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| We knew Jaroslav Pelikan at Yale. Soon after, I met his father and brother in Cleveland. |
Questions come in from people who are being swindled by the UOJ hoaxers. The situation reminds me of Pastor Pelikan, father of the Luther scholar, who was doing the commital at the grave site. Just as he was finishing, he felt the earth give way. He deftly jumped across and landed on solid ground.
At the next funeral, the family asked him, "Pastor Pelikan, will you do the graveside ceremony of leaping over the grave for us?"
Professor Pelikan said, "That is how quickly traditions get established."
The UOJ hoaxers try to pull the innocent into their traps by quoting Luther selectively. One must always remember - Spinning a new doctrine from a brief quotation is bound to be deceptive and wrong.
An example of this can be found in the 50 page bloviation of Jay Webber, trying to make Luther an advocate of Halle's Objective Justification - Universal Forgiveness without Faith.
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| The improvement gang and correction guys want to take us as far away from the Gospel as they are. They do not trust the efficacy of the Word. |
"Jesus Is All Forgiveness" and "You Are Already Forgiven"
Naturally we should start with the Gospel of John, the Epistles of Paul, Genesis 15, or anywhere in the Bible.
But they pull out these Luther quips to build their case, like the time I stacked book boxes on empty cardboard boxes to keep the books dry. The basement floor became wet and the foundation crumbled, tumbling the book boxes into the water. Thus Webber and his coven of ignorant, false teachers tumble into the swamp they have constructed for everyone else.
So let us start with Luther since they want to lead with their weakest hand. What was Luther arguing against? Answer - the Roman Catholic dogma of faith requiring works to satisfy God, not that all the works in the world are enough.
Opposing the papal portrayal of Jesus as an angry, vengeful Judge, Luther repeated the Johannine portrait of Jesus - He has died for all our sins, so trust that He is all forgiveness.
What is sin in the Teaching of Jesus? The Spirit will convict the world of sin - "because they believe not on Me."
Basic Luther
Since everyone claims a quia subscription to the Book of Concord, let's give the Quia Marias a lesson from the Confessions. The Formula of Concord commended Luther's Galatians Lectures for further study of Justification by Faith. Webber mentioned the work but clearly has never read it, and certain has not understood it if he did.
Basic Paul
If St. Paul teaches Justification without Faith, parallel with Justification by Faith, he contradicts himself and Genesis 15.
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| This Luther refuted Objective Justification before OJ was belched forth from Huber the Calvinist Lutheran or the Halle Pietists (Lutheran style/Calvinist substance). |
Really Basic Biblical Doctrine
What we call Lutheran doctrine is simply what the Scriptures teach. The Holy Spirit works through the Word and only through the Word, so there is no magical poof where everyone in the world is forgiven and saved without faith. When they define their magical poof, they contradict each other, reminding us of how the UOJists hate each other and scrap like junkyard dogs fighting over a wounded rat. Poof! - when Jesus died? when Jesus rose? when the angels announced His birth?
Applying filters for "understanding" the Word - that comes from the Pope and his legion of followers, from Calvin and his confused disciples.
No wonder the graduates of the Concordia Seminaries either run to Rome and the others align with Fuller Seminary. It depends on which dogmatic foundation seems most appealing to the poor, misguided UOJists.
