Another Reader Writes about UOJ versus Justification by Faith.

 Jay Webber says JonBoy Buchholz give JP Meyer a bruising - or was it a big hickey?

From a Reader

Hello Pastor Jackson:

Thank you for your work to uphold the doctrine of Justification by Faith at this time when some Lutheran theologians teach universal justification.

I read your posts about the debate on Facebook between Lutheran laymen and UOJ theologians.

I'm surprised that such a debate took place because I've found that theologians who believe UOJ are careful to keep it sotto voce when interacting with laity because UOJ contradicts what laity know to be fundamental Lutheran doctrine.

To illustrate UOJ teachings, you've published the following quotes from J.P. Meyer:

I. "Objectively speaking, without any reference to an individual sinner's attitude toward Christ's sacrifice, purely on the basis of God's verdict, every sinner, whether he knows about it or not, whether he believes it or not, has received the status of a saint. What will be his reaction when he is informed about this turn of events? Will he accept, or will he decline?"240

J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 103f. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

II. "Before Christ's intervention took place God regarded him as a guilt-laden, condemned culprit. After Christ's intervention and through Christ's intervention He regards him as a guilt-free saint."

J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 107. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

III. "This applies to the whole world, to every individual sinner, whether he was living in the days of Christ, or had died centuries before His coming, or had not yet been born, perhaps has not been born to this day. It applies to the world as such, regardless of whether a particular sinner ever comes to faith or not."

J. P. Meyer, Ministers of Christ, A Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1963, p. 109. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

 Every Lutheran layman learns the Small Catechism in his confirmation classes. In the Small Catechism in the explanation of the third article of the Apostle's Creed, Martin Luther explained how a person is justified:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

On the Last Day he will raise up me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers.

 Nowhere does Luther say that one needs to do something or make a decision to be saved, rather he says that one's actions play no role in salvation. Salvation is entirely the work of God.

Nowhere does Luther say that everyone is saved, rather he says that only believers (that is, those with faith) are saved.

I recall my confirmation training, with my 1943 CPH edition of Luther's Small Catechism and my King James Bible, in which the pastor taught the doctrine of justification:

Pastor: “How are we justified before God?" 
Class: By faith
Pastor: “Whose faith, our faith?”
Class: No, the faith of Jesus. Galatians 2:16, KJV
Pastor: “After God justifies us by imputing the righteousness of Jesus, how is his action evident in our lives?”
Class: The Holy Ghost works faith in our hearts so that we believe God and lead God-fearing lives. 

 Could you imagine the reaction in a congregation if a pastor were to include UOJ in his Easter sermon? For example:

“The thief on the cross who confessed Jesus was saved. But you know what? The thief who mocked Jesus was saved too. And so were the Roman soldiers who beat Jesus, the crowd who told Pilate to crucify Jesus, and Judas Iscariot. In fact, everyone who ever lived is a guilt-free child of God and an heir of Heaven, regardless of whether he ever comes to faith or not. That's right, the whole world is saved whether they know it or not.”

On another subject, you recently published a post that included a photo of you standing underneath a statue of C.F.W. Walther. In light of the things you've written about Walther over the years, don't you think you were tempting fate by standing underneath the statue?

Thanks

Sleepless in Sedona

Various People Are Happy with the Facebook UOJ Debate Being Preserved on Ichabod

People wrote to say they enjoyed the Facebook debate about UOJ, especially since the Stormtroopers sounded so addled, repetitive, and confused.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/252399584853848/

Jay Webber and Rolf the Rationalist Preus are like the tape machines in federal museums. Press the button and the message repeats itself. They have been doing this, without any improvement, for decades.

There is a chance to hear the same people enthuse on LutherQuest (sic).

One student of the Bible observed that the UOJ team never worked from Scripture and never showed any Biblical knowledge. The UOJists repeated their Walther-style thetical statements, which were supposed to leave everyone in awe, standing on their own authority. You know - like the Pope's.

In contrast, the Justification by Faith writers leveled short, significant volleys at the Stormtroopers, whose only message is "God declared everyone in the world forgiven."

Why are they called Stormtroopers on Ichabod?
The UOJ Stormtroopers are always firing at targets and missing.

As someone observed, the entire UOJ fantasy was hidden from most people by cleverly hiding the real message of Universalism. The UOJ Stormtroopers are not real Universalists - they are too cowardly for that. They are Universalistic parasites burrowing into the body and drawing warmth and Benjies from the faithful, who would respond as follows if they knew the truth about them. The laity would:

1. Deprive them of food.
2. Drive them from town.
3. Bait them with dogs.
4. Pelt them with manure. Luther, Large Catechism, Introduction.

