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| This is pure baloney, contradicted by the Gausewitz Catechism, the Dresden Catechism, and the KJV Catechism now being sold by CPH. |
Dr. Cruz is correct. “…if a person is justified without reference to faith then he is justified even though he loses faith…” (W)ELS’ own S.W. Becker confessed the same teaching in his often Kelmed essay on Justification.
Siegbert W. Becker - Justification
We ought to teach universal and objective justification because the Bible teaches it. Even if we could not see why it is important, that would still be the duty of every orthodox theologian.
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.
http://www.wlsessays.net/files/BeckerJustification.pdf
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Cont...
The entire false gospel of UOJ is built on tenets that are 180 degrees in opposition to Scripture and Christ.
Scripture rejects UOJ’s false gospel and the (W)ELS’ promotion of it:
2nd 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?
John 3:18, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Mark 16:16, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Confessions reject UOJ’s false gospel and the (W)ELS’ promotion of it:
80] AAC That We Obtain The Remission of Sins By Faith Alone In Christ, "The wrath of God cannot be appeased if we set against it our own works, because Christ has been set forth as a Propitiator, so that, for His sake, the Father may become reconciled to us. But Christ is not apprehended as a Mediator except by faith. Therefore, by faith alone we obtain remission of sins when we comfort our hearts with confidence in the mercy promised for Christ's sake."
http://www.bookofconcord.org/defense_4_justification.php
Martin Luther rejects UOJ’s false gospel and the (W)ELS’ promotion of it:
"But outside of this Christian Church, where the Gospel is not, there is no forgiveness, as also there can be no holiness [sanctification]. Therefore all who seek and wish to merit holiness [sanctification], not through the Gospel and forgiveness of sin, but by their works, have expelled and severed themselves [from this Church]."
The Large Catechism, The Creed, Article III, #56, Concordia Triglotta, St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 693. Tappert, p. 418. Heiser, p. 195.
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narrow-minded has left a new comment on your post " LPC has left a new comment on your post "Is Walt...":
The UOJ folks keep going off the rails when they accuse JBFAers of citing Faith as a work of man. We are not espousing "Decision Theology." Actually, Walther did. JBFAers are rightly saying that Faith is the Triune God's Work given as a gift through the Means of Grace. As I've said what seems like a thousand times, the only part man can play in Faith is to reject it.
Either the UOJers are ignorant of Scripture and the BoC, or they are stubbornly looking past the solid arguments to hold fast to their UOJ. Perhaps it's a combination of the above factors.
As a result of their arguments, the SynCon has become Babtist by reducing the Sacraments to acts of obedience and the Word to us having to believe it by our own will. Walther said, "The only thing left for you to do is believe it." Like Huber, a supposedly former- Calvinist, accusing his opposition of Calvinism, the UOJers, who claim to reject Decision Theology and accuse us of promoting it, are actually promoting it themselves.
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Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post " LPC has left a new comment on your post "Is Walt...":
But by the grace and mercy of God UOJists cannot comprehend the true Gospel for this clear reason which Scripture provides:
1 Cor. 2:14, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
