Here is the link.
Immediate reaction - One UOJ paper quotes only UOJ fanatics as references. Great scholarship, if you like circular reasoning, special pleading, and begging the question.
One copies and pastes what the Universalist Unitarian Association now believes or disbelieves. That would make Paul Calvin Kelm the world's greatest scholar, because that is all he does.
Gurgle - I only read him if I want to learn how to bankrupt a district and a synod, and then skim teachers' pay by getting a job as a campaign manager.
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UOJ Talking Points Are Dead Wrong
This is a brief summary explaining why Universal Objective Justification is anti-Scriptural, anti-Confessional, and anti-Christian.
UOJ teaches that the entire world has been forgiven of sin, without the Holy Spirit working through the Word (Objective Justification) and that people must believe this weird idea in order to be really forgiven. Those who deny this are not forgiven.
Some obvious Biblical errors are:
1. Abraham was justified by faith. Was he again justified universally? Ditto for all the Old Testament figures who believed in Christ and it was counted as righteousness.
2. No account in the Bible reveals that God declared the entire world forgiven the moment Christ died or the moment He rose from the dead. UOJ contradicts itself on that point, which should be so clear.
3. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would convict people of their sin – their sin of unbelief. UOJ convicts people against faith. They fall all over themselves condemning faith.
4. The relationship between Law and Gospel is erased with UOJ.
5. The sacraments are meaningless with UOJ.
6. Confession and absolution are turned into – “You were forgiven before you walked in the door” counseling. I am not kidding.
All the terms—General Justification, Objective Justification, Universal Objective Justification—are modern, post-BOC, the earliest example coming from the era of Pietism.
The term justification, whether in the Bible or BOC, always means justification by faith.
Dr. Robert Preus stated this with great clarity in the last book, Justification and Rome, in spite of his sons having a role in editing it posthumously.
UOJ comes from the era of Pietism and was promoted by Pietists.
UOJ comes from Pietism using the Calvinistic concept of salvation first, apart from the Means of Grace, so UOJ is pure Enthusiasm.
Woods’ translation of Knapp established the double-justification scheme before the Missouri Synod pioneers landed in America. Knapp was a famous Halle University professor, and Woods was a non-Lutheran theological celebrity in America. The text had widespread use in German and English throughout the 19th century.
The double-justification wording did not establish itself at once in the Synodical Conference. Missouri did not have it in its German language 1905 catechism.
PS - UOJ is why Missouri, WELS, and the ELS have attached themselves to the neo-Pietism of the Church Growth Movement, Emerging Church, and every fad that comes marching along.
UOJ is also the reason why WELS pastors are so mired in adultery and alcoholism. Sig Becker, Prof. UOJ Hisself, was shocked at the extent of adultery and alcoholism in WELS. All denominations have that problem, but WELS seems especially vulnerable. One reason might be their obsession with UOJ and being forgiven without faith.
