"laestadian, apostolic, gay, lgbtq, ex-oalc, ex-llc, llc, oalc, bunner" LEARNING TO LIVE FREE: Carl A. Kulla, 1920-2013

Friday, January 04, 2013

Carl A. Kulla, 1920-2013

On September 22, 1920, a baby boy named Carl was born to Emil and Ella Kulla in Brainerd, Minnesota. Both Emil and Ella were of Laestadian background. Emil had come in contact with Laestadians–including Ella–in Helsinki, Finland around 1895.

Twenty years later, Carl acquired a set of the Lenker edition of Luther’s Works along with The Book of Concord, and began to serve as a preacher in the Minneapolis congregation of the Apostolic Lutheran Federation. He would continue in that office for sixty years. He also became one of the foremost historians of Laestadianism and a friend to many within not just his own Apostolic Lutheran Federation (ALC), but the other branches as well.

One of the many poignant stories Carl recalls in his book Reminiscence of an Octogenarian: On the Way to the Celestial City (2009) is his first encounter with racism, in the early 1940s. One Sunday, while off duty from his surveying work for the Army’s 30th Engineer Battalion, he decided to stop in at an African-American church.
I began to converse with the people, who then asked me to preach, which I did with my frail gifts. As I left the church, some of the men from my unit were passing by–among them some southerners who were very prejudiced against African-Americans. From then on I had to bear the name of being a lover of them whom they despised. That was my first experience with racism. [p. 22]
It would be going too far to say that Carl viewed all or even most types of Christianity with favor, but he certainly extended the hand of fellowship to all Laestadians who preached and accepted the personal proclamation of the forgiveness of sins. This sense of ecumenism is common in the Federation, the most tolerant branch of Laestadianism.


For Carl, it also probably arose as part of his unique church upbringing, where three groups of Laestadians all “gathered in the same building with preachers from all three groups speaking.” They “visited in each other’s homes,” and “had Sunday school together” (p. 63). Those groups were the OALC, the Federation, and “the Heidemans.” The last of those three was known as the (Finnish) Apostolic Lutheran Church until the split with the Torola group in 1973, resulting in the First Apostolic Lutheran Church (FALC) and its rival, the American Association of Laestadian Congregations (AALC), now the Laestadian Lutheran Church (LLC).

It is no doubt difficult for current-day members of the OALC, FALC, or LLC to imagine such mixed fellowship continuing for years after the official schisms into the separate groups, but it did. They were all “just Christians,” Carl told me, until one day, word finally reached Brainerd that they weren’t. Then a little girl named Martha, whom Carl would marry in 1945, was devastated to have her “Heideman” friends come and tell her they had needed to repent of considering her a Christian.

Now, at the age of 92, after raising many children with his wonderful wife Martha of nearly seventy years, having withstood the tragedy of some of their premature deaths, my friend Carl A. Kulla has finally passed away. (He joked that the “A” stands for “archaic.” The dreaded moving picture screen didn’t enter the Kulla home until a family member brought over a video player a few years ago so Carl and Martha could watch a wedding they had been unable to attend. “We watched a video!”, they said to me, laughing.)

He had patiently awaited the call of the Good Shepherd whom he loved with all his heart. For those who have not been fortunate enough to sit across from him in the Kulla home, hearing his voice break and tears in his eyes as he described his simple, unfeigned faith, his hope of salvation, his need for the forgiveness of his own sins preached in the name and blood of Jesus, here is an apt description of Carl: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Cor. 13:4-6).

Carl always yearned for the exclusivist branches of his beloved Laestadianism to drop their mutual finger-pointing and recognize the Kingdom of God within the believer, and so I think he would appreciate being remembered by the part of my book reprinted below. Now, this man was a Christian–in faith, thought, and deed–and he lovingly cautioned me about the portions of the book’s first (private) edition that questioned Jesus and the Bible. I never had the heart to contact him after deciding I was no longer a Christian in any sense, wanting to spare him that upset.

To Carl and family–God’s Peace.


From An Examination of the Pearl, §4.1.6, “The Apostolic Lutheran Federation.”

