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| "I try my best. Bringing in the sheaves. Bringing in the