Someone asked about the charge that
Justification by Faith means teaching "a limited Atonement." This an old accusation kept bright by being polished and offered anew - every few days by
UOJ fans.
Calvinists teach a limited Atonement, that Christ only died for the elect. The LCMS likes to say that
Justification by Faith is Calvinism, so readers can see where those arguments come from (ignorance) and where they are heading (Unitarianism, followed by Atheism).
Since I woke up to a rockin' thunderstorm, I decided to connect
Creation by the Word to
Justification by Faith. The fall rains bring the fruit to perfection in gardening and agriculture. By design, we get soaking rains in the spring and similar rains in the fall. The first thunderstorms fertilize the ground to germinate the seeds and establish them. The end of season rains give all plants a boost and provide the growth power of usable nitrogen with perfect water.
All the articles of faith exist in harmony with the unified Truth of the Scriptures. The Lutheran Reformers tried to avoid writing about
doctrines in the plural because there is only one Doctrine, one Book, one Truth. Our human limitations lead us to talk about one part or another of this body of revealed teaching, but the unified truth of the Word remains foundational.
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| His mistress Charlotte wrote such beeyootiful words for Karl, and this adulterous couple became the theologians for Protestant mainliners, Fulleroids, and modern Roman Catholics. |
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| Imagine hearing this and not laughing out loud, but taking notes. I quoted a saying about Barth in a Ft. Wayne class and got hateful stares from the prof - "Teach with a newspaper in one hand, a rifle in the other, while standing on a Bible." |
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| The Calvinist Barth became a professor without any academic preparation, so he employed Charlotte Kirschbaum for pennies, slept with her, moved her into his home - over the objections of his wife, and traveled with Charlotte on his lecture tours: one bed, one room. She did a lot of his research and most of his writing. Barth taught Objective Justification, and the LCMS is thoroughly Barthian today. |
The sectarian itch came from Zwingli and Calvin, who chose certain parts of the Bible to dispute and rode off into the sunset with them. "See, we are not beholden to Dr. Martin Luther. We can break free of his interpretations. Look at us. Wheee!"
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Confessing OJ Today - an Ode to Barth:
Harrison, McCain, and Otten must be proud. |
That sectarian itch has stuck to false teachers and provided a useful cover for their apostasy. As long as they defend their diamond (Zwingli's term, Zarling's term), they can scatter the flock while appearing to be shepherds or even bashful sheep. But no, they are attacking all of Scripture when they undermine one part.
Teaching Creation from science is very weak, as scientist David Menton often said. Creation by the Word is a mystery revealed by the Scriptures. Unless one grasps the truth that
God only works through the Word, Creation will be a toy in the hands of a Barth, Tillich, or seminary faculty.
I love being cautioned by apostates, because they give away their game in warning us poor, dumb folk. They remind me of Zwingli stating that God does not need a vehicle - like a cart - for the Holy Spirit. So when God chooses - for our benefit - to work through earthly signs, a rainbow, the communion elements - He does not "need them." Therefore, says Zwingli, the sacraments are only symbolic, only ordinances to obey. Calvin is only a smidge better in his mockery of Holy Communion. Once they deny that the Word is effective and always connected with the Spirit, the other articles of faith crumble in their minds. "Young Calvinist, old Unitarian."
God created in six 24-hour days, as revealed in Genesis 1 and explained in John 1. Just as the Scriptures teach the work of the Holy Spirit in the Word at all times, so the Bible also teaches Creation in harmony with the Genesis account. Creation is really Christology, because the Son is the Logos, the Creating Word.
How does the Fourth Gospel begin? Not with "Jesus" but with the Logos, the Word.
Rationalists remind us with a growl,
"John does not have a Nativity passage." No, we have something so grand, so beyond our imaginations that it can only be grasped by the faith which the Word creates - Jesus the Messiah is the Creating Word preaching about His own Creation. Therefore, the Virgin Birth (already known through Matthew and Luke) is subordinate in the realm of the miraculous to Jesus, the Creating Word, Son of God, born of Mary.
The sectarians do not get this when hopped up on their slogans. This hymn says it perfectly.
3. "Yea, Father, yea, most willingly
I'll bear what Thou commandest;
My will conforms to Thy decree,
I do what Thou demandest."
