Saturday, June 5, 2010

Junior Stormtrooper Lashes Out:
The Uncle Fritz Defense


Note the spelling on the sign - probable WELS product.
Needs money - definitely a Church and Changer.


Garrett has left a new comment on your post "Trashing Me Will Not Help Your Cause, O Cowardly C...":

Truthfully, being able to research many claims as true is what drew me to like your blog. Instead, I should have mentioned that It's (sic) a danger of generalizing.

A "Cowardly DP" would hardly describe my uncle (who is often quick to point me to the relevant scripture or other quotations explaining his actions). Nor would it assign proper justice to a former DP who was one of my home church's pastor and even taught my grade school Confirmation classes.

"God may continue to curse and punish WELS/ELS with false teachers and weak-kneed leaders." This comes to me as an exhortation- and directed towards the (W)ELS as a whole! As I mentioned, there is far too much to consider the entire WELS apostate. And, again, all the objects mentioned are generalizations.

If using words such as "apostate Doctrinal Pussycats" is supposed to narrow this accusation to a more select audience, it still fails on my ears (GJ - ?) under the context of the entire article.

I'm done...Anyone can deconstruct and hyperanalyze text wielding their own preconceptions. Although, at least you have a little fun with your writing. The one that made me grin was the JRR Tolkien Reference: "nasty little pocketses."

"Thus too, did Baldus say that such harsh words are like maggots on firewood that appear with a gentle touch: but have very harsh teeth, and gnaw away at the core of the firewood, resulting that the wood appears unhurt on the surface." -- Loci Theologici - Locus on Poverty (GJ - Incomplete citation, APA epic fail)

***

GJ - No one knows who this anonymous person is. Other blogs have higher standards and demand real names. But I like to let people post under pseudonyms for my own nefarious reasons.

Once again there are many unwarranted claims. Uncle Fritz (my fill-in-the-blank name for him) is not a doctrinal coward - based on what evidence?

The Uncle Fritz gambit is the primary reason why I fear WELS will not overcome its doctrinal errors.

"This cannot be true because my Uncle Fritz is a DP" or "My uncle Fritz taught at Mequon." Avuncular infallibility is the bedrock of all WELS arguments, and everyone has an uncle in WELS.

I am mildly sympathetic, because my first inclination is to be sympathetic toward those I know and appreciate.

However, any mention of the Conference of Pussycats is bound to elicit groans of despair.

Did they object to Kelm's Leonard Sweet Church and Change conference?

Did they object to Kelm's doctrine?

Did they sit there like bumps on a log while Gurgle and Mueller pillaged the synod and played Kevorkian with the schools?

Uncle Fritz' nephew objects to harsh words delivered smoothly, a fine description of WELS communication efforts, like the one above. One must never be so honest as to say, "This is wrong because..." and give actual reasons. Vague accusations are enough.

Here is a DP argument, theme and parts:

Theme - WELS is perfect.
Part 1 - Greg Jackson has criticized Holy Mother WELS.
Part 2 - Greg Jackson is a bad person.


The DPs have another argument, equally sound:
Theme - WELS is perfect.
Part 1 - You remind me of Greg Jackson.
Part 2 - Therefore, you are a bad person.

Anyone who objects to anything must go, hat in hand, to Lord High DP Hategood and present his criticisms in a weak and trembling voice. He will be lucky if the DP even shows up.

The DP will immediately--often through subordinates--address the problem by getting rid of the person who dared to arouse the wrath of the great and mighty Oz. WELS has trashed many divine calls this way while protecting the lowest of the low, like that adulterous murderer who miraculously got a call out of town and saw his files disappear in time for a police investigation. (Felony - obstruction of justice)

WELS has created its own solution-proof problem by shutting down all avenues of honest communication. PR substitutes for doctrinal rebuke. Apostates are punished with new calls. Adulterers are promoted and defended - if they have the right DNA or something better - access to loot.

Harsh? I like that word. I was diagnosed with cancer years ago. Do not celebrate too quickly. It was only a basal cell carcinoma. Nevertheless, there were only three options:

1. Burn it with radiation.

2. Burn it with very nasty chemicals.

3. Perform surgery and leave a scar.


Letting it grow was not an option since it was already eating a hole in my skull.

The Holy Spirit describes false doctrine as a cancer (or gangrene) that devours.

KJV 2 Timothy 2:17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

NKJ 2 Timothy 2:17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,

YLT 2 Timothy 2:17 and their word as a gangrene will have pasture, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus,

That allows us to believe that false doctrine should receive harsh treatment. I could quote Luther all day on this topic, but those quotations bounce right off the flinty skulls of WELS clergy.

