Thursday, May 30, 2013

Dr. Lito Cruz Points Out a Problem



LPC has left a new comment on your post "Dr. Lito Cruz on Pastor Rydecki's Essay":

But according to C. F. Dubya Walther, Rydecki is mistaken in taking seriously the teachings of the Lutheran Fathers.

The principal means by which our opponents endeavor to support their doctrine, consists in continually quoting passages from the private writings of the fathers of our Church, published subsequent to the _Formula of Concord_. But whenever a controversy arises concerning the question, whether a doctrine is Lutheran, we must not ask: "What does this or that 'father' of the Lutheran Church teach in his private writings?" for he also may have fallen into error;

Did Walther know how to exegete the Greek NT?

I doubt that.

LPC

His first kidnapping caper began in Europe
when he and his brother grabbed their niece and nephew
for a one-way trip to America, where both died rather young.

***

GJ - Dr. Cruz, you brought up an important insight about Walther the theological pope.

First, I will list the false assumptions about Walther and corrections in blue:

He was an orthodox Lutheran. He never was. He was trained in rationalism and sought refuge in Pietism, following one domineering guru and then Martin Stephan when the first guru moved away and died. His Easter absolution UOJ came directly from the Pietist Stephan, and the same bilge was taught at Halle, where Stephan studied.

He was a skilled theologian - he studied Luther! Long ago, everyone studied Luther. Walther only had a four-year degree from a rationalistic school when he became a pastor. He was never an exegete. Instead he stated propositions and simply quoted or listed Biblical passages as proof that he was correct. He also quoted himself to prove his assertions.

He got rid of that adulterous false teacher Stephan! Walther was the bishop's pimp and enforcer until the cult experienced, in America, a break-out of syphilis among the groupies around the bishop. Walther took the opportunity to rob the bishop of a fortune in gold, books, and land - forcing Stephan at gunpoint to Illinois. Before that time, the founding clergy looked the other way while Stephan lived with his main girlfriend, dallied with others, and abandoned his wife and children in Europe.

An obscure Lutheran pointed out in a booklet that Walther was never a Biblical theologian. Readers will notice that the Walther template continued with his hand-picked disciple F. Pieper. The Brief Confession of 1932 has absurd thetical statements followed by a list of proofs. The proofs contradict the claims, but no one in LCMS in 1932 noticed? Later, the UOJ crowd turned that debacle into the Ruling Norm - over and above all sources, including the Scriptures.

1932 Brief Confession, on Justification

Scripture teaches that God has already declared the whole world to be righteous in Christ, Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rom. 4:25; that therefore not for the sake of their good works, but without the works of the Law, by grace, for Christ's sake, He justifies, accounts as righteous, all those who that is, believe, accept, and rely on, the fact that for Christ's sake their sins are forgiven.

Someone can read this over quickly and miss the UOJ, but the main assertion is Universalism - backed by this? Let's read the entire sentence carefully, not just a phrase used as a motto and assassin's creed.

KJV Romans 4:24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus 
our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

And yet, the flat-lining UOJ advocates still insist that the entire world has been declared forgiven because He. Was. Raised. For. Our. Justification! Thus the Synodical Conference was taught to reject the Scriptures, Luther, and the entire period of Lutheran Orthodoxy to parrot the ravings of Halle Pietism (while denouncing Pietism and calling themselves orthodox). No wonder the Syncons are obsessive liars - it begins with justification.

The more I studied this with others, the more we came to realize that the Walther-Stephan error was only one opinion, and not the dominant opinion in the Synodical Conference. The universal experience of Pietism tended to unite the UOJ Hive, but the influence of the Means of Grace was not absent. UOJ did not start to win until 1932, and Lutherdom quickly fell apart after that.

Rambach was not just a Halle Pietist -
he was a leader at Halle University.