Grumpy Lutheran - On WELS Hazing

Dr. Jackson,

Your recent posting had me thinking back to my long ago ZEX year.  

Just a week or so ago I would imagine the newest freshman class got mustered into MLS.

I remember how, as a freshman, the attitude and personality of the upperclassmen changed once the parents started to wander off after that "enrollment" Sunday and the dorms became pretty much devoid of adult supervision.  True, there was the occasional tutor, but the ratio was something like 2 tutors for over 140 male dormers leads to pretty thin coverage. 

It was definitely an "interesting" experience.  Whenever I read about the plebe year at military academies, or about English boarding school (such as Robert Graves' autobiography "Goodbye To All That") I always find myself doing an "experience comparison".

Although I have not kept in contact with my old alma mater, nor have I had any children who have subsequently attended MLS, I have been told the hazing that was so common during freshman year has all but disappeared.  Considering the age of a freshman in the dorm at MLS (13 or 14 years old), the "traditional" hazing would be a lawsuit waiting to happen, especially in today's litigious society.  In addition, the proliferation of cell phones with camera and video capabilities, as well as access to email, would tend to help police overt abuses.,

Our former pastor, who was about 30 years younger than myself and also an alumni of MLS, would often go on about the hazing of his freshman year.

He then made it known that he was a "townie".

Uh-huh....home every night, and home all weekend, every weekend.

"Boy, Pastor, that sure must have been tough"  ....eyes rolling....laughing hysterically (in private).

I will say this about the hazing...

While I never look back on my high (prep) school with fond nostalgia, I am proud of having endured that time without letting it break my spirit.

I even must confess that I look with some disdain on those students who entered MLS in their sophomore (or later) years and avoid that "trial by fire" ZEX year.

To a certain extent, I don't consider them to be full fledged alumni.  The same can be said for townies; sorry guys and gals, you just never had the full experience.

Ok, I guess that makes me a bit of a snob, and maybe even a little mentally imbalanced (denigrating those who did not "suffer" enough).  

Trust me, I have no right to "look down" on anyone.

Well, that's enough of walking down memory lane.

I will probably wake up screaming again tonight.

Just joking...my therapy sessions have finally silenced the night terrors.

Grumps

Just Like Hazing in WELS - "Harmless Fun" at West Point Turns into Bone-Breaking Brawl

Larry Olson - "Please stop putting me in Purgatory during lunch, OK?"

NY Times

For generations, freshmen cadets at the United States Military Academy have marked the end of a grueling summer of training with a huge nighttime pillow fight that is billed as a harmless way to blow off steam and build class spirit.

But this year the fight on the West Point, N.Y., campus turned bloody as some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects, thought to be helmets, that split lips, broke at least one bone, dislocated shoulders and knocked cadets unconscious. The brawl at the publicly funded academy, where many of the Army’s top leaders are trained, left 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions, according to West Point.

In interviews, cadets who asked that their names not be used for fear of repercussions in West Point’s strictly controlled culture, said the fight had left one cadet with a broken leg and dislocated shoulders in others. One cadet was knocked unconscious and taken away in an ambulance and had not returned to school, they said. But a spokesman for the academy, Lt. Col. Christopher Kasker, said all cadets had returned to duty.

Though talk about the brawl on Aug. 20 had circulated on social media, West Point did not confirm it to The New York Times until Thursday...

***

GJ - Hazing is embedded in WELS culture, creating an artificial closeness from shared secrets and an atmosphere of bullying and subordination, hallmarks of a sick, abusive sect.

A student at Michigan Lutheran Seminary was held outside the upper-floor window by his feet. They let go and he was injured in the fall.

One current ELS leader was whipped on his rear with a wire coat-hanger.

Another pastor was hit with a pillowcase filled with books - knocked unconscious.

Broken leg at West Point? At Mequon, the GA hazing broke one student's leg and knocked the tooth out of another.

GA "no longer exists" at Mequon because it is called HB.

The GA pope had students wade into sewage drainage water to get his "lost bowling ball," a task for new students each year. If a student obviously knew what GA was all about, the upperclassmen really worked him over.