I have had the privilege of becoming friends with a wonderful old couple in the Federation, Carl and Martha Kulla. In four visits to their home, I have been able to learn some of the facts of church history that Carl holds in such amazing depth and accessibility in his 90-year old brain. But I also learned something that my history books about Laestadianism failed to fully convey: The fruit of the spirit (“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance,” Galatians 5:22-23) is to be found among other Laestadians as well. As I sat at the Kullas’ little kitchen table and in their living room, hearing their stories and testimony of unfeigned faith, being greeted with “God’s Peace” by some of their many grandchildren who stopped by the house, my already waning belief in the exclusivity of my own particular group flailed about in search of support that I could no longer find.

Carl has reached out to the LLC in the same way he has to the other Laestadian groups. Copies of The Voice of Zion arrive at his home along with the FALC’s Greetings of Peace and his own group’s Christian Monthly. He has attended the LLC summer services as well as local services in Longview, WA. He has visited and written to the LLC offices, telling of his struggle in writing a letter to an LLC preacher in October 1997 “because I accept you as a brother in faith, but I realize that for you this is impossible.” Yet he would “not ask you to do otherwise than your conscience allows.”

Responding in a November 1997 letter, the LLC preacher acknowledged that his “conscience will not allow me to accept you as a brother in faith.” He declined to cite any reason for that judgment (and let’s call it what it is), admitting that he had “not lived through nor witnessed firsthand any of the heresies that have torn living Christianity.” But, he was “nonetheless certain that they have been caused by true differences in spirit and doctrine. Surely, you must recognize this as well.” Why was he so certain that the schisms were not caused by something else, e.g., the divisive leaders of the era, misunderstandings, and prejudices? Because the LLC’s view of its history and exclusivity (§4.2.1) had fixed his conclusion firmly in place. His unspecified spiritual and doctrinal differences are the roads that all lead to Rome, and, unsurprisingly, he does “not believe that these can be dismissed as insignificant nor that unity can be purchased at the expense of doctrine.”

What the LLC preacher does dismiss as insignificant are all of the fruits of faith present in Carl’s life along with the signs by which Luther said a “Christian, holy people” could be identified (Weimarer Ausgabe 50, 628). Unlike Luther, the preacher is not at all “certain that where the Gospel is preached, there must be Christians” (Philadelphia Edition 4, 75). Instead, he is certain of his own superficial observations during a brief visit Carl had made to the LLC office, where the preacher “was left with the impression that you were a man who recognized his sinfulness and despaired of it, but who was not confident of his salvation and did not possess the peace that Christ gives His own.” As someone who has taken the time to get to know Carl, to sit down with him for hours and hear him speak of a humble and heartfelt faith, I shake my head in disgust at the arrogance of this statement. Unfortunately, we will encounter many more like it in §4.2.3 [“The Kingdom of God: Inside vs. Outside”].

The LLC preacher continues: “Knowledge of Christ and His redemption work is not at all the same thing as faith in Him and His work.” You might well ask, what’s the difference? It is the preacher’s encoding of “faith” to mean a manifestation of the Holy Spirit that is only in the LLC (see §4.5.3). “It would be my great joy to someday receive you as a brother in Christ,” the preacher concludes, “but I am convinced and firmly believe that it can only happen if you repent from the heresy in which you are presently entangled.”

That kind of “repentance” seems more like an oath of loyalty to a new allegiance than a turning away from actual sin and unbelief. It’s not a unique demand of Conservative Laestadianism. In the Christian Convention Church, for example, converts are required to “renounce any previous ‘born-again’ experience while in another ‘Christian’ church, saying that it was an emotional experience of Satan” (Kathleen Lewis, The Church Without a Name [2004]: 10-11). Anyone wanting to join “who has believed in Jesus before he heard the True ministry is not allowed Fellowship until he admits that he had not received Jesus before he met the workers. They want to hear the new member declare that all his previous Christian faith was wrong. That is their view of ‘repentance’” (p. 11).

One of my visits with Carl and Martha was in the company of two other LLC preachers, whom I brought along in hopes that some sort of acceptance could be had. But those preachers, who went there more to speak than to listen, soon found themselves being preached back to on every point. During the drive to and from the Kulla home, we had discussions of Carl’s spiritual state that seemed to me to quickly devolve into circularity. “Why is Carl not ‘believing,’ when he accepts the preached proclamation of forgiveness, including when he hears it at LLC services and when I preached it to him?”, I asked. The answer: “Because he does not ‘comprehend the doctrine of the Kingdom.’” To which I said, “I don’t ‘comprehend’ that doctrine either, so why I am I ‘believing’?” There was no satisfactory answer. When confronted by the awkward case of a person who accepts the forgiveness of his sins as preached from “God’s Kingdom” but not the need to forsake his existing non-LLC Christian fellowship, the LLC exclusivist resorts to the tautology that one is not “in the Kingdom” simply because he is not “in the Kingdom.”

