I wore this sweatshirt at a WELS dedication.
WELS pastors were offended by the sweatshirt,
but not by Fuller doctrine.
NWC students begged to wear it.
I was thinking about blogging being a waste of time and energy when I saw this post linked on the left.
Most of my writing energy comes from receiving hostile and ignorant comments. I am endlessly amused that a coward has anonymously set up a blog to attack me--anonymously, of course--and engage in enough stupidity to prove he is WELS.
Freddy Finkelstein is correct about the point of polemical writing.
I do not consider myself the equivalent of anyone, certainly not at the level of the Reformation theologians. We are all pygmies in comparison. I do think we should be faithful to our outward confession of faith, without reservation, or else find and embrace another.
Freddy missed the reason for people objecting to polemical writing. They object with personal attacks because the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin, their sin of unbelief. Why else would Lutherans rage against Luther being quoted? How odd to say, "I am a Lutheran," and complain about Luther being quoted - while kneeling at the feet of Babtist Ed Stetzer.
Someone recently contacted me about the years Nils A. Dahl taught at Yale. He was my New Testament professor, world famous and admired in many countries. He held an endowed chair at Yale. Nevertheless, I found information about him impossible to discover, and I am fairly good at that. The websites of Yale did not yield anything about retired and dead professors - so quickly do they pass from memory. So I wondered why men will lie and dissemble so they can be the District Presidents of a tiny sect or professors at a shrinking seminary. If world famous scholars can pass from the scene so quickly, how much faster will we fade from memory? Sooner or later the bishop's hat will hang dusty on a hook and the academic robe will be tossed away by the grieving family.
KJV Mark 13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away.
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Freddy Finkelstein has left a new comment on your post "Morning Shock - Someone Defending Ichabod!":
Dr. Jackson writes: Freddy missed the reason for people objecting to polemical writing. They object with personal attacks because the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin, their sin of unbelief.
True enough. And I shouldn't have missed it, either. Last night, as I was searching URLs to lightly document some of the individuals and events I was describing, I bumped into a polemical work that was pivotal in our journey to Confessional Lutheranism, and recalled the process that Dr. Jackson describes as it worked in me and Mrs. Finkelstein.
I discovered Rev. J. V. Kimpel's polemical work, The Charismatic Movement in the Lutheran Church, on the website of the LMS-USA way back at a time when Mrs. Finkelstein and I were still confused about the charismata, the Means of Grace, and the role and work of the Holy Spirit. I was still an Evangelical when I read it, and it offended me. The language was quite direct -- in ALL CAPS in some places as if the author were SHOUTING (Christians are to be calm and and happy all the time, I had been taught, and are never to be so direct and confident -- after all, we might be the one's who are wrong). The author rejected false doctrine and false teachers (Christians are only supposed to accept in the name of Jesus, we had been taught -- we should never reject anyone and should be tolerant of how the Holy Spirit has led others into a unique perspective of His Word). Kimpel used Scripture like a weapon, not a cuddly pillow. I was disturbed and angered, but nonetheless drawn to it again and again. I checked his use of Scripture. I deciphered his reasoning. It was all sound in my judgment. But I didn't know what to do with that information -- I was afraid that it would destroy my wife's faith and Christian identity.
Eventually, as she and I discussed matters, it became clear that we were no longer tracking. I gave her the article, and said, "Read this, then we'll talk more." It took her a week to read, amidst anger and sobbing, and source checking. In the end, she came to the same conclusion I had: We'd been lied to since our childhood, by people who should have known better. Kimpel's use of Scripture and reason was not sophisticated, but straightforward, drawn from the plain meaning of the text. No deep exegesis to draw out a "true meaning" not directly reflected in the words themselves, and there was no need for intellectual gymnastics in order to agree with his reasoning. The truth was so plain, and so important, our pastors and elders should have understood themselves perfectly well what Kimpel was saying, and avoided the errors they and an entire generation had fallen into, and lead us to believe.
Polemic plays a vital role in the Church. Some folks are better at it than others, to be sure, but Lutherans have always been the best at it. We dare not lose our polemical skills, or let them fall into disuse.
Freddy Finkelstein
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L P has left a new comment on your post "Morning Shock - Someone Defending Ichabod!":
Well done to Freddie for the post.
re: Comparison with Flacius.
Although Dr Jackson maybe like Flacius in his tenacity, I have not seen him overstate his case unlike Flacius. One should be aware that Dr Jackson has a sense of humour. This is different from over stating the truth.
LPC