If someone complained about GA, that was held against him by all WELS leaders from that time on - and never forgotten, never forgiven. The chances of that person being hated out of the seminary or the ministry were increased to 100%. Simply going to the dean - like John Sparky Brenner - meant that GA would be defended and the student put on the exit tract.

This enforces the code of secrecy in WELS and the ELS. I mentioned the WELS Taiwanese missionaries who went Pentecostal in front of the wife of one of these hazing victims, now in a position of power. She snapped at me, "No one is supposed to talk about that."

But be of good cheer if WELS or the Little Sect on the Prairie has defenestrated you for knowing and talking about the facts. They did you a favor. Thank God for the blessing of being gone.

When WELS-ELS church workers commit crimes, the secrecy is so tight that anyone speaking about it is easily identified and warned. Speaking the truth is called "gossip and slander" while those same people shun, slander, and lie about anyone the cult has identified as a danger to their comfort, security, and fleshpots.

Playing stupid is a good way to warn someone, "Don't talk about this."

Our New Feature - Chef's Corner. Dirty Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Take that, Wyatt. I started at age 4.

I have been planning to post some of my recipes, with some suggestions for our granddaughters.

When I learned that one of my best education students has a son who likes to cook, I decided to do a little writing on the topic.

I will tag these "Chef's Corner" so they are easy to group together in a label search. The label list is in the left column.

Dirty Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

These are dirty because I begin with a pan that was used to warm up grilled meat - leaving some beef juice behind - or to fry bacon, leaving bacon flavoring behind. The better the meat, the better the grilled cheese.

I always start with coconut oil, which we make a point of using daily. There are many good benefits of coconut oil, and we love the flavor. Also, it is stable at high temps, which means it does not smoke.

Add coconut oil to the residue in the pan and heat at medium on a gas stove.

Place bread on the new and old mixture. I usually keep the bread in the freezer, so I want it warming up fast.

The keys to good grilled cheese are quality cheese and bread, plus the melt.

Cut good cheese on the bread warming up. I have my favorites in the quality cheese area of Walmart - not in the massive hanging cheese displays, which often cost the same or a little more. I like their

• Muenster - about $6 a pound.
• Smoked Gouda - roughly the same per pound.

On the cheese I place a little bit of butter - for the flavor. I make butter last a long time. As I explained to the doctor, butter is a gateway drug for me. I eat more bread because of the butter, and never tire of eating more bread and butter, toast and butter, cinnamon sugar and toast and butter.

Reducing bread consumption, as suggested by Dr. Bandy, meant my weight dropped 7 pounds.

You can use good bread - Pepperidge Farm - or white bread. Do I have to write a jeremiad on cheap, white bread? Me, a born and bred baker?

I keep the temperature at medium and place the other bread on top. To hold in more heat for the melt, I place a metal pan lid on top of the bread. Soon smoke rises up, which means the bread is toasting, maybe even blackened. I love it blackened and I am in a hurry. Those who want to back off the burn will have to wait longer for the melt.

If your cheese is not liquefied at the end, your mission has failed.

Flip the sandwiches when the smoke forms the first time. Some chefs will turn down the burner a bit, but they will wait longer too. I keep mine at medium and expect black-brown on both sides.

Muenster and other cheeses will melt and drip onto the skillet. That will make a hissing sound - your sandwiches are done. If burning is a fear, turn it low or off at the end and let the heat penetrate.

You can follow the same directions for pristine grilled cheese sandwiches, but why not take advantage of a skillet that has been baconed or beefed up already?

That is the melt desired.

Hutter Compend of Lutheran Doctrine - Based on the Confessions - Not Halle University and Missouri Sex Cult

Hutter Compend - As Mentioned on SpenerQuest

Let's fact it - they do not read, do not study, and do not engage in critical thinking.

2. How do you define man's justification before
God?
Justification is a work of God, by which, out of
pure grace, or gratuitously, he releases from sin
the sinner who believes in Christ ; grants him
forgiveness of the same, and so imputes the righteousness
of Christ to him, that being most fully
reconciled and adopted as a son, he is freed from
the guilt and punishment of sin, and obtains eternal
blessedness.