 And yet, Buchholz said to me that WELS does not teach that everyone is already saved. He must have forgotten his paper, which Jay Webber considers a work of great genius.

I heard a rumor that he was UOJ, but I no longer hear that.
To find UOJ in the past, start with the heretic Huber or the
rationalistic Halle Pietists.

Earthworms are more important than pandas (if you want to save the planet)

Earthworms are more important than pandas (if you want to save the planet):

"It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures.

– Charles Darwin, The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms (1881)

Not all wildlife is created equal in our eyes. Take the earthworm, which doesn’t have the widespread appeal of larger, more charismatic animals such as gorillas, tigers or pandas. Worms are never going to get a strong “cute response”, and they won’t ever be the face of a conservation campaign.

But what Darwin rightly recognised is that – panda fans avert your eyes – worm conservation is much more important once we factor in their provision of what we now call “ecosystem services”, which are crucial to human survival. Darwin spent 39 years studying these animals for a good reason. In fact, earthworms have even been ranked the number one most influential species in the history of the planet – above dinosaurs and humans."

'via Blog this'

Krauth on Doctrine - So Why Are the UOJists Indifferent, Gladly Working with and Worshiping with Any Creed but Luther's?

From Chap 13 of the Krauth biography by Spaeth. Emphasis added

Do you believe the fundamental doctrines of God’s Word to be taught in a manner substantially correct in the doctrinal articles of the Augsburg Confession? Do you believe that the Augsburg Confession and the Catechisms of Luther are a summary and just exhibition of the fundamental principles of God’s Word? This is as mild a test as could well be presented of a man’s Lutheranism. Will yours bear it? Do you believe that the fundamental doctrines of God’s Word are taught in the Confessions, or have you doctrines which you are disposed to make fundamental, about which they are silent? If you have, you are not a Lutheran on our General Synod’s definition. Do you believe that those fundamental doctrines are taught in a manner substantially correct, or do you think the manner is incorrect, even in substantial, poor, confused, capable of twenty different meanings, each one of which has as good a claim as any other to recognition, and that there are arts and mysteries of interpretation by which our Confessions are Romish and Protestant. Orthodox and Socinian, Pauline and Pelagian, Zwinglian and Lutheran? If the latter is your view, you are not a Lutheran as our General Synod defines the term. When it makes our Confessions a test of doctrine, it implies that their meaning is ascertainable, and that they have but one meaning. Are you hugging yourself in the delusion that you are a Lutheran, because you can receive, on what you acknowledge to be fundamental, the words of the Confessions in some sense, though it is demonstrable, and you know it, that this sense is not theirs, but yours?

Hugh Jackman Came to the Walmart Saturday Morning Meeting for Little Ichabod's Birthday

David Hobson - one of the singers, above.
4 years ago (edited)
I lead a blessed life, and part of that blessedness is being afforded the opportunity to sing with the most talented people on earth. This Christmas special was an example of this "sharing of voices" to proclaim the birth of Jesus Christ, Hugh Jackman's personal Lord and Savior. I was thrilled to exchange stories with Hugh between costume changes concerning the Holy Scriptures and our mutual faith, and, of course, our mutual love for shark hunting. As you know Hugh has a ravenous appetite for shark (or "sharkies" as they are called down under) and loves to hunt them on his own terms, by hand. When the Christmas special was over everyone picked up their wraps and coats, walked outside in the cold air, departed in carriages, or some in their cars, and vanished into a black night, thinking of something we knew long ago.

We were very impressed with Hugh Jackman at the Christmas Walmart meeting, a year or so ago. He accepted a card from a little girl, during his talk, and came out into the audience after the meeting - unheard of! - to meet the little girl and say hello to her mother. Jackman then stayed around to shake hands, and Team Jackson headed over to him to say hello.

No other celebrity has stayed around to sign more than an autograph or two. Usually they are spirited out, like Paul being let down in a basket at night (Acts 9:25).

This time a little boy dressed as P. T. Barnum, so the CEO and Hugh waved the boy down for photos. More kids arrived for photos. Jackman posed with all of them.

When Jackman was at the Christmas meeting, he sang full-force from Le Miz and belted out the Christmas hymns with the WM choir.

At a junior talent show in Australia,
Hugh Jackman played the role of Wolverine. A prodigy!

 Formal Greek lessons started later, after Marty translated all of John's Gospel from Latin. Later, we did the same in Greek.