I would also inquire about the spiritual state of the LLC’s “doctrinal father” Luther, who quoted Jesus the same way Carl answered the LLC preachers (“The kingdom of God is within you,” and “cometh not with observation”), and who asked how he could “deny Christ, Who clearly says here that there is no locality, place or anything external in the kingdom of God.” See §5.2 for the full quote and many others like it. If one must acknowledge the walls as well as reside within them, as discussed in §4.2.1 (“No Compromises”), the Laestadian Lutheran Church must condemn the man whose name is part of its own.

32 comments:

  1. I hope this will be my first and last time ever reading this blog because it saddens me too much. I make a plea to all of you who, boldy sit behind your computer screens, speak out against lutheran laestadians, please, leave our precious beliefs which are so dear to us, alone. You have the freedom to write about if and how you believe differently, but leave it at that. So many people on this blog are making my religion sound so awful, and it really is not that way. I pray for all of you to find peace.
    Allison forstie (laestadian)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allison,

    This article was about Carl. You came here, it was not broadcast or sent to your home. No pamphlets were distributed, no 'elders' knocking at your door... but I am glad to see you are searching and learning. If you read anything else on this blog, do read the Humor, it's hilarious even to current LLCers, and also the link I have posted near the end of this response.

    I don't think everything about Laestadianism is awful, as I was born into the faith and can appreciate parts of it, such as the fellowship and the mostly good people. But there are so many things that are wrong about it (women having more children even at the risk of hemorrhage and death, complete disregard for the real truth in the bible if they'd read it beyond select passages, and 'have faith' used as an excuse for everything not understood - even while disregarding the obvious or that which is actually in the bible).

    I am also guessing you did not live through the 80s in the church. What an awful time to be in the AALC/LLC. There were some very evil things happening in that church during that time.

    I hope you too will find peace and enjoy your family and friends in the church. It's not all bad. But if you are married and a mother or soon to be one, please read this:

    http://extoots.blogspot.com/2012/10/maternal-martyrdom.html

    Happy New Year!

    FormerPhoenixAALCer-er

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ed, what a moving memorial to your friend. If our purpose here on Earth is to love others, as all the great wisdom traditions teach us, Carl took his calling seriously in spite of many obstacles. Heartfelt condolences to all who loved him.

    Are his writings available?
    --Free

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Free. Some of his compilations are available via Pietan Publications. See their page of new titles. Of the titles listed, the Historical Incidents of Laestadianism book might be the best starting point for those wanting to delve into this stuff. The book I recommend most isn’t there, though: The Journey of an Immigrant Awakening Movement in America & A Brief History of Laestadianism and the Apostolic Lutheran Church. As with the rest of his books, I got my copy of that from Carl himself.

    It is nice to see the Hockinson ALC remembering Carl with a notice on its home page:

    “Please remember Martha and the Kulla family in prayer. Visitation will be on Sunday, January 6th at 6:30 pm. The funeral service will be on Monday, January 7th at 11:00 am.”

    He viewed it as his calling to remain in the Hockinson congregation, despite being troubled by how much he felt it had departed from traditional Laestadian doctrines. I can hear him chuckling in that cracked old voice of his as I recall him telling me about how we would often pull the minister aside after the sermon to remind him to preach forgiveness to the congregation or something. It was probably in the same gentle but quietly insistent way he rebuked the two LLC ministers I brought to his home, about their understanding of “God’s Kingdom,” with one Bible quote after another. That’s probably not something those guys had ever experienced before.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Maybe if the people in my FALC congregation had been like Carl, I would still be a member of the church. Current FALC members, take note.

