WELS Respionse about Hazing

The point of WELS hazing is total conformity to the sect,
continuing an atmosphere of deceit and fear.

Good morning Pastor Jackson, 

I just read the comments from Grumps concerning MLS hazing. Hazing and 
initiation rituals have been present in many educational institutions. I never 
cared for any of it. I have found the rationalization to be extremely lame. The 
defenders of it sometimes try to draw an analogy to military boot camp. Besides 
being a logical fallacy, it is also an insult to the military and the purpose of 
boot camp. Recently, it became public that the West Point pillow fights got 
dirty and some cadets were injured. Military academies tend to keep a closer 
watch on this. Forty five years ago, freshman initiation was common at the 
public high school that I attended. Two upperclassmen tried to drag me to the 
boys' room for a head dunking in a porcelain bowl. They stopped suddenly in the 
hallway. I looked up and saw the stern face of the vice principal. Somehow I 
made it through high school just fine without being initiated. 

When I went to a professional school, all of the fraternities had their hell 
week for the pledges. Most of the fraternity houses were a considerable distance 
away. Those of us in the dormitories saw no advantage to belonging to one. I 
thought of them as a collegiate version of the Freemasons. They pitched their 
access to gouges as an advantage to exam answers so the student did not have to 
study. As a college instructor, you are aware of how lazy students can get at 
times. There is no substitute for hard work and knowing the material. 

Still, there is something different about WELS hazing. It is not nearly as 
innocuous as West Point pillow fights or pledges wearing pots and pans for a 
week. When you intimidate and degrade initiates, you can have the goods on them. 
You have pointed out how various WELS conventions are like a meeting of a good 
old boys' club. Likewise, the references made by called workers to classmates. 
There certainly is more there than just sharing the required classes. Even 
though the claim is made that GA no longer exists, this type of activity simply 
does not disappear by executive decision. WELS leadership has a long history of 
being less than honest with the laity. 

***

GJ - GA now exists as HB, just change two initials and carry on the abuse.

If you go through the proper channels,
the clergy will take you - the victim - to court.
"We don't want your opinion, only your approval."

Blowhards of the Great Apostasy - They Surface to Point Their Claws at Hooves at Other Heretics

Gerhard Forde, ELCA, is much admired by ELCA and apostate Protestants
of all stripes and sects. The LCMS is quite enthralled with his leavings.

Every so often an individual will post something worthwhile on SpenerQuest, a group website devoted to praising Walther and one another. The gravitational pull is so great that Rolf Preus left the LCMS, got removed from the Little Sect on the Prairie, organized the Rolf Synod, saw the Rolf Synod depart from him, and rejoined the LCMS. No one has posted about how many synods he has been affiliated with, but perhaps they lost count, as I did.

Robert C. Baker did some presaging in his June 24, 2015, post on the LQ thread, "Reformation500 speaker admits a legacy," which was about the news that Billy Graham's grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, had resigned in June as senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, following an admission of adultery after he alleged he found out his wife was having an affair. 

In his post, Baker stated:

---

quote:

"Behold, the fruits of the false teaching of Gerhard Forde, the subjectivist, experiential, Law-Gospel reductionist, existentialist ELCA faux-Lutheran, so beloved by some LCMS university and seminary faculty.

"Reading Tchividjian is like unto reading Forde: paraphrases abound."

Today Robert Baker saw exactly what I perceived in the Tullian Tchividjian scandal - the heir of D. James Kennedy and grandson of Billy Graham having an affair, divorcing his wife, and quoting the liberal Lutherans along the way.

Gerhard Forde contributed to this set, a best seller in ELCA, its standard seminary
textbook at one point, though ELCA hastened to deny this fact.
This epic collection of buffoonery rejects the Trinity, the Atonement,
the divinity of Christ, and everything else.

The foil is Gerhard Forde, the ELCA apostate that the Left raves almost as much as WELS clergy carry on about Valleskey - for the same reason. Forde contributed to the heinous Christian Dogmatics, edited by Braaten and Jenson, a double-volume set that mocks every article of the Apostles Creed. That made Forde an ELCA "confessional Lutheran" and hero of sorts. I found a blog praising him, authored by a Fuller DMin - another co-inky-dink, as you will see.

In another corner of the LCMS, some are discussing soft Antinomianism. I am not sure if this is the Dairy Queen version of Antinomianism or just another attempt to be cute. But - on that thread, listing various things Lutherans wrongly reject, I added - "Some Lutherans reject justification by faith." My comment was erased.

The greatest accolade is silence and shunning. They will not argue. Tis much easier to ignore, erase, and shun. But that only makes it more obvious that the target has been hit. Robert Preus repudiated UOJ. Response? Silence, even with the quotations provided and cited.

Bedfellows of Antinomianism
The heart of Antinomianism is making the Law obsolete. UOJ is the source for this in Lutherdom, and this UOJ is taught with great fervor in ELCA, LCMS, WELS, ELS, the CLC (sic), and the shards and shreds of the Olde Synodical Conference.

Their key verse is from Galatians - the Law is a tutor that leads us to Christ. Then we no longer need the Law, and the Law is obsolete - so they imagine.

These UOJ apostates proclaim the entire world forgiven and saved, apart from faith, the Word, the Means of Grace. They also claim Luther as their champion, when nothing Luther wrote supports this cowardly form of Universalism.

The effect on any concept of right and wrong is clear. If everyone is forgiven and one only needs to know this, all sins are already forgiven in advance. Thus the chatter about Law and Gospel, the Confessions, and justification are really a sad, sick form of self-justification.

Although Baker is completely right about Forde influencing Tchividjian for the worse, he is saying this on a website devoted to the same dogma as Forde and Tchividjian.

WELS ELCA Antinomianism
When I began to read about Tchividjian and his unrepentant responses to his adultery, I noticed the same UOJ style responses that permeate WELS.

"As long as we know we are sinners, we know that we were already forgiven and saved 2000 years ago." That self-justification can long a long way in excusing any behavior, including the adultery of a District President for decades (with everyone knowing about it).

This WELS selfie features one or two obscene gestures
plus several devil's horns.
Lots of fun - Scott Barefoot observes.