Those who teach, promote and defend UOJ like to say that there is only assurance of forgiveness through Objective Justification. Objective Justification is their new gospel which declares the whole unbelieving world forgiven of all sin, justified and righteous by God's divine verdict when Christ paid for the world's sin. UOJ teaches that this declaration is the only thing that can create faith and that the promise of forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ cannot create faith because faith must have the certainty of sins already forgiven, justification already declared and righteousness already bestowed for it to cling to. The resulting teaching is that Objective Justification must be true for anyone to be assured that they are forgiven and have true peace. Therefore UOJ teaches that without UOJ there is no Gospel.
But are they teaching a doctrine of peace? Certainly not, and not only because the Scriptures and Confessions reject Objective Justification as a new and false gospel. But look at the doctrine of UOJ in more detail and you'll see the contradictions and fear it creates when it abandons Christ, Scripture and God's Gospel of the promise of forgiveness of sins through faith alone, and that faith in Christ's atonement alone.
UOJ distributes Christ's body and blood to the whole unbelieving world for the forgiveness of sins. In Holy Communion the Lutheran Church confesses that anyone who receives Christ's body and blood without faith is condemned. Where is the peace then for the whole unbelieving world to whom the UOJists distribute His body and blood to?
UOJ teaches that Christ died and paid for all sins except for the sin of unbelief. UOJ teaches that unbelief is the unforgivable sin. In fact it's that teaching that they lean on to prove they are not Universalists. They confess not everyone will be saved even though everyone has been declared forgiven of all sin, guiltless, righteous and children of God. But because some don't believe the wonderful news that God sees them as He sees Christ, they won't be saved. Yet, who was conceived with faith? Every human being ever conceived was born in unbelief - they didn't believe in Christ. You didn't believe in Christ when you were born. Everyone is guilty of the sin of unbelief. So if Christ didn't die and pay for that sin then everyone is going to Hell. No one is saved, not Adam, Moses, Abraham or you. Where's the peace in that? But since Christ died and paid for all sins, He paid for the sin of unbelief too (Romans 11:23). Therefore UOJists are in fact Universalists because the one sin it hinges upon was paid for by Christ and by their teaching was also forgiven by Him before they believed and even if they never believe.
UOJ teaches that the whole unbelieving world has been declared by God to be forgiven of all sin, justified and righteous by Christ's atonement. Yet, they aren't saved unless they believe it's true. So being declared sinless, guiltless, justified and righteous - just as Christ is, because it is His righteousness they have been given, doesn't save them. Worse yet UOJ teaches that God's wrath over sin still resides on them even though they've been given Christ's righteousness. What peace is there in that? What peace does a believer have, if having accepted the teaching that they were forgiven and righteous before they believed, God's wrath still abides on them for the sin they commit in their sinful flesh.
UOJ teaches that faith doesn't do anything but receives the benefit of what was already declared to be true before they believed. So where is the peace for the believer if they are truly the same as before they believed - when God's wrath still rested on them while they had Christ's righteousness.
Faith in the false gospel of UOJ doesn't rest on Christ and Him crucified for all sins and particularly your sins. UOJ's faith rests on the fact that you were declared forgiven, justified and righteous before faith in Christ. UOJ even teaches that a person is not to look at their faith for the assurance of forgiveness. Read the holy grail of (W)ELS UOJ teaching, Siebert W. Becker's essay on Justification for the most blasphemous statements about faith to come from sources other than the Antichrist.
Here's a quote from that essay, "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.
But there are times when a Christian does not know that he has faith. And many people who think they have faith do not have it, and many that think they are not believers are believing children of God. In regard to our own faith we may be in error or filled with doubt. But there is nothing uncertain in the truth that is proclaimed in the Gospel. Your sin is taken away, wiped out, forgiven, cancelled, swallowed up in the empty grave in Joseph’s garden. To that we must cling. To that we can cling. On that we can build a solid hope that will not make us ashamed.
