Hello,
Long time reader, first time mailer.
Having grown up WELS I never once thought that unbelievers were saints. My understanding had always been that the world was reconciled to God through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, that Jesus took away the sin of the world, that the guilt of the world was placed on Christ and therefore he suffered the punishment for the sins of the world.
My understanding is then that forgiveness was won for all people, but only those who come to faith through hearing the message (the Holy Spirit creating faith, making the dead alive) receive that forgiveness and are covered by Christ's righteousness and thereby have eternal life. All of this is done purely by God's grace alone, we learn this in Scripture alone, and we are justified by faith alone.
The reason for the mail is that recently there has been a lot of comments back and forth. I figured I'd get your take.
The WELS has problems. But for the sake of those still confessional, I'm not willing to bail out of it just yet. Perhaps this next generation of pastors and teachers can change things around.
Keep us in your prayers.
Thank you
p.s.
I confess, I have seen some of your tactics and lest I have made some typo and said something you do not agree with, for the sake of my family, I would not wish to have them embarrassed by a public rebuke. I understand that you have full rights to anything in this e-mail once it is yours and so I leave you simply with "Sine Nomine". Forgive me if that is offensive to you. Perhaps next time I may become emboldened.
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GJ - I replaced his pen name with Sine Nomine (without a name, Latin) and added "For All the Saints," to remind everyone of Kokomo. It is also the name of the tune for a great hymn.
I do not mind the omission of names. This writer gave me his real name and said he did not want to use it in the post. I respect that.
I only found two typos, so I question whether he is WELS. Just kidding, Sine.
"Jesus took away the sin of the world" is ambiguous, given the confusion created by Becker, Buchholz, Zarling, and Deutschlander. That is the equivalent of saying, "You would have made it to Chicago, but you made only one wrong turn. Now you are in Detroit, South Side."
If "Jesus took away the sin of the world" is taken to mean that God declared the world free of sin, the statement is completely wrong. Universal absolution is the basis for Universalism, even if it is the demi-semi-Universalism of UOJ. I believe Rydecki backed away from that after I published all the WELS UOJ essays.
Jesus atoned for the sins of the world. Jesus paid for the sins of the world. Jesus redeemed the world. However, this grace comes to individuals only through the Means of Grace. To say they are "already forgiven" as Kokomo and the Brief Statement do, is fallacious and dangerous.
To speak about justification apart from the efficacious Word in the Means of Grace is unBiblical.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "Sine Nomine - For All the Saints":
Sine states, "Perhaps this next generation of pastors and teachers can change things around."
It is to be hoped, but reality reveals a different future. The false gospel of UOJ is the bedrock of your future pastors. DP Buchholz, MLC Pres. Zarling, The entire South Central (W)ELS Clergy etc. etc. have made sure of that. Simply read the UOJ essays from (W)ELS theologians linked on the top left-hand side of Ichabod to find out what your future pastors have been taught.
The next generation of pastors and teachers will be even worse. Simply look at how the students from the various (W)ELS schools created, promoted and defended the homo-erotic MLC version of the Fire Island Pines video. That is your future. And the Emergent New Age administration of those schools who are in charge of these students and activities continue to condone and enable them.
Kelm, Becker, Jeske, Ski, Glende are simply the advanced New AGe Emergent scouts as the (W)ELS marches toward their future, your future.
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rlschultz has left a new comment on your post "Sine Nomine - For All the Saints":
Mr. Meyer,
I agree with your assessment. False doctrine is now spreading throughout the WELS like cancer in its last stages. The spread of false doctrine rarely begins with the laity, at the grass roots level. When you pointed us to the products of the present worker training system, we see the proof as to why improvement at the synod wide level is nigh unto impossible.