    -EXFALC

    ReplyDelete
  6. Allison, I'm glad you are willing to use your own name rather than "sit behind you computer screen," but I ask you this. If your beliefs had begun to change and yor wanted ask questions or make statements of your newfound beliefs? Would you put your name on this blog if you were writing something such as 'I am starting to see that the LLC is one of the worst offendors when it comes to cherry picking the Bible, while they point their finger at all other Christians and accuse them of cherry picking?" Or would you put your name to an ahah moment that you write about when you realize that the laestadians use the Bible to support their own manmade rules whil saying that the bible is being interpreted wrong or must have a different meaning when presented with something that contradicts their beliefs, and say its been revealed to cover every addition/inconsistency? Would you put you name on this blog if you realized that the laestadians teach the members not to think or question the belief system in much the same way that the Jehovahs, Mormons, Pentecostals, or any other we are the only ones church teaches their members? When you realize that they believe just as strongly as you their group is the only one going to heaven? When you notice that laestadians will question & laugh at other one true church members beliefs, and feel sorry for them (ex: jehovahs not celebrating any holidays) while conveniently ignoring their own equally odd beliefs that have nothing to do with being saved (school sports, makeup, all the rules)? You may put your name to it, and you would be a very strong woman if you did. We all know the social consequences in the LLC to voicing an opposing opinion, especially if you are still a member of the church. Opposing viewpoints we all know (and you do too) are not tolerated, not unless you ask for forgiveness for having the opposing viewpoint after you have stated it, which is not tolerance at all.
    -Eyeswideopen

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello, this is really a nice article about Carl. I have known him all my life. He was an true example of how we are to walk as Christians. He was a sinner saved only by God's Grace. The incident of you and 2 other men that went to visit Carl how they won't give you a straight answer to YOUR questions. People are interesting, aren't we? We preach and teach this and that, but what about ourselves? It is so much easier to see the mote in our brothers eye.... we haven't changed through the years.

    This is an aside, and doesn't have anything to do with Carl. Maybe I should be asking this on another part of this blog? If you would like to post this some place else on this blog, please feel free to move it.

    I find it interesting on this blog, how people will name preachers names, but themselves are anonymous. Why is that? Are some afraid of repercussions? of what sort? I am just curious. It just seems to me if we write something here, we must believe what we write or why would we write it? and are we afraid of someone asking us about it and we really don't have a defense or?

    Thanks and God's Peace
    Norma Tumberg

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for visiting, Norma. Anonymity is not ideal, and I wish everyone could use their real names without fear of repercussions, but this is not an ideal world.

    If you have never been shunned or punished (physically, emotionally, financially, or otherwise), for voicing an unpopular opinion, or for criticizing the powers-that-be, or for revealing something considered shameful, count yourself blessed. But please have compassion for those who have been hurt, and naturally wish to avoid further pain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hello and thank you for your reply.

      I am sorry if I came across as being judgmental or un-compassionate, that is not my intent. I am very sorry to hear that people have been punished for voicing an opinion or questioning something. H-m-m-m-m, that is... I don't know what to say. Wow. But, I do not know peoples stories here and do not want to be judgmental to them. I was just curious.

      And no, I have not been punished for questioning or voicing an unpopular opinion. I have occasionally voiced unpopular opinions, I am not too quiet if I have an opinion. :-) And I like to ask questions so I know where peeps are coming from. If they don't choose to answer that is fine too.

      I really do not know what I would do if I were punished... I guess that would be quite a lesson for me on forgiveness. I have been shunned more than once, that is OK. I still like to be friendly with all though and smile and greet peeps with God's Peace. Even if peoples don't agree, we can try and live peaceably with all men. Maybe that is not possible in some of the "circles"? that's too bad too.

      I will have to read more on this blog, I think there is more than meets the eye here.
      Thanks and have a good evening.
      God's Peace
      Norma

      Delete
    2. Norma, there was no judgment or lack of compassion in your comment. It was an honest question. I’m glad you stopped by, and thank you for your kind words about my memorial to Carl. He sure was a wonderful man, wasn’t he? So is Martha, poor lady. They were a pair of old lovebirds. It was such a privilege to sit at their little table as she put out pulla and coffee and fussed over Carl’s gluten-free snack, and then sat down to talk about church history with the two of us. Their lives spanned half of that history; she had been baptized by A.L. Heideman, Paul’s father.

      Now, about your question: Yes, the incentives to stay anonymous on this blog are very strong for those in the more judgmental Laestadian groups. Those in the OALC aren't supposed to be on the Internet at all, except for work (and maybe school, I don't know). For them as well as those in the FALC and LLC, visiting this blog would be considered a sign of wavering faith or even outright sin. And to convey doubts and concerns here is taking the transgression to the next level.

