Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Fellowship Principles - Loose Bowels":
Valleskey said that the Reformed "downplay the Means of Grace?" They don't "downplay the Means," they reject the Means! That's why they have a doctrine called Immediate Grace -- they insist that God works immediately, not mediately. For them, the "so-called Means of Grace" are merely an "attending circumstance," as Walther, in Lecture 16 of Law and Gospel and Pieper, in Vol 3 of his Dogmatics, point out at length. The perspectives of the Reformed are perspectives which despise and reject the Means of Grace, not merely downplay them. That is why borrowing from the Reformed is tantamount to vicious attack on Lutheran theology!
Which brings me to my second point. You state, "One WELS pastor said correctly that many WELS pastors know their Biblical languages quite well, but they are hopeless when it comes to theology." Sadly, based on experience, I must concur. I've read Walther. I've read Pieper. I've read some works of Chemnitz. I've read Krauth. I've read parts of Hoenecke. I've also read parts of Hodge, Nevin, and most of Grudem. Often I find that, when I attempt to engage WELS pastors that I meet in discussion over theological works -- Lutheran works in particular -- many scoff and reply, "I didn't take that elective at Seminary." While I applaud their skill in languages, I am dismayed that they don't read theology! This certainly isn't the case in every instance -- I've met a couple who did take the comparative religion elective, and met one who has read Lutheran theological works at length -- but I have been left without a good conversation often enough that it leaves me with a feeling of concern, and frankly, of diminished respect.
Freddy Finkelstein
---
Benjamin Tomczak has left a new comment on your post "Fellowship Principles - Loose Bowels":
Freddy ~
I'm sad to hear about your concern and your diminishing respect. I concur that I'm disappointed when it appears (or doesn't just appear, but is actually the case) that pastors aren't interested in growing in theological depth and knowledge. We preach to our people that "Jesus loves me, this I know, and this is all I want to know," is not and can not be the motto for the Christian life. As Walther says in his Law and Gospel (merely paraphrasing 2 Peter 3), the Christian, converted by the Spirit, wants nothing else but to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and understand more and more of the Scriptures. You'd think that would automatically go double for the shepherds of the flock.
Sadly, we're sinful too (not an excuse, but a reason). It's easy to get overwhelmed with so many other tasks, to let ourselves get overwhelmed, to create extra tasks, and let our own personal study sort of slip to the side. (It is of course also easy to schmear, or not dig as deeply as we should when prepping for classes.) I don't know how many days I've had "Dog Log" (as we called it at Sem) reading on my To-Do list and it keeps slipping down because it seems hard (and I feel guilty) just spending an hour in the middle of the afternoon reading without it being for a specific purpose for that day -- Sunday's Bible class or sermon, responding to a counseling situation, a member's question, a situation at hand, etc. Again, not a good excuse, but a reason.
But we have to make time for growing in our theological depth and understanding. We need to understand the controversies we're facing, the controversies that have come before (and will come again), and understand where we came from. Besides, most of those guys (Luther, Chemnitz, Walther, et al., said it all so much better than I ever could, why reinvent the wheel?). And we have to not just make time for it, but we have to avoid the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) anti-intellectualism that creeps into our brotherly relationships. It's not bad to be smart, to be well-read, to have your nose in a book once in a while, to have a more than one page bibliography. Especially when it's about diving deeper into the Holy Word of God, growing in faith and knowledge for yourself and for your people, so that you are, as Peter said, always prepared to give an answer.
Thanks for your warning! It spurs me on to keep reading, reading, reading.
Pr. Benjamin Tomczak
PS
I've found that nothing gets me reading more, thinking more, studying more, than getting assigned a conference paper (a close second is my midweek and Sunday Bible classes -- I'm trying to make more time in my sermon prep for checking the Fathers for neat quotes, interesting insights, etc.). It helped me get into a lot of Luther that I haven't yet read. I'm hoping that we might perhaps consider breaking our conference into two conferences soon so that perhaps we have the opportunity to do some more research type work.
On second thought, could we move to add about one or two more days to the week with the phones unhooked, no special services, no member visits and no crying children -- just read, read, read, study, study, study?!?!?
---
RandomDan has left a new comment on your post "Fellowship Principles - Loose Bowels":
Speaking of loose fellowship principles, the church workers out there reading this might want to take a gander at who else we are now in fellowship with via the Willow Creek Association.
St. Edna Catholic Church
Welcome to the Archdiocese of Chicago!
***
GJ - Ben, I studied doctrine and the Scriptures with dying children in the house, with constant medical crises. That tends to concentrate the mind on important matters. A pastor only needs to preach, teach, and visit. All the social activities are adiaphora and best left to the congregation. Being the Social Director of The Love Boat is a Fuller idea, to generate "happy campers," as one CG guru said at a conference I attended.
A WELS conference paper is not the best way to study. Quite the contrary. WELS pastors expect a conference paper to repeat what they heard before, to skirt all issues, and to avoid offending anyone except God.
The best way to study doctrine is to read Luther, Chemnitz, and the Book of Concord, then address doctrinal issues in the congregation, circuit, and conference. The firestorm resulting will send anyone back to the sources to see what went wrong.
Columbus, Ohio was my Harvard and Yale, to paraphrase Melville, because all the pastors promoted false doctrine, open communion, etc. We also had three divorced pastors out of six - all with Scriptural divorces, they said. I am grateful to them for making me study Luther and the Confessions. When my wife became disabled, I read thousands of pages of Luther to her, the sermons plus Galatians plus some commentaries plus Luther's Family Devotions and some other items. That is the best kind of study, both Biblical and doctrinal. Luther is forgotten today. He refused to have any fellowship with those who denied the Real Presence.
