Inability To Support an Argument or Offer Any Evidence of Critical Thinking Skills - Jay Webber, Little Sect on the Prairie

Note that the ELCA president of this unaccredited ELCA online seminary
taught a course on Luther and justification.

Taught for ELCA, started an online ELCA seminary.
Its degrees are unaccredited, so they have no academic standing.

Pastor Becky Hand preaches to the seminary community.

David Jay Webber Orthodox Lutheran synods are emphasizing the doctrine of humanity's objective/universal justification in Christ, and the corresponding doctrine of subjective/personal justification by faith, because these doctrines are being challenged, distorted, and rejected today. It's the same reason why St. Athanasius emphasized the doctrines of the divinity of Christ and the Trinity, and why St. Augustine emphasized the doctrines of original sin and salvation by grace alone, in their day.

To give people the benefit of the doubt, we can and should admit that when this controversy/discussion got going several years ago, it was triggered in part by certain clumsy and misleading statements that had been made in the past by a few of the would-be teachers and defenders of objective justification - such as that God looked down into hell and declared Judas and all the damned to have the status of saints. What an abysmal confusion of law and gospel that was, not to mention how far it departed from the pattern of sound words of Scripture. Whenever you are talking about souls in hell, you are speaking law in one form or another; whereas objective justification is exclusively a species of the gospel, pertaining to those for whom the gospel is intended, and to whom the gospel is offered.

But that's not the situation now. In the past few years, the doctrine of objective justification has been clarified and reiterated in a balanced and Christ-centered way, and those older improper ways of explaining it have been set aside and rejected. See in particular these two essays, for the way in which objective justification is actually taught and explained in WELS/ELS circles today:

http://azcadistrict.com/.../papers/Buchholz_2012-10.pdf

http://www.redeemerscottsdale.org/.../WebberEmmausConfere...

But the folks who understandably rejected the clumsy and misleading statements of the past, are now rejecting also these clearer and more balanced forms of teaching. This shows that the issue is not just a matter of terminological confusion and misunderstanding, but is a real doctrinal difference. And therefore the correct Biblical and Confessional doctrine needs to be set forth in response to the distortions and errors that are still out there, and that are confusing and misleading the faithful.

People need to know that Jesus is their Savior and their justifier from beginning to end, and that their righteousness before God is the righteousness that Christ won and established for the world in his death and resurrection in the stead and on behalf of the world. And people need to know that their faithful Lutheran pastors are absolutely not teaching "universal salvation without faith" - as I personally have been accused of teaching, because I preach that Jesus truly is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

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GJ - Webber has a nasty habit of making claims without supporting them and laying down a thick smokescreen of easily disputed factoids. The online discussions, in blogs and on Facebook, have gotten under the thin skin of this professor wannabee, the MDiv John Shep says "makes fun of the ELS leaders until he is 100 miles from Mankato." Webber used to chant with his infant son about breaking fellowship with WELS, but now he wants to stand in the shadow of a hated District President. Be careful about citing Buchholz - someone might actually read the abominable essay and quote it.

One little question - Webber and Buchie - what is the Chief Article of Christianity? Is it UOJ, as Bivens claimed while plagiarizing Zarling?

Luther, Melanchthon, and Chemnitz
all say Webber is a stuffy, humorless bag of wind.