4. In order to understand these things more fully I
desire to know what you consider the causes of our
justification ?
There are three causes of our justification : 1.
The grace of God; 2. The merit of Christ; 3.
Faith, which in the promise of the Gospel accepts
these divine blessings, {Form of Concord, Sol. Dec,
Art. iii, 25.)

12. What is justifying faith?
Justifying faith is not mere historical knowledge
of Christ; but it is a great gift of God, by
which, in the Gospel, we correctly recognize
Christ as our Redeemer, and trust in him, that
alone on account of his obedience, we obtain the
gratuitous forgiveness of sins, are considered holy
and righteous in the sight of God the Father, and
obtain eternal salvation. [Form of Concord., Epitome,
Art. iii, 6.)

17. Prove from Scripture that man is Justified by
faith ?
Eom. 3 : 28. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law.
Gal. 2 : 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the
law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by
the works of the law.
Phil. 3 : 9, 10. And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through faith; the
righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and
the power of his resurrection.
Eph. 2 : 8, 9. For it is by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man
should boast. {Apology, Art. ii.)

UOJ Source Material - Reading a UOJist about UOJ Is Very Important. A Festschrift Article Is Often the Best Work of a Writer.Huber, Walther, Stephan, Preus

Readers - do you find justification by faith
or UOJ in these quotations?

Justification and Easter
A Study in Subjective and Objective
Justification in Lutheran Theology

by Tom G. A. Hardt.

(This study was first published in “A Lively Legacy: Essays in Honor of Robert Preus” Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana 1985. Published here by Lutherska Konkordiekyrkan in Sweden with due permission.)

http://luk.se/Justification-Easter.htm

⁷⁵ J. G. Baier: Compendium ... , p. 286. The question concerning Walther’s relation to Huber has been treated by R. Söderlund in his article “Läran om den universella rättfärdiggörelsen i teologihistorisk belysning” (“The doctrine of universal justification in the light of the history of theology”) in Svensk Teologisk Kvartalstidskrift, 1979, pp. 114-129. Söderlund differentiates between universal justification which leaves room for an individual justification as a real act of God and which is legitimate within orthodox Lutheran theology, and another type of universal justification which permits no such act and is accordingly illegitimate. According to Söderlund the latter type is found with Huber, Zinzendorff, the Swedish Moravian 18th century theologian Rutström and also in Missourian theology. Missourian theology has, according to Söderlund, succumbed to Herrnhutism on this point through two channels: one through Stephan, the other through Swedish neoevangelicalism, which is thought to have influenced Missourian theology, a statement based on Realencyclopädie für protestantische Theologie and Kirche, 3.Aufl., Leipzig 1896-1913, 3:328, entry ”Bornholmer, die.“ The former, acceptable type of universal justification is, according to Söderlund, found with the Swedish Pietistic 18th century court preacher A. Norborg, who taught that Christ is justified as the representative head of mankind and that insofar the world was justified in Him. Yet Norborg regards individual justification as a real act of God; Söderlund, op. cit., p. 126. The material presented in our article, however, has given full proof for stating that Walther rather sides with Norborg and that his theology cannot be regarded as the offspring of Moravianism. It should be pointed out that Norborg was not unknown to the Missourian tradition. As early as 1872, during the lifetime of Walther, the Synodical Conference, the joint representation of the synods of Missouri, Wisconsin, the Norwegians, Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio, in its dealings about universal justification approvingly referred to Norborg (mistakenly called “Rohrberg”), quoting exactly the same passages as Söderlund, where Christ is regarded as the representative of mankind in His resurrection, and where “the right middleway” is proclaimed, leaving room for an individual justification as a real act of God; cfr.

Wikipedia article

Tom Gunnar Arvid Hardt, born 19 July 1934 in Oskar Parish, Stockholm, died 28 June 1998 in Öddö in Tjärnö parish, Stromstad (registered in the Kungsholmenparish, Stockholm) ^[1], was a Swedish theologian.

Hardt matriculated at the East area in Stockholm in 1953, became the Masters of Arts in Stockholm in 1956 and Theology. Laws in Uppsala. In 1971 he became a doctor of theology with a thesis on Luther's theology of communion, Venerable et adorabilis Eucharistia. It was highly acclaimed and translated into German. A popular summary was published in the book If the sacrament of the altar (1973, 2nd edition 2009). It was translated quickly to the German and Finnish. He won international recognition as a prominent connoisseur of Luther, theology and had a wide scientific network. In 1961 he resigned from the Swedish church and formed together with some like-minded standalone community Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sweden, in which he also was ordained. He was then, and until his death vicar of St Martin's church in Stockholm. He came early in contact with the famous German theologian Hermann Sasse and stood like this stranger for all allmänprotestantism and saw in the Sacrament Lutheran doctrine with its realism, a truth that he found negotiable. For the wider public, he became famous when his ward won a case before the European Court against the Swedish government concerning parental rights and denominational religious education for the parish children. The case, he has described in the book of St. Martin and the dragon. He translated a lot of Swedish literature from other languages, and some of his own production has been translated into other languages. His bibliography includes about 400 numbers.

Asking about Objective Justification - from ELDONA. Parts 1, 2, and 3

Published on Sep 2, 2015

A loyal viewer asks why the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America rejects the doctrine of Objective Justification. The diocese has published theses on the Scriptural doctrine of Justification, available on Amazon at:

http://www.amazon.com/Theses-Justific...

This is part 1 of 3 (or 4 or 5 or however many it takes to rummage through this doctrine so that you can judge if Scripture teaches it or not). Comments are welcome but please be respectful if you disagree.

Questions or comments that you'd like discussed can be sent to atpholycross@gmail.com and we'll include them in this series.

• Category

• Education

Keith Shedron 1 day ago

In discussing UOJ with a friend, I brought up Matthew 12:32 "And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come." I pointed out that Jesus was claiming that a person the speaks against the Holy Spirit is NEVER forgiven, which contradicts UOJ, which claims they are already forgiven. I then asked if Scripture contains contradictions, and, if not, then UOJ must be false. The response in support of UOJ was bulletproof:"Scripture does not contain contradiction, UOJ is true and the words of Jesus are also true." It was then pointed out that the problem was not UOJ or the Bible, but my poor reasoning. How would you respond? Is my example valid? Thanks for the video.

Ask The Pastor 17 minutes ago

+Keith Shedron, You ran into the UOJ brick wall. "Jesus is right. UOJ is right. You're too stupid to reconcile the two." This is sad though because it demonstrates how people cannot argue their point from Scripture but only from emotional attachment to the doctrine. Onto your questions: How would I respond? I've honestly never thought about the sin against the holy Ghost as proof against OJ. Let me think about it some more. It does expose the silliness of "God justified you already, then because you didn't believe you were already justified, God took that justification away from you, but not really because you'll still be justified in hell." That alone exposes one of the main issues. OJ uses the word 'justify' in two different ways in the same argument. The best argument against OJ remains Romans 4. The only justification the Scripture teaches is Justification by faith alone not works. The issue which we will spend time on in the next video is Romans 4:25 and just what IS the object of saving faith, that face that you've already been declared righteous or the merits of Christ He earned by his perfect obedience and death on the cross? That, ultimately, is the issue, in my opinion. Keep fighting the good fight. Don't let folks get away from the Scriptures to ad hominem attacks. Just take them and drive them back to the pattern of sound words, my friend. Thanks for watching ATP and let me know if I can clear this up any further. Adios~

Matthew 6 - The Birds of the Air Teach Us To Trust in God

One reader and I have been discussing the relative absence of birds in my yard in September. We seem to be in transition from the summer birds to the winter ones. One clue is having male cardinals together, because they fight for territory when seeking a mate. In the winter, with snow on the ground. clusters of male cardinals will appear on a feature - quite a colorful sight.

Luther used the birds as teachers, because they start each day without even knowing where their next meal will come from - yet they begin each day with Matins, singing songs of praise.

Many times I have trained birds to the point where they begin a happy burbling sound when I step into the yard. Their happy talk confirms their trust that God will provide.

Yesterday I had a jay call out from his vantage point in a tree, as soon as I went into the back yard. "Feed me!"

Mourning Dove

White-winged Dove

Inca Dove

When my mother lived with us in Phoenix, she loved having birds in the yard. We bought dove blocks, large cubes of seed (dove blocks), scattered sunflower seeds, and grew them. I watched her distribute sunflower seed one morning. After generous donations of seed here and there, Mom dug into the 40 pound sack and tossed an extra large scoop across the soil. We had mourning doves that never left the yard. They waited on the fence for their next meal. They often frightened workmen by their startled and noisy flight from the yard when a stranger came out. They have noisy wings and a group cry, something apparently figured out during billions of years of evolution. The effect was impressive. Some workmen admonished me to warn people in advance.

We had all three doves in our yard in Phoenix, plus some rock doves (pigeons) here and there.

Red Cross-bills.

We even had crossbills inside our house from time to time, wandering in because the doors were left open. Mrs. Ichabod thought I should usher them out as well, and I did by talking to them, urging them to find another place to roost, and showing them the door.



Birds do not depend on us, in spite of urban legends to the contrary. They do not starve when we are on vacation. Most of my birdfood planning is through building up plants that will feed them what they need most, not with sugarwater and snackfood, but with bugs, fruit, grubs, and flower seeds.

Bluejays, native to America and unknown to Luther, do hoard acorns, and they pick the ones most likely to germinate. This has the effect to planting oak forests even more effectively than squirrels do - so some claim. Are the jays forgetful or do they lose their food on purpose, an example enlightened self-interest? I would love to read the code on their software, because that is quite an elaborate program. Alas, I only know HTML, so I doubt I could read it.

God's Creation Shows Good Management

God's management can hardly be disputed, if investigated with diligence. I read through the Good Bug, Bad Bug book by Jessica Walliser, a second or third time. This amused me - advice to avoid bad bugs - avoid garden trash and litter, because pests hide out and multiply there.

Advice to foster the growth of beneficial bugs - leave garden trash and litter, because beneficial bugs hide out and multiply there. Confidential to Jessica - I read the entire book for insect advice.

I knew which advice to take. WWMD - What Would Maynard G. Krebs Do? - "Leave the litter, because God will work out the details."

Whether anyone believes in Creation or not, the management of Creation continues. Weeds reclaim bare land. Creatures move in to do their work without complaining and find their particular role in each place or move on.

Ichneumon Waps are designed to destroy pests,
to multiply where the pests are.

Ichneumons (“ ick-new-mons”) are mysterious and exotic wasps that are parasitic connoisseurs. Each specializes in one specific host (or a very few hosts). Ichneumons are delicately sculptured and patterned with almost infinite variety and subtlety. There are tens of thousands of species, and they are difficult to differentiate; males and females within a species often come in different shapes and sizes, dimensions of appendages, and colors (from yellow and brown to brilliant shiny metallic-blue with contrasting black and white patterns). The female possesses an ovipositor that projects out of her rear end. Depending on the species, the ovipositor can be so short as to be barely visible, or as long or longer than the wasp’s body itself. The ovipositor doubles as a stinger, but primarily it is a tool for injecting eggs into the body of her host.

Heinrich, Bernd (2008-12-24). The Snoring Bird (Kindle Locations 179-184). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition. 

Be honest with yourselves, readers. You did not know about this tiny wasp before you read about it here. Maybe you heard about it once and the facts did not stick in your memory. But the wasps were there all along. I can bend over any group of flowers on a calm day (if they do not spray) and find Ichneumons or flower flies (aka hover flies).

Flower Fly - Hover Fly - Syrphids.

The Majestic Mr. Lincoln and the Glorious Veterans Honor . Should KnockOut Rose Growers Be Certified First?

Veterans Honor looks velvety in the garden,
not just red but RED! The rose glows in the middle of the greenery.

I was doing some routine pruning when I came across one rose after another to bring inside. Veterans Honor simply glows red in the midst of green foliage, and the fragrant blooms are perfect.

Mr. Lincoln grows tall produces the best buds of all, opening into majestic roses, also fragrant.

Mr. Lincoln grows like Jack's beanstalk:
it buds and flowers like crazy.
Like Veterans Honor, the blooms are fragrant.

Paradise bi-color - $5 for a bare root rose.

