Keith Waaraniemi | The Voice of Zion October 2018 --
Our sister organization, the SRK in Finland, published a new book this past summer, Christ is the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever: Writings on the Basics of Faith and Doctrine. The book contains a number of writings by different authors. It was edited by Ari-Pekka Palola.
As its Foreword explains, the book opens the message of the Bible and the Reformation on how God justifies a sinful person. The basic message of the book arises from the words of Apostle Paul: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). The perspective of the righteousness of faith provides the context for the various chapters.
The 500th anniversary of the Reformation (celebrated in 2017) is one factor in publishing this book. In addition, over the years, a need for doctrinal discussion on how we believe and teach has also arisen among younger and older generations within Conservative Laestadianism. Thus the need became clear for a thorough work covering central doctrinal points.
The purpose of the book is to describe simply and clearly how we believe and teach, and to explain what our understanding is based on. The book also aims to explain to the reader the concepts related to central questions of faith. The goal of the book is to encourage believers endeavoring in this time and to show that our Christianity travels “in the footsteps of the former saints.”
After this book was published, North American believers have expressed much interest in seeing it published in English for the same reasons mentioned above. The Pastoral Committee and Publications staff have developed a plan to use volunteers and LLC staff to translate, edit, and publish the book chapter by chapter beginning with the January 2019 issue of The Voice of Zion. In this way, pieces of the book will become available to readers sooner than if we were to translate the entire book before publication. We look forward to this series and pray that these freshly written articles on timeless topics will edify the congregation and help each of us in our endeavor of faith all the way to heaven’s home.