      Picture the troubled, doubting believer in one of those groups who is searching for answers to what his preachers won’t even acknowledge as legitimate questions. They are just doubts to be forgiven, the unproductive musings of one’s sin-fallen human reason. He sits before the computer screen reading comments from current and former members of the “heretic” groups (i.e., all of the Laestadians but his own branch), wondering just what is the difference between them and him. He reads posts and comments that ask the very same questions he is asking. Unlike the unsatisfying “just believe” non-answers of his elders and preachers, what he sees written, by so many different people with different experiences, actually makes sense!

      Then, he timidly offers a comment or question of his own to either express his frustrations or steer the discussion in a direction that might address his most specific concerns. But even typing out the words into the anonymous comment form feels like an act of betrayal, a confession of unbelief. God is watching, even if nobody from church knows who is writing this. But to be found out–that would make life difficult on so many levels! First is the unpleasant prospect of being rebuked and told to have your very questions forgiven. (As if that answers them!) If you are married, you don’t want your friends to start wondering how safe it is to come visit and let their children play with yours. If you are single, you need to be careful that prospective marriage partners don’t view you as damaged goods.

      So you hide behind the cloak of anonymity. You allow a few misidentifying details to slip in here or there, even write with a different style than you otherwise would, to avoid suspicion. You sit there, furtively reading the responses, ready to close the browser window at a moment’s notice if someone walks by. Always there is the fear, fear, fear, that has been drummed into you since childhood.

      I know this because I have been that person.

      Delete
    3. HI again
      Apparently you do not go to a Lutheran church anymore? or do you attend church at all?
      I find you statement where you say you are not a Christian but could not bring yourself to tell that to Carl interesting and hopeful. It seems to me that you are not spiritually dead if you can recognize that. I hope you are able to overcome your past......., I don't know what to call it, fears? Do you feel you have been able to forgive your past? I hope so. That is a huge part of healing.

      I used to have a lot of Old AP friends, well actually I still do have a lot of old Ap friends, I just have not seen most of them in years. I keep in touch with a few of them.

      I never had a clue there was a cloud of fear in those churches, although I knew we were the heretics, :-) according to the OALC, I think it was, perhaps the Heidemans too.

      I knew many of the OALCers in the Battle Ground area and also in the UP, Hancock area. I also have friends in the Heideman church and friends who have married into both churches. I am thankful I was never brought up with the fear factor and we have always felt there are Christians in those churches. God will judge....

      God's Peace
      Norma
      Some day I would love to visit with you...

      Delete
    4. Norma, it has nothing to do with spirituality. I simply did not want to upset a kind, pious old man in the twilight of his life.

      Glad to hear you have maintained friendships in the various groups. The Federation (ALC) is the most accepting of the Laestadian groups, and your generous attitude reflects that influence. In the LLC/SRK, and I suspect the OALC and FALC as well, that “cloud of fear” (well put!) is very thick indeed. Fear of stepping out of line, fear of thinking for oneself, fear of the very words of the Bible. And underlying it all is that fear of eternal torment that is placed into the compliant little brains of innocent children. Even with as much tolerance as you seem to have, the Christian fear factor is still present in your last sentence: “God will judge.”

      Delete
    5. Hi
      I had to smile when I read your statement <> What do you mean by that? what makes you say there is a fear factor there? Do you believe God will or will not judge? Do you believe that GOd knows the hearts of all peoples in all churches. Interesting statement.

      Delete
    6. I believe that a God who would condemn anyone to an eternity of screaming torment is far more evil than anything the devil has been accused of. So, no, I don’t believe in a judging God. I’m still trying to figure out just what sort of God there might be behind all this, if any. But that’s a much bigger topic than is appropriate for comments to this post, I think.

      Delete
    7. I see. I was trying to figure out what tolerance had to do with fear.... It still doens't make sense to me. I believe I nor anyone else can judge any ones heart as to where someone will spend eternity, that is why I say "God will judge" I guess if that's fear, that's fine with me. I am not afraid to say I do fear God as Luther teaches in his catechism. I do not feel it's a slavish fear though.

      I know you have heard this, but I guess you don't believe this, at least that is the impression I get from your writings--- God sent His Son to this world so we could have a Savior, if we believe by faith in the finished work of Christ so we don't HAVE to spend an eternity in a fiery furnace, forever. I find Him a loving God, who saved me by His grace and has offered me a home in heaven. He is also a very righteous God.

