Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Ruffled Feathers and the Eighth Commandment

Coffee is an event - not a beverage - at our home.
Mrs. Ichabod's personal chef makes pour-over coffee from freshly ground beans every morning. Often the next round is shared with Ranger Bob, our kindly neighbor, an Army Ranger veteran.


Someone linked a rare, common sense article on the Eighth Commandment. Whenever feathers are ruffled, Lutherans cite this commandment - and only this one - as if no other commandment exists. The First Table is clearly dominant for Luther, but I am biased from reading the Large Catechism. Hardly anyone notices or cites the Large Catechism, one of the great works of the Reformation.

 Someone said this was right on target for the Jeske cult.






Most people can see that Lutherans err two ways in citing the Eighth Commandment. One example is debating doctrine, which St. Paul certainly approved - "There must be divisions."

1 Corinthians 11 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

When their published - that is public - doctrine is questioned, they fly into a rage and do their best to use this commandment to stifle all discussion and to impugn the motives of the dissenter.

This fury is not enough for them, they engage in a barage of personal insults, often about someone they have never met. Jesus' final Beatitude handles this situation well, because the drama queens aim at their own. The Atheist Forum has no interest in Lutheran discussions.

The collateral damage is to intimidate laity and clergy who might share their insights but are frightened of the subsequent damage to them, their family, and friends.


 Their lack of doctrinal leadership during the Reformation's 500th Anniversary is enough to indict them as "not apt to teach." They failed this simple question, "What is the Chief Article of Christianity, the Master and Prince, the judge of all articles of faith?"