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| Zwingli was the first modern theologian, and Calvin followed the same subjective method. The appeal is to Zwingli's opinion, which became the norm. Why did the Anabaptists split with him? - they had feelings too. |
The typical faithful member of a Lutheran congregation believes and thinks in a completely different century than their leaders. I recall a Missouri pastor complaining, "We did not have a single course on modern theology when I was in seminary." What a tragedy!
Most people think in terms of the Bible, the language of the 1500s, the basics of faith. They hear alien terms - like Objective Justification - and convert them into Biblical words - the Atonement. The reverse is true of modern theology, which includes Objective Justification and the de-mythologizing of Bultmann. They have a different meaning for all the Biblical terms and events. Rauschenbusch, Tillich, and Barth/Kirschbaum are pristine examples of this shell game.
The concepts of objective and subjective are reversed. Luther considered the Scriptures to be
- the objective truth,
- the Word of God,
- the Book of the Holy Spirit,
- one unified truth.
The modernists have an incessant need to rethink Biblical terminology. They are inherently subjective with favorite terms, favorite passages, and their own meanings. The Reformation popes in Rome began this erosion - "It is our Bible, so we will tell you what it means."
Zwingli, Calvin, and the Pietists continued this slippage:
- Why argue over doctrine - we can work together.
- I feel Luther and Paul were too harsh.
- Grace means God forgives everyone, without contingencies - like faith.
- Mythological terms like resurrection, divinity, and salvation need to be reconsidered in light of modern science. Bultmann, "Every schoolboy knows a corpse does not revive and leave a tomb."
- "Let's teach Marxist revolution and call it the Dogmatics," Kirschbaum whispering to Barth in their summer cabin.
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| That is why the synods secretly love Christian News, its UOJ and Church Growth modernism. |
Modern theologians have been thoroughly trained in modern philosophy, so they isolate terms and write a dissertation about one word - Agape, intent, etc - or about one of their living professors - the servant theology of John Howard Yoder.
Paul L. Holmer brilliantly described this approach as "about..." As long as we write and speak "(About) Paul's Concept of Salvation," we can pretend to be objective while promoting our own subjective interpretation. Then we can write chapters on Hellenistic and Pharisaic influences on Paul to show what a male chauvinist he was, a warning not to repeat those errors today.
If someone teaches Reformation theology (Luther, Melanchthon, Chemnitz, Book of Concord), he is teaching the substance of the Bible and Early Church. This is a minority view today and heavily censored.
The Lutheran faculty members are political appointees, selected for their loyalty to their denomination's stories and dogmas. Their path through higher education has immersed them in modern philosophy and modern theology. They are not concerned with the objective truth of God's Word or the Lutheran Reformation. Their ears are always attuned to the right use of terms.
The photographer wanted to know how to get Sassy Sue to pose for her portrait. I said, "Use the word treats, which makes her ears perk up." We watched as those ears went from resting to full alert each time, her eyes glowing.
The modernists listen for their favorite words of evasion and also for dangerous terms that make them growl. They love all the synonyms of world absolution without faith (OJ, UOJ, Justification of the World, General Justification). They refuse to say:
- Justification by Faith.
John Sparky Brenner (WELS) writes: Individual Appropriation of Forgiveness, which seems to be a category of its own, neither Paul's nor Luther's, but neither SJ or anything else. (I am open to correction on this.)
Justification must be God's declaration, and from Moses (Genesis 15) to Paul's Epistles to Luther and beyond, that forensic declaration has always been "by faith," and always connected to the Means of Grace, the efficacy of the Gospel Word.
Otten, like John Sparky Brenner, cannot write the words Justification by Faith. I check each issue with a control-f to scan every article. For the UOJists, Justification by Faith is like garlic to the vampires. They say "the cross" but that means universal salvation to them, not the Atonement. The pity is, the errors have been repeated so often, and their pride is so ossified, that they cannot discern the difference between the Atonement and the blasphemy they teach.
A smooth liar like Jon-Boy Buchholz (WELS District Pope) will deny that WELS teaches universal salvation while promoting his precious essay that declares that to be so.
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| WELS banner for congregations to use - "We are saved, just like you." Jon-Boy denied this happened, but look at his blasphemies, enshrined in the WELS Holy of Holies, near Jay Webber's monstrosity. |
One can apply the dogma of Halle to every Biblical example and see how preposterous it is, but that is the problem. The ELCA-WELS-LCMS-CLC (sic) are so subjective in their teaching that it only matters whether someone is faithful to the peculiar papacies. That is why they are in the sack together via Thrivent, always obedient to the far Left agenda, since they are disengaged from the Scriptures and Confessions as objective truth.
More than one pastor - maleducated by the Synodical Conference - has found his entire viewpoint changed by Luther's Reformation. I get that reaction when people read Thy Strong Word. I was at Mordor for the WELS enforced post-graduate course on Church Growth. As soon as the seniors graduated, they had to endure a week of Fuller dogma (Barth/Kirschbaum) from the carefully trained alumni of Fuller, though none dare tell the truth. The graduates were forced back for even more later. So WELS should be buying up ELCA properties for all their new missions, no? No.
WELS and CG reminded me of my seminary and pastoral counseling. The new dean converted many courses into pastoral counseling courses, his favorite topic. No matter what department, it ended up pastoral counseling. Now the seminary is mostly a school for counseling with a few MDivs in the program. Seminarians are the smallest part of the school now.
At Mordor, their mission festival was Paul Kelm and CG. The evangelism program was Paul Kelm and CG. Worship was CG. World Emissions - CG. Magazine articles - CG. Books - CG. Special programs, one requiring all pastors to attend - CG with Kelm, Olson (Drive-Buy DMin), and Huebner. Synod officers -
- Wayne Mueller CG,
- James Huebner Fuller alumnus CG,
- David Valleskey Mordor Prez Fuller alumnus CG.
In the future, Mordor and the Little Seminary on the Prairie will be merged into a hallway at Concordia Seminary St. Louis - CG Department, one faculty member.
The Church Growth Movement - now Missional - has been a fantastic success at imposing Barth/Kirschbaum's subjective modernism on all denominations. Fuller went from tepid semi-inerrancy to rejection of inerrancy under the leadership of Barth/Kirschbaum students, who returned from Switzerland with new insights.
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| What do they promote? And what do they deplore? That is the answer. |
