have written or edited.





• I treasure our system of doctrinal review. Independent, anonymous theologians appointed by our synod's president review every product with theological content that we publish. The insights of these reviewers are universally helpful in teaching God's Word accurately.





• I respond with unfeigned gratitude to the constructive criticism of those who purchase and use the resouces I help prepare.

At times I cringe at the resources mentioned or even recommended by others in our LCMS circles, including various teachers, principals, and DCEs. I would like to think they know better, and I try to cut them some slack because I am a heretic at heart. Only by God's grace am I able to assist in the production of material that teaches God's Word in all its truth and purity. And, at least occasionally, I fail. Like all Christians, I rely on God's forgiveness and mercy, and I trust His Spirit's power to use the resources I prepare to teach God's children His Word.

What steps do you take to ensure that the material used to teach God's children are faithful to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions?