Upcoming Plans for Technology

I am backing up the 5,000 files of Ichabod. They are being exported into another blog.

Next I will redesign the template. The first page is starting to look like one of those churches suffering from 14 different remodeling projects. I also want to speed up the loading.

My old domain was up for renewal (gljackson.com) so I decided to go with Intuit's package, which sounded more reasonable, potentially more fun. I am not going to do web design in Dreamweaver unless I am getting paid or graduate school credit for it. I will try to tie together the social media, blogging, and Lulu. Simply creating a page on Facebook for Martin Chemnitz Press yielded a lot of visits for a beginner.

The new domain will be http:///www.martinchemnitzpress.com

The link is up and I will be working on it soon. The domain is for storing all the books and academic materials I use. Ich-addicts need not worry about withdrawal pains. Free downloads will still be at Lulu.com, too.

Martin Chemnitz Press Facebook Page

52 monthly active users 8 since last week

0 people like this no change since last week

2 wall posts and comments this week 1 since last week

39 visits this week 293 since last week

When I make a change to the Facebook page, the software sends a Tweet on Twitter to my Twitter followers. That also generates potential hits on Google.

I hope the new blog design will allow for re-Tweets of posts, as well as other social media methods. They are becoming essential now, so I might as well use them. Besides, I teach this in a course called Educational Technology. So far I have not been able to get the social media links to show up on each post. I may need to call in LI for advice. I realize that is like asking the New Jersey to serve as a tugboat.

Another Body Blow To Universal Objective Justification

You Owe Jay for Defending the Doctrine of the Emergent Church

David Jay Webber said...

When 1 Timothy 3:16 says that the Lord Jesus was "justified" in the Spirit in his resurrection and exaltation, is the word "justified" being used there in the exact same way, and to make the exact same point, as when the Bible says elsewhere that Abraham (or anyone) was or is "justified" by faith? Should we not consider that there may be more than one Biblical usage or application of this term? And is it really necessary to say that only one of these usages or applications is correct, and that any other usage or application is "demented"?

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Pastor Webber,

I think that would be confusing connotation with meaning. The term "Justify" might be used in Scripture in a number of different connotations though it carries the same meaning. But of course a different connotation implies a different topic, so the meaning has, in a sense changed. So, to apply one connotation's sense-meaning to another is what we call "Equivocation". So no, that doesn't give use license to use the term "justify" any way we want. 

Putting the best construction on the topic is to suggest that UOJ is guilty of ambiguous illogical language. UOJ's error, distinct from equivocation, is redefinition. It uses the word 'justify' to refer to the universal work of Christ, which (although Christ did pay for All sin) does not affect individuals. If you believe that God only affects individuals through the Word, start from there: weigh the language used to describe UOJ against the notion that "God only chooses to deal with man" through Word. I think if you divorce yourself from "The way we've always talked about things" and focus on what the doctrine in question means plainly, I think you will see quite quickly that it is load of horse manure. God has chosen The Cause to be his Word. The Effect is that some come to faith and have Christ's Righteousness imputed to them (are justified). Without The Cause there can be no Effect.

The worst construction on UOJ is to take people at their own words, discerning that they actually believe falsely, like Walther or Becker, that God has declared every person Righteous whether or not they ever believe. And even though it may be putting the worst construction on it, that approach is totally reasonable because the plain, simple dictionary definition of "justify", and the hundreds of Scripture references telling us that man is Justified by faith alone.

Andy Groenwald

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GJ - Laymen convinced me to study UOJ, and I gathered hundreds of quotations on both sides of the issue. General Justification, Objective Justification, and UOJ all mean the same thing - universal forgiveness of sin, universal absolution. The meaning of a term is decided by context. Andy is a bit innocent about that, but he is correct in pointing out the error of using a misleading, imprecise, and erroneous term.

Thy Strong Word began the erosion, when I published what UOJ really means. Before that, people were allowed to think it was a synonym for the Atonement.

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LPC has left a new comment on your post "Another Body Blow To Universal Objective Justifica...":

Sophistry starts to gain a foot hold once the meaning of words are allowed to be redefined, stretched like a garter or a rubber band.

