Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Ongoing War Against Faith":
A few quotes from apostates who call themselves Lutheran while perverting the Holy Spirit's faith and Christ's Word.
Note the plagiarism of Buchholz' conference essay:
We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything 27 into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply 28 grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s 29 completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal 30 ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior. , 31 according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside 32 man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 7 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf
We must understand that faith doesn’t create anything new. Faith doesn’t bring anything into existence that doesn’t already exist. Faith doesn’t cause something to happen. Faith simply grasps—trusts—something that already is in place. Faith grasps the objective reality of God’s completed salvation in Christ. Faith appropriates the universal truth and takes personal ownership of God’s forgiveness found only in the Savior.9 Remember the causes of our salvation, according to Scripture: (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. There is nothing inside man, including faith, which is a cause of salvation. Page 5
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BuchholzJustification.pdf
"When we speak of objective justification, we mean (33) that justification is complete. It does not need to be completed by faith or any other work. It is (34) finished, perfect. God has declared the world righteous for Jesus' sake. This is an objective (35) reality, whether anyone believes it or not. Even if the whole world rejected the message of the (36) gospel, it would still remain an objective reality that God had acquitted the world of sin." Page 5 http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/schleicher-paper.pdf
(68)"But, sadly, Satan worked and continues to (69) work within the Lutheran ranks. Some wanted to make justification an act of God “at the moment of faith” and so (70) they denied and even rejected universal, objective justification." Page 4, The Doctrine of Justification since the Reformation, Pastor Nate Bourman WELS http://scdwels.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/justification-paper.pdf
"But universal and objective justification is one doctrine whose place in the victorious Christian life is clear. Wherever men teach that faith comes first as a condition that must be fulfilled or a work that must be done or even as a fact that must be recognized before forgiven is bestowed or becomes real, men will be trained to look into their own hearts for assurance rather than to the words and promises of God. If my sins are forgiven only if I first have faith then I have no solid foundation on which to rest my hope for eternal life. I must then know that I have faith before I can know that my sins are forgiven." Page 13, Objective Justification By Dr. Siegbert W. Becker / The Importance of Objective Justification http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF
"The other extreme is to stress subjective justification without understanding the objective reality. This error leads to synergism in one form or the other. Stressing faith as the cause of justification makes it a meritorious work. We have then destroyed the sola gratia of the Gospel, and cause men to look within themselves for the assurance of salvation." Page 7,
Stand in Awe of Justification / IV. Avoid Dulling its Divine Brilliance, Mark Zarling WELS http://www.wlsessays.net/files/ZarlingJustification.pdf
"To state it negatively, all sin has already been forgiven; it is a mutually exclusive proposition to say that God has given the obedience of His Son to all, and to say as well that man’s sin is not forgiven until he does something, or until he believes it. The imputation of guilt did not require that the individual sin, nor that he believe himself a sinner; likewise the imputation of Christ’s obedience needs no work or belief of man to effect it or complete it. In sum, the sin of the whole world has already been forgiven." Page 2, On the Distinction between Objective and Subjective Justification / Statement of the Doctrine of Objective Justification [Chicago Pastoral Conference November 8, 1977] by D. Deutschlander http://www.wlsessays.net/files/DeutschlanderDistinction.pdf
"Preus argued that if objective justification is not true, faith cannot be the means by which the sinner merely receives God’s forgiveness, but it must become meritorious. The denial of objective justification turns faith into a work. God will not justify the sinner solely on the basis of Christ’s redemption, but will justify the sinner only when the sinner meets the condition of having faith. Thus, the redemption of Christ does not actually cause God to forgive anyone, but merely makes God willing to forgive if sinners perform the necessary work of believing. Faith becomes a work".[35] Rev. Rolf D. Preus in The Legacy of Herman Amberg Preus, http://www.christforus.org/Papers/Content/LegacyHermanAmbergPreus.html#_ftn35
"I would eliminate faith as a requirement that makes justification true. That would be making faith a work of mine." Franz August Otto Pieper, A Final Word, http://www.franzpieper.com/
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GJ - Brett has shown that WELS only plagiarizes false teachers. This is brief sampling of the endlessly repeated talking points of UOJ.
UOJ is anti-Christian, anti-Biblical, anti-Confessional. UOJ is the engine behind the WELS infatuation with Church Growth, Emergent Church, and New Age thinking.