In times of temptation when I am no longer aware of my faith, when my heart tells me that I am an unbeliever, I have no place to turn for assurance if faith must come before forgiveness. But if forgiveness comes first, if it is always there, if it is true whether I believe it or not, I do not need to know whether I have faith or not before I can cling to God’s promise. I know that my sins are forgiven whether I feel forgiven or unforgiven. I know that my iniquity is pardoned whether I believe it or not. And when I know that, then I know also that I am a believer. John teaches us that when he writes, “Brethren, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.” Take away objective and universal justification and you have gone a long way toward cutting the heart out of the Gospel message." Page 13 http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.PDF
(W)ELS' own Our Great Heritage confirms the same teaching that Becker declares above. Where is the peace when God gives you what Christ has and yet you are not saved. Where is the peace when you taught not to look at your faith for assurance that you, one - believe that Christ Jesus died and paid for your sins, and two - that believing you are forgiven, justified and saved. (W)ELS contends against Christ in this regard when He declares in 2 Cor. 13:5, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" True UOJists are reprobates, warring against Christ, against the Father and against the Holy Spirit and teaching others to do the same.
In Christ, Brett Meyer
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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Brett Meyer on Universal Objective Justification":
It is the father of all lies that propagates ambiguity...notice how that serpent misdirects attention from Christ as our stand-in to a 'universal absolution'. It is classic smoke and mirrors...and the sheeple follow....
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GJ - I figure only a small percentage of all Synodical Conference members know what UOJ is teaching.
I saw a billboard that had a baby on it. The message said, "A baby is forever." I said to my wife, "Look a pro-life message." I was driving. She said, "Read the whole billboard the next time we go by."
The next time I had a chance to glance at more of the billboard. I could see that the baby was a negative message. "You are stuck with this baby forever." They wanted to provide abortions, but they were not going to put that on a billboard in plain words.
So I think many laity hear UOJ language, as pastors have done, and think, "Oh, Christ died for the world's sin. That is OJ. We are justified by faith = SJ." In fact, I thought that OJ was simply a recent synonym for the Atonement. Laity got me started and kept me going about the real meaning of Universal Objective Justification.
James Heiser was at Ft. Wayne during the Robert Preus years. He first reacted with shock about "denying OJ." When he read my quotations about the real meaning of UOJ, in Thy Strong Word (supported by laity), he saw the light. Paul McCain, a graduate of the same school, about the same time, never got beyond Robert Preus.1, so he is still stuck on UOJ.
WELS ministers are the least enlightened, because they are trained against the Book of Concord and in favor of synodical idols. All the Shrinkers are paraded through the synodical schools as heroes of the unfaith, so the students realize they must follow the Fourfold Path:
- UOJ,
- Church Growth,
- Infallible synod,
- Death to Ichabod.
But that is fine with me. There is no better way to drive readers to this blog than to ban it.
"Don't waste your time reading Ichabod." The dean and the president are telling us not to read Ichabod. What was in it today? They are really steamed.
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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Brett Meyer on Universal Objective Justification":
Well if our excommunication as well as others doesn't show people the awful truth about this doctrine, then nothing will.
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GJ - Start with California, who only questioned trends. She was excommunicated. The two Kokomo families correctly questioned J. P. Meyer's UOJ and decision theology. They were excommunicated. Rick Techlin correctly identified Tim Glende's plagiarism, as the circuit pastor did. Rick was excommunicated (more or less) and the circuit pastor was replaced with a finger puppet.
I know a number of pastors hated out of WELS. One was a circuit pastor who dared to challenge WELS about Church Shrinkage.
This appeared in a discussion about Penn State, which parallels WELS and Missouri:
C.S. Lewis said it best in "The Abolition of Man": "In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful."
Don't vote for girly-men and expect doctrinal leaders.
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LutherRocks has left a new comment on your post "Brett Meyer on Universal Objective Justification":
Keep voting for girly men and you'll get girly language in the Bible and girly worship...