I find it hard to be nice when it is obvious that the spin they put on UOJ is opportunistic.

LPC

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GJ - The latest is the deception that OJ and SJ are not two justifications but two sides of the same coin. Their analysis reminds me of mercury, whose blobs separate and join again, impossible to grasp, especially toxic for those who like to play with it.

Stop Sniveling - Schools and Colleges Close

Church Growth is the opiate of the people.
Telling the truth wakes them up, crying.

Mobridge Prep (WELS) - Closed

Prairie du Chien (WELS) - Closed

The Original Moo U. (WELS) - Closed

Northwestern College (WELS) - Closed

Dana College (ELCA) - Closed

Waldorf College (ELCA) - Closed but online, for-profit.

Upsala College (ELCA) - Closed due to declining enrollment. Refused to relocate to donated land.

Michigan Lutheran Seminary (WELS) - Getting close.

Martin Luther College (WELS) - To be divided and closed.

LCMS schools have closed, too.

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bruce-church (https://bruce-church.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Stop Sniveling - Schools and Colleges Close":

Dr. Jackson's source is right, once you think about it. Why operate and subsidize a large teacher college when only a fraction of the graduates are called? Educating teachers and pastors could be outsourced to another college, and the WELS would only have to subsidize, say, a chapel and a few classrooms and teachers, not an entire campus. There are plenty of multi-denominational college and seminary campuses already, and each denomination subsidizes only their students special program and curriculum. ELCA's Southern Seminary has Lutheran, Baptist and Methodist tracks: http://www.ltss.edu

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GJ - Obama's CommieCare is going to brutalize budgets everywhere, even with a big election loss in November. Congress would have to meet and over-ride Obama to get rid of the law. Meanwhile, all kinds of taxes and costs are being thrown at every business and institution.

The threat is doubled for church organizations. First of all, the budgets are raised in the midst of a major recession that is stifling donations. Secondly, the ripple effect starts to hit all the families (more unemployment) and businesses providing income and donations.

Hour of Glower - Schuller's Crystal Cathedral Is Bankrupt

"If you fire me, Dad, I will buy up your promissory notes and push you into bankruptcy."


Yahoo News


By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press Writer Amy Taxin, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – Crystal Cathedral filed for bankruptcy on Monday in Southern California after months of trying to overcome mounting debt.

The megachurch, birthplace of the "Hour of Power" televangelist broadcast, announced its filing as it struggled to emerge from debt estimated earlier this year at $55 million.

Church spokesman John Charles said the church owes about $7.5 million to a host of vendors for services such as advertising and providing the use of live animals for Easter and Christmas services.

The church was negotiating a payment plan with vendors but several chose to file lawsuits, the church said in a statement.

"We've always believed in a big God ... a God Who is greater than any problem or challenge we could ever face," Sheila Schuller Coleman, the Cathedral's senior pastor, said in the statement. "Our announcement today to file for the protection of Chapter 11 is just one more chapter in the book that He is continuing to write."

The Orange County-based church, founded in the mid-1950s by the Robert H. Schuller Sr., earlier this year ordered major layoffs. It also cut the number of stations airing the "Hour of Power" and sold property to stay afloat.

In addition, the 10,000-member church canceled this year's "Glory of Easter" pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a regional holiday staple.

The church was founded at a drive-in theater and attracted congregants with its sermons on the power of positive thinking. Its worship hall features a soaring glass spire that opened in 1970 and remains an architectural wonder and tourist destination.

The "Hour of Power" telecast, filmed in the cathedral's main sanctuary, at one point attracted 1.3 million viewers in 156 countries.

Church leaders said the Crystal Cathedral's Sunday services and weekly-telecast "Hour of Power" will continue while in bankruptcy.

The church also said recent financial reports show good cash flow, but the financial woes were triggered by a drop in revenue in 2009 due to the recession.

The church saw revenue drop 27 percent from roughly $30 million in 2008 to $22 million in 2009. Leaders had projected an 18 percent revenue decline.

Other megachurches have also suffered from the downturn and reduced charitable giving.

The Adoration of the Shrinker - Floyd Luther Stolzenburg

The Adoration of the Shrinker is a priceless example of Russian Orthodox art, purchased in the Ukraine.
Cost - One cheese factory.

