When I read about the ELCA bishops being so cutesy, I thought of Luther versus Calvin, Biblical theology versus Biblical "scholarship."
Every sect is Calvinistic in substance, some worse than others, but still separating the Spirit from the Word. When WELS brags than Hoenecke supported Walther on Election without Faith, they should add, "And why not? Stephan and Hoenecke went to Halle, the Mother Ship of Pietism, which tried in vain to merge Calvin with Luther. Calvin won, as all toxic sources do over time.
Calvin placed human reason above the Word as proven by his creativity about the Spirit roaming aloof from the Word, fickle or - as Calvinists say - sovereign. I confronted a phony Lutheran in public when he said he did not know whether infant baptism was effective. When a baptized baby died, he said, "We don't know." He was very angry about being corrected - furious - a clue about the others I will mention.
Calvin set the stage for opposition to Biblical Christianity, derived from the Word itself. Although Luther led the way, that does not make this Luther's brand. Chemnitz connected the Book of Concord to the earliest Church Fathers.
Biblical theology comes from faith in the Word. Every unionistic endeavor and rationalist urge follows the Calvinist impulse to make things up and post theses that stand on their own - because the Word does not support the claims.
UOJ is Calvinism. Church Growth is Calvinism. The old impulse to merge Lutherans and Calvinists in the 19th century is thriving today, with epicenters at Fuller and Thrivent headquarters. The WELS joke is that Valleskey cannot help himself - he was abused by his father, who raised him on all the Evangelical garbage.
One can imagine two outcomes of the Valleskey parsonage.
- One is looking at everything Lutheran as a barrier - doctrine, sermons, liturgy, hymns, and creeds.
- The second is having an implacable hatred of Lutheran doctrine.
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| Valleskey denied going to Fuller Seminary when I asked him, but he bragged about it to David Koenig, CLC (sic). Valleskey was furious with Koenig for telling me the truth, and Koenig wrote me an angry letter because I made Valleskey angry with him for telling me the truth. So I will not mention David's buddy Gutsche's record. |
Perhaps the first outcome is the cover for the second, because WELS and the Little Sect both erupted in fury when I responded to the Valleskey essay by writing, "Figs do not grow on thistles." Nor did the Israelites steal the Egyptian garbage on the way out of town. Tis funny how Valleskey stole "spoiling the Egyptians" from a Fuller favorite author, who borrowed the phrase from Augustine.
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| Everyone wants a fish-hat. |
Nothing Good Happens, Absent Faith
The so-called Biblical scholarship and modern theology of today owe much to Calvinism.
Someone asked about Bonhoeffer and Sasse. Bonhoeffer was at Union in NYC, left-wing Calvinism, and had nothing worthwhile to offer. Sasse wrote in the style of Luther. This Is My Body is a great book.
Let pose this basic thought - No one is considered an intellectual unless he writes about theology and the Bible apart from faith, on the basis of pure rationalism.
To paraphrase Samuel Johnson on the LCMS Dogmatanic and Babylonian Talmud Catechism. "Difficult? I wish both were impossible!"
Pure fantasy is allowed too. Thus Karl Barth and his schmutzie-pooh Charlotte Kirschbaum theorized Jesus being The Elected One and therefore the world being restored (forgiven and saved). Zo, mein Kinder, are the LCMS theological types Calvinists agreeing with Barth/Kirschbaum or Lutherans agreeing with the Scriptures?
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| Entertainment Evangelism began with Calvin or Rome? Rome began high church antics as entertainment, Fuller took away the smell of incense and replaced it with popcorn. |
Tinkering with the Meaning of the Text
For the moderns, whether they are Otten, Webber, and Scaer, or the real Vatican or Union Seminary, the Scriptural text is set aside in favor of their loyalties, fantasies, and pre-ordained conclusion.
They do not argue with Biblical theology because that would give credibility to the Scriptures rather than to human reason and tradition. Their contradictions are so absurd that they do not even admit to them.
- The entire world was forgiven and saved when Jesus died on the cross. However, three days later -
- The entire world was forgiven and saved when Jesus rose from the dead.
They do not argue with Luther - because they would make fools of themselves: more than before, at least. Their ignorance and scorn about Luther betrays their lack of faith, lack of study, and lack of academic preparation. One problem is being qualified to teach based on DNA and a degree from the synod. Sometimes no degree at all is required. Pope John the Malefactor cruised into a professor of New Testament call without any degree. Not "little Latin and less Greek," as spoken about the actor Shakespeare, but "no Latin and even less Greek."
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| It's true because it's true. |