O wondrous Love, what hast Thou done!
The Father offers up His Son!
The Son, content, descendeth!
O Love, how strong Thou art to save!
Thou beddest Him within the grave
Whose Word the mountains rendeth.
The Lutheran Hymnal
Hymn #142
Text: Is. 53: 7
Author: Paul Gerhardt, 1648, cento
Translated by: composite
Titled: Ein Laemmlein geht
Tune: An Wasserfluessen Babylon
1st Published in: "Deutsch Kirchenamt"
Town: Strassburg, 1525
When Jesus stilled the storm and walked on water, He used His power over Creation as the Creating Word. When He spoke of the sparrow, the lilies, and the mustard seed, He was speaking about His creation work. He is the exegesis of the Father.
18 θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε ο μονογενης υιος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος, εκεινος εξηγησατο (verb form of exegesis - He has explained the Father).
Stated another way, Creation means God can do whatever He wants in whatever span of time He chooses. Switching the argument of "what does God need?" Does God need more time? No. Who does? The rationalists do - they need more time to harmonize their truncated creation with the Big Dog - Evolution.
Denial of Creation Goes Claw-in-Hoof with Rejecting Justification by Faith
Denial of Creation is lupine and belongs to the ecclesiastical wolves, who work in packs and kill for pleasure. Rejection of the Chief Article is the direct work of Satan, because that imperils the comfort of forgiveness and the assurance of salvation in Christ.
Those who wish to water down Creation are also the fanatical advocates of Justification without Faith - UOJ.
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| Jay Webber, with an ELCA online STM, claims Luther taught Justification without Faith. Is that in the ELCA-LCMS Kolb/Wengert edition of the Book of Concord? |
The Chief Article includes and teaches the universal truth of the Atonement - Jesus died for the sins of the world, and this would be true even if no one believed.
Calvin taught a limited Atonement and a forgiveness and salvation that happens without the Word, without the Means of Grace, without faith. UOJ is not double-predestination - exactly - but remains a half-brother of that "horrible decree" as Calvin hisself called it.
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What Luther Did NOT Teach - More Barth, More OJ.
Harrison, McCain, and Otten must be so proud. |
When one dispenses with the Spirit always working through the Word, then monstrous dogmas appear. As Luther wrote, there are three main heresies:
- Against the divinity of Christ
- Against the humanity of Christ
- Against Justification by Faith.
The Halle Pietists were a blending of Lutheran doctrine and Calvin's doctrine, with Calvin winning in the long run and rationalism taking over soon after. "Young Calvinist, old Unitarian."
By teaching UOJ from Stephan's Halle years, Walther and the Synodical Conference allowed Calvinistic rationalism to take over, which is why they celebrate the Universalism of ELCA today and work gladly with ELCA on a variety of religious projects. In joint talks, the ELS-LCMS-WELS combine rejoices in their UOJness.
Comparison with Creation
The modernized "Creation" is a bow toward the Bible while denying the power and efficacy of God's Word.
UOJ is the same, using a few words from the Scriptures but a philosophy from the rationalists. In the Halle-Walter form, the entire world was absolved the moment Jesus rose from the dead, with without the Means of Grace or faith. The Pietist Rambach used 1 Timothy 3:16 to weave Universalism out of a confession of faith in Christ.
False teachers of the St. Louis seminary school of Evolution are the natural consequence of protecting and promoting UOJ.
If you see the value of teaching the Biblical view of Creation, do not fall for God declaring the world forgiven and saved without the Word, without faith.
If you see the importance of the Chief Article, then reject and repudiate those who cloak their evolution arguments with a light touch of Creation.
Luther and the Lutheran Reformation versus Zwingli and Calvin
Luther and his associates combined true genius, advanced educations in theology, and faith in the Word.
Zwingli and Calvin were hobby theologians, with Christian educations that were very weak in comparison with the typical Lutheran leader. They are treated as equals with Luther and the Reformers, but they were not.
Today's Synodical Conference leaders have educations similar to Zwingli and Calvin - sometimes worse, like Moldstad.
The SynCon leaders have degrees from their own seminaries, academic in-breeding at its worst. They climb to their positions and that means UOJ, women's ordination, everything ELCA loves, a day late and a dollar short.