ELS Bored of Doctrine Member Jay Webber and Ex-ELS Pastor Roger Kovaciny established fellowship with Floyd Luther Stolzenburg's Masonic congregation, to raise money for Thoughts of Faith.

1. Jay is death on Church Growth, he would have people believe, so why did he hook up with Stolzenburg?
   
2. Floyd was forced out of the LMCM ministerium, for cause, claimed to have a "Scriptural divorce," and never found a denomination that would take him - except for Thoughts of Faith.
   
3. Kovaciny floated the idea that Stolzenburg was persecuted in Columbus, Ohio, so Floyd posed appropriately in front of Jesus in the Garden. WELS buddies Bob Schumann and Paul Kuske helped Floyd get that congregation.
   
4. The Intrepid Lutherans are very careful in determining who can teach their readers about justification without faith.
   

MLC Closing? - The Denials Begin.Just Like "The Check Is In the Mail" and "I Don't Mind Being Poor"

They grow up to be doctrinal pussycats.

a-lutheran (http://a-lutheran.myopenid.com/) has left a new comment on your post "WELS Martin Luther College Will Close: Pastor Trac...":

I didn't even expect you to put such hearsay fodder on your blog, Jackson.

I would be amazed if MLC closed. And I have it on good authority that it won't anytime soon.

As for the kid from Borneo, I would love to see him "demand" $250 to be in a musical. I'm sure he's a hot commodity that MGM or Universal would love to get their hands on. He does it for the attention, same as all actors. And he volunteers for the other stuff out of love for your school. If his attitude is that they should be paying him for all this stuff then I question his loyalty to the position he is training for.

***

GJ - It's official. Pack your bags. Doubtless a school official told the innocent student, "No. That is not going to happen."

I posted the anonymous comment above - hearsay without a name. I like that - very WELS.

The students were sorry and took down their gay video too. Remember - MLC students lie as much as their academic leaders.

WELS Church Lady thinks I should link the not-so Intrepid Lutherans, so I may relent again.

Sad Plight of Lutheran Education

Mequon students laugh about telling people how hard their studies are, when in fact they consider them quite easy. One student slept every day in class and is now an ELS Shrinker hero. He used the Trigotta as his pillow, so he can say, "I used the Book of Concord in every class." Aaah. Oooh.

Lutherans have been unable to stand up to Fuller Seminary and Willow Creek for over 30 years. Everyone knew that their own clergy were being trained in both places - not to mention Trinity, Deerfield and other Saharas of Lutheran doctrine.

There once was an ideal of Lutheran education, which was both classical and Confessional. On the classical side it was expected that future clergy would know German, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. They were also supposed to know the Confessions and the Biblical literature. The best scholars became professors. Reu was given a honorary doctorate in Germany, the equivalent today of the Packers drafting me as quarterback.

The themes in the last few decades have been control and conformity. Each system has ways to filter out anyone who thinks independently. Synod leaders meddle in congregations to maintain control. No one respects the divine call. It is a franchise, and the franchise can be lifted at any moment, as Pope John the Malefactor has warned. The Left Foot of Fellowship is always quivering to address another obdurate heinie.

The Trepidation Lutherans have exhibited the traits instilled in them by decades of emotional and physical abuse. They are too timid to discuss justification openly, although they opened up the topic. They do not have time for doctrinal discussions. Correction - they will not take the time for doctrine. They have plenty of time to play politics.

New Additions to the Ichaslang Lexicon - From Joe Krohn

Few are those who even try to add to Ichaslang. Even fewer are those whose offerings are accepted with thanks and a laugh. I saw this at Extra Nos.

LutherRocks said...

My wife, bless her heart, has come up with a couple zingers.

Ichapeek; when you have to get one last quick look at Ichabod before going to bed.

Ichawidow; when your husband spends too much time on Ichabod.

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GJ - Thank you, Ichawidow. I will read those to Mrs. Ichabod and copy them into the Ichaslang Lexicon.

Mrs. Ichabod referred to herself as an Ichawidow. Come on - just because I eat at the computer!