      I have not read extensively on this blog, but there are a lot of fearful people here. I have run across only 2 other women who dare to sign their names. They don't seem to have a lot of fear --- but the ones who don't dare to sign their names, they still live in a lot of fear. I pray someday they will find true freedom, in Christ. (I'm not trying to be snotty, I just find it kind of humorous when I see some of the names on here, and yet people hide. Oh well, each to his own. Your blog, your rules. :-) At least I think you are the author of this blog., it's hard to tell.)

      So what do you think happens to the soul after death? Do you believe in an eternity?

      God's Peace
      Norma

      Delete
    8. Norma, there are other reasons people don't sign their names. For example, does anyone want their religious views searchable through google if an employer does a google search on their name and their comments on this website come up? I work in a professional field and wouldn't want to take that risk. That's not being fearful, that's using common sense.

      -EXFALC

      Delete
    9. Risk?? well......I guess if an employer does a search and finds out what you believe, that can't be such a bad thing. At least they know where you stand! An employer can't discriminate because of religious beliefs anyway, it's illegal, so far, I better add. things are changing so fast who knows.

      God's Peace
      Norma

      Delete
  9. A very nice, heartfelt tribute Ed. It was apparent in your book you were fond of the Kullas and enjoyed your time with them, and this feels like a fitting tribute/remembrance to Carl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed, what is the name of your book?

      Delete
    2. Norma it’s An Examination of the Pearl, available for free online reading, and from Amazon in both Kindle and printed form. I have to warn you, though, that it deals with issues far beyond of those with Laestadianism. It doesn’t sugarcoat the problems with Christianity in general or the Bible.

      Delete
  10. The following verses came to mind when I read of Carl's passing. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou has loosed my bonds." Psalm 116:15-16 Old AP

    ReplyDelete
  11. I feel for the Kulla family, but I must question whether Carl's teachings were on the whole beneficial. The Chassell Apostolic Lutheran Church was a toxic group that hurt many of those who attended with its rules-obsessed, closed-minded, controlling culture. That church counted Carl as one of their favorite preachers? Was it because Carl fought to keep change from entering the movement? If so, is it healthy to try forcing today's young adults in the urbanized United States to live as if it's rural Minnesota 75 years ago or an even more rural Sapmi 150 years ago? Is it fair to guilt young adults today for choosing to survive when they were born into a riptide of cultural assimilation and evolution, leaving just two choices: swim for the safety of the shore while being swept downstream or fight the current and drown?

    - Ilmarinen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wow, you really are putting labels here. Are you personally familiar with Chassell? or is this hearsay?
      change.....are you saying we should change and keep up with the times in Christianity? The Bible does not condone change. Yes, the world changes, and there is nothing we can do about it, but CHristianity doesn't change. What kind of a God would we have if He changed? He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And that is a comfort.
      Do I know you? :-)
      Gods' Peace
      Norma

      Delete
    2. Yes, I am personally familiar with the mental illness (possible cases of untreated OCD, scrupulosity, anxiety and/or depression) masquerading as religion in that group. The group is not well, and it's sad to see them suffering for no good reason.

      You seem to be unaware that this blog is a big tent, including atheists, Roman Catholics, probably evangelicals and apatheists. For many of us, your ignorant claims about the bible are irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that ossified blowhards have been guilting young people for opening their eyes and accepting the plain truth that it's 2013 in an urbanized America. This guilting is hurting young people, it's shameful, and it needs to stop.

      Ilmarinen

      Delete
    3. Wowser Ilmarinen.... ignorant claims about the Bible. What ignorant claims. I will pray for you. What has happened to you to make you so bitter? You don't have to believe a word I say, but on the final day, God's Word will stand and judge. WHere will you stand?
      I hope you have a blessed Easter.
      Norma

      Delete
  12. (edit: bad metaphor - a riptide usually carries you away from shore, so safety lies in swimming parallel to shore to escape the riptide, but you get the point)

    - Ilmarinen

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks for your nice tribute to my FIL, Carl! I'm most amazed to see a picture of a well-used "Reminiscence of an Octogenarian" on your blog. Did he actually give you a copy . . . and how long ago was that? Elva Kulla

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elva, you’re welcome! Yes, I got all my copies of Carl’s books directly from him, a couple of years ago.

      Delete
  14. My grandma was a Kulla born and raised in brainerd mn. I Have recently left the OALC. I find this blog interesting and enjoy reading different views.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Carl is my grandmas brother and i was never told of anything along these lines. I guess it was to be kept from us children.

    ReplyDelete