A Hindu and a Lutheran sent me the same link, about the lack of religious knowledge in America today.
Click here for the NY Times article.
The Hindu and I went to the same grade school, junior high, high school, Lutheran church, and divinity school. The Lutheran layman came out of the LCA and even remembers the same people I knew from an earlier era.
The article reminded me of the ongoing war against faith waged by the heirs of the Pietistic Synodical Conference. The PR history of those groups would have people believe the SC saved American Lutherans from unionism and apostasy.
I argue that the blend of Pietism and Lutheran doctrine had to end up with the victory Pietism, which ends in Unitarianism and Universalism. Pietism condemns condemnation of false doctrine in the name of love and unity. There is no better way to earn The Glare from today's Lutherans than to suggest doctrinal error exists.
That was really a work of genius on the part of Spener. By declaring an end to doctrinal strife, he fostered it, just as Melanchthon did, but Spener managed to create organization unity through shunning. His way was love, so his opponents were unloving. That theme runs through all of Pietism and is foremost today.
They shun to a fare-thee-well and extol their love while engaging in vile, childish, and criminal behavior. I have been amused and appalled by the way UOJ Stormtroopers prove themselves to be consistently deceitful. Even when caught in the act, they blabber a bevy of lies.
UOJ Stormtroopers really hate faith. When someone writes about justification by faith, they say, "Your faith is in faith. You know nothing about the Bible or the Gospel. You are a Calvinist." I watched them slither, dither, and lie on LutherQuest (sic). They browbeat one poor man until he was hardly heard from again. Before, he asked good questions about the weakness of their favorite doctrine. Afterwards, he bowed to their verbal pistol-whippings.
The Bible teaches faith:
- Faith in God.
- Faith in God's Word.
- Faith in God's Promises.
- Faith in God's love and power.
- Faith in God's only-begotten Son.
- Faith in the atoning death of Christ.
- Faith in His resurrection and the Promise of eternal life.
KJV John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. 8 And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on Me; 10 Of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; 11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
The work of the Holy Spirit is the Word, and the Word never lacks the divine power of the Word. Therefore, the prime purpose of preaching and teaching is to create and sustain faith in Christ through the Word. That excludes programs, gimmicks, methods, marketing, etc.
The purpose of the Gospel is clear: KJV John 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Nevertheless, the Stormtroopers want to make people feel guilty for thinking faith is good. And yet they are guilt-free in not believing.
Some day theologians will shake their heads at people falling for such a conflicted, ridiculous anti-Biblical set of opinions. The quotations I have gathered from various UOJ advocates show that they compete with each other in praising lack of faith. The Hottentots and Hindu are forgiven, they claim. Hitler is forgiven, they say. Everyone is forgiven, they imagine. They are all forgiven but not forgiven until they are told they are forgiven. Once they say, "I am?" they are forgiven again, which is the only one that really counts.
And yet, Luther taught justification by faith. He never wavered in his life in teaching the efficacy of the Word in the Means of Grace. When the rationalists Zwingli and Calvin headed in another direction, Luther remained firm in his confidence in the Word. He never lost his trust in the Word and never stopped condemning the Enthusiasts. The Book of Concord is completely consistent in teaching Luther's doctrine, which is faithful to the Scriptures and the early Fathers. The invisible Church is not built upon personalities but upon the Word of God. Its foundation is Christ Himself and no other.
The new/old gimmick churches do not teach the Word of God at all. They do not offer exegetical sermons or serious doctrinal studies. Much of their talk is a slightly religious version of business motivational speeches and pop psychology.
I heard one today, rather typical, where the preacher kept talking about himself and Peter - walking on the water. In typical Reformed style he identified with Peter rather than teaching about Christ. Lenski found fault, for good reason, with pastors who did character sketches for sermons during Lent. Doubtless the low-point was a WELS church where one of the pastors dressed up as the Woman at the Well (John 4). At least at Mary Lou College they do cross-dressing for comedy.
The reason so many Lutheran pastors are plagiarizing the false teachers is their inability to preach the Word. The lack of outrage is quite telling. Everything goes on as before. The conduct of the ELS, WELS, and LCMS illustrates their lack of faith in the Word.
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churchmousec (http://churchmousec.wordpress.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Ongoing War Against Faith":
Thank you for another excellent post, Dr Jackson. You explain Christ's teachings and Luther's doctrines so well, really bringing them to life.
But, there is a worldwide danger in all of this, as it affects much of Christianity. With people not knowing the Bible, church confessions of faith and receiving little to no spiritual or theological guidance from the pulpit, they can slip easily into error and into accepting another way of life altogether (my posts on Thursday and Friday evenings will partly illustrate this).
Churchmouse