I have never heard the Doctrinal Pussycats describe anything in WELS as false doctrine. That would be "harsh." But I do know how they treat their own clergy, from many different examples. I am familiar with the crafts and assaults of Church and Change, an official agency tasked with promoting false doctrine, a cancer giving birth to many new growths, like the women's conference, The CORE, etc.

WELS will have to deal with the doctrinal problems or perish like the unionistic UCC. WELS will continue to exist, just like the UCC, but cease to matter - except as a minor lobbying agency for recent fads.



6 comments:

Garrett said...

Uncle Fritz (...) is not a doctrinal coward - based on what evidence?
Precisely what I mean by deconstructing and hyperanalyzing. It's a subjective case - what evidence can be borne? Shall I directly quote him when I spoke to him at a family reunion? Shall I cite his words from my personal email inbox? What, theoretically, would convince you? Would you then dismiss it as lying to the impressionable young? Shall I tug your "mildly sympathetic" string describing how my 3-year-old little sister got to visit her Heavenly Father, or would you dismiss that as convenient fabrication? 'What evidence is there?' (Perhaps that's a rhetorical question answering itself...)

It's a shame that the WELS is in such a broken position. As mentioned in a previous comment, I've seen great and shameful sins blatently taught in WELS high schools, including but not limited to: double predestination, universalism, open communion. But I don't see any notable progress other than sheer annoyance at "that nasty old GJ." If your objective is muckraking, you've succeeded. What is your next step?

One must never be so honest as to say, "This is wrong because..." and give actual reasons. Vague accusations are enough.
This time, I'm a bit hurt at the way your reasoning comes about. Let me point out that certain terms (usually not directly from you) like "wrong" "good" "hate" "bad" are not being defined. One can't be logical if a person's definition of 'hate' is different than another's. And then, no one states why. Why is your own definition of 'hate' correct? Details. More examples, observations, laws. It is fallacy to point a finger at someone unsound and say "See? Because he thinks so, or because his book is wrong, they all must be acceptable\unacceptable."

Loci Theologici - Locus on Poverty (GJ - Incomplete citation, APA epic fail)
Ha ha ha! You caught me! It is! The citation from Loci Theologici you won't find in Preus' translation. It's alluded to under Caput VI - De Usura. Baldus says: “Ita Baldus etiam dicit, illos duriſſimos dictos ſimilem eſſe vermiculo ligni, qui taĉtu lenis apparet: sed dẽtes habet duriſſimos, & medullam ligni ita corrodit, ut ſuperficies quaſi illæſa appareat.”

Scott E. Jungen said...

Garrett,
I'm going to direct you to another blog, The Gadfly. It is hosted by Pastor Spencer, a WELS pastor in Arizona. He has written a section entitled, "A Dozen Don'ts and Dos for Orthodox Lutheran Pastors". I direct you to #3- "Don't assume any other Pastor is orthodox just because you roomed with him in prep or college, or he's married to your sister, or related in any way".
There are hard times ahead in the WELS. To think any other way is naive. It's not just you and your "uncle". I also face this challenge.
A month ago I went to the Church and Change website. Who's picture do I see as an officer? A guy with which I went to prep and college. I always thought he was a nice guy. But.... I don't believe in Church and Change and anything for which they stand. I have to come to terms that he might be a straying brother.
Twenty years ago I was a charter member of a WELS mission church. I consider the pastor a friend. Now he has removed the word Lutheran from its name. It is now a "stealth" church. Once again, this might get personal. Why? I recently happily threw my lot in with the people from Intrepid Lutherans. Might I have to confront friends and schoolmates on the opposite side of heated debate? Yes, and I pray for the strength to do it.
So Garrett, steel your yourself for the future. It could get ugly. As Luther wrote, "With might of ours can naught be done...".

Gregory L. Jackson said...

California wrote: "I was amused by your analyses of DP Arguments, with "theme and parts" in your comments re: "Garret's" conclusions about harsh inclusiveness. It reminded of the time when I was contending against becoming part of one of the little "synods" which had an obfuscated position re: self love. I was accused of having been influenced by a footnote in your book, THY STRONG WORD. Never mind that I had spent the better part of many years researching and writing about infusion of the psychobabble term self love permeating government schools and general society, which had spilled over to apostate churches the little synod condemned."

grumpy said...

Scott,

What is the web site address for church and change?

Grumps

Scott E. Jungen said...

Grumps,
Try www.churchandchange.org.

Scott

peeved said...

The Uncle Fritz defense is another mind game aimed at manipulating the listener.