Today I showed Mrs. Ichabod some neighborhood  KnockOut roses, which compared unfavorably to our 8 KnockOuts, 4 magenta, 2 white, 2 pink. The magenta doubles are my favorite, because of their color and vigor.

The nurseries should require a certification course before someone can buy KnockOut roses. They are disease free. They are easy to grow and vigorous, but they are not like my Pokeweed and Fireweed, requiring no additional attention.

The Knockout magenta double rose is about $25 at a nursery, potted.
The rose is disease free.
Aphids love the white ones, so the white KOs trap the aphids to feed the beneficial bugs.
Soon all of them are pest free with no insecticide used.

KnockOut roses require:

1. Frequent pruning for maximum color and beauty.
2. Watering - to keep up with their fast growth.
3. Mulching - to keep the roots moist and fed.
4. Earthworming - to increase the fertility of the soil,  to improve the fungus/root interactions.

This is not a heavy burden to bear. KnockOuts are so prolific that they look sad in hot weather if left unpruned. Fading blooms can be left on for a short time, but they soon became ugly and turn to seed. A little pruning done a few times a week will make the roses a showcase for the neighborhood.
They are a great color splash between hybrid tea blooming cycles. By themselves, hybrid teas are a bit fickle. Combined with KnockOuts, hybrid tea roses make the front yard very special.

Newly opened KnockOut blooms are good for vases, too, supplying a need many have for red roses, any red rose, at any time. A few white John Paul II add contrast and fragrance.

John Paul II - fragrant and prolific.

Steven A. Hein - A Calvinist in the Lutheran Woodpile

Steven A. Hein

Rev. Dr. Steven A. Hein    

Dr. Hein currently serves as Director of Concordia Institute for Christian Studies, an organization that offers auxiliary educational services to Lutheran congregations and church gatherings across the country.  He also serves as associate pastor at Shepherd of the Springs Lutheran Church and affiliate professor of Theology and Ethics at Colorado Christian University. He has previously served for over two decades as a professor of Theology at Concordia University, River Forest. 

He earned his Master of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology in Systematic Theology from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Historical Theology from St. Louis University. 

He is a contributing editor to the theological journal Logia:  A Journal of Lutheran Theology and has published many scholarly articles over the years.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Consortium for Classical and Lutheran Education. 

He has been in demand as speaker and essayist in the Church at conventions, pastoral conferences, and various congregational groups throughout the country.  He is a frequent guest on the syndicated radio program, Issues Etc.  His special areas of interest focus on classical, Christian education, and the shape and challenges of faith-life and vocation in the Church and the world.

--

This Is All We Need To Read 

But, it is a fiction that Hell is a place where God’s justice is meted out against unrepentant sinners. He already executed His justice against all evil and evil doers with His Son on Calvary’s cross. Jesus died for all, not simply the repentant. Here Lutherans part serious company with the Reformed who champion a limited atonement on the cross. All in Hell are both forgiven and justified. They just insist on living separated from these realities and the Author of them. Rather than say to the Lord God, thy will be done. The Lord God reluctantly has said to them, thy will be done.

Hein, Steven A. (2015-07-21). The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? (Kindle Locations 2995-2999). NRP Books. Kindle Edition. 

Or take the fanciful question entertained in Lewis’ The Great Divorce: if rebellious sinners in Hell were given a chance to transfer to Heaven and live in and for the full presence and glory of God, would any want to do so? No. Think gals of that geek that made your skin crawl who was after your heart. You would die first than have him, right? That is the way the unbeliever is wired to feel about the true God, the supreme Geek of Heaven. They would rather die that live with Him, and God reluctantly allows just that. Hell is God’s provision for those who would rather die that live with Him In this sense, Lewis concluded, the doors of Hell are locked from the inside. 100


Hein, Steven A. (2015-07-21). The Christian Life: Cross or Glory? (Kindle Locations 3003-3008). NRP Books. Kindle Edition. 

***

UOJ Stormtrooper at work - "I'll have a little Lewis, a little Capon,
a little Kierkegaard, a little Walther...

GJ - A quick read of this horrible book shows that Hein likes to play around with this theologian and that, always asserting some grand thoughts that were threadbare decades ago among mainline apostates.

