Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "The 99 Cent Kuske Catechism.Overpriced.":
My Gausewitz Small Catechism arrived today. It was owned by M. Zima and comes with most pages taped and a half dozen four leaf clovers pressed between, what seems to be, random pages.
Reading through it I noted that on page 18, The Ministry of the Keys it states, What is the Ministry of the Keys? The ministry of the Keys is the peculiar authority of the Church, given by Christ to His Church on earth, to forgive the sins of penitent sinners unto them, but to retain the sins of the impenitent as long as they do not repent.
What do you believe according to these words? I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us according to His divine command (especially when they exclude manifestly impenitent sinners from the Christian congregation, and again, when they absolve those whho repent of their sins and are willing to amend), this is as valid and certain, in Heaven also, as if Christ, our dear Lord, dealt with us Himself.
This leaves no room for UOJ which falsely teaches that upon Christ's death for the sins of the world and resurrection God absolved the whole world of their sins and declared them justified and righteous in Christ.
First how can Christ's Church retain the sins of the impenitent when God the Father has already forgiven them by the sacrificial blood of Christ?!
Second, in John chapter 20 Christ gives the Keys to His Church which includes the authority to retain the sins of the impenitent but to also absolve those who repent of their sins and are willing to amend as the Gausewitz Catechism wrote. But the (W)ELS clergy, called workers and laity blatantly teach against Christ and His divine command in Our Great Heritage "And yet many Lutherans still labor under the delusion that God does not forgive us unless we believe. Instead of seeing faith as nothing more than the spiritual hand with which we make the forgiveness of God our own, they see it as a reason why God forgives us. They believe that Christ has indeed provided forgiveness for all men, that God is willing to forgive them, but before he really forgives he first of all demands that we should be sorry for our sins and that we should have faith. Just have faith they say, and then God will forgive you. All the right words are there. The only thing wrong is that the words are in the wrong order. God does not forgive us IF we have faith. He has forgiven us long ago when he raised his Son from the dead." (p. 59)
No wonder the Lutheran Confessions exclaim, "6] Let any one of the adversaries come forth and tell us when remission of sins takes place. O good God, what darkness there is! They doubt whether it is in attrition or in contrition that remission of sins occurs. And if it occurs on account of contrition, what need is there of absolution, what does the power of the keys effect, if sins have been already remitted?…" http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_10_repentance.php