Using C. S. Lewis to define Hell is significant. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia are fascinating tales, but they are not theology. Lewis gave away the show with teaching a common form of modernist Universalism - all those who are faithful to their own religion are also saved. That is one of those startling! revelations that often pop up in such works.

Just like JP Meyer, Jon Buchholz, and the Kokomo Statements - 

All in Hell are both forgiven and justified.

The Means of Grace are mentioned once in The Christian Life. That is like mentioning soil once in a gardening book.

As I wrote many times before, I read enormous numbers of mainline theology books while earning a PhD at Notre Dame. All of them had the same "make it up as you go along" spirit of this book, and they all repeated the same kinds of bromides.

The one I remember most is defining "grace" as never including faith, because actual belief cannot be made a contingency - no ifs.

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.

Paul did not know this - or the Holy Spirit left him in the dark.

A review of a book on Kant reminded me that that the German philosopher is the great divide between classical philosophy and modern philosophy. All the modern theologians are Kantian and simply bypass the concept of faith. The Scriptures are simply a springboard for fanciful essays and books.

The Calvinistic Fuddlementalists treat Scripture the same way. As a critic of serial molester Jack Schaap--and his repugnant father-in-law--observed, the Fundamentalists start with a text and preach nothing whatsoever based on the actual verses' content. The passage is simply a way to launch a sermon on a favorite rant.

This is why there are almost no protests against the new, official position of UOJ, canonized in the Brief Statement of 1932. Like Herman Otten, the pastors are baptized in Calvinism and the horrors of "if we believe on Him."

Any sect that takes Romans 4:25 as proof of their hideous UOJ should be de-certified as Lutheran, because they refuse to read or acknowledge the entire sentence. Even worse, they cannot comprehend the next two verses and glory in their imaginary UOJ found in Romans 5.

5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Kindle did a search for the phrase "justified by faith" in this book. No results found.

Calov or Cascione? Let me think on that one.

Who enabled McCain's Roman Catholic plagiarism?
This dude did - linking each papist post - never apologizing for misleading his readers.

What Could Be More Confessional Than To Join the CLC (sic) in Rejecting Justification by Faith?

Progress in doctrinal discussions

2015/09/01/in Together

On Aug. 21, 2015, representatives of the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC sic), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS), and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) met in Mankato, Minn., for their third round of doctrinal discussions. It is a joy to report that the nine participants agreed to a revision of the 1990 document entitled “Joint Statement Regarding the Termination of Fellowship.” This document will now be sent to the CLC (sic) Board of Dogma, the ELS Dead Orthodoxy Committee, and the WELS Commission on Inter-Church Relations and Rock Music for their consideration.

Agreement on this document does not imply full agreement on all the controverted matters. There still are a number of significant issues to discuss, and another meeting has been scheduled for Nov. 13, 2015. But this agreement is a good first step in overcoming the differences between our synods.

Presumably the “Joint Statement” will be made public in the future, but at this point the appropriate committees from each synod are reviewing the document without public distribution. Prayers are welcomed that God will continue to guide this process for good. (GJ - Confidential to the three, apostate, abusive sects - God is already punishing you for promoting false doctrine.)

Joint ordination of women would be appropriate when the talks conclude.

The doctrinal discussions between WELS, the ELS, and the CLC (sic) have been described as “formal” because they have the potential to lead to a restoration of fellowship relations between the CLC (sic), ELS, and WELS on the basis of a unity in doctrine. In contrast, the ongoing talks with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod have been characterized as “informal” discussions because we crack a smile now and then. They are informal because, while the discussions will help the church bodies understand and clarify respective doctrinal positions, it is the understanding of all involved that such informal discussions are only a very preliminary and necessary first step to a possible restoration of fellowship in the future. [Satis est - All agree on the residents in Hell being forgiven saints.] Certainly all of us pray that God would someday make that restoration of fellowship take place, but only if it can be demonstrated that the synods share a full unity in doctrine and practice. Representatives of WELS, ELS, and LCMS will meet for the fourth time in December. We did not include the CLC (sic) because they are so humorless, stiff, rude, boring, and irritating.

Serving Thrivent in Christ,
President Mark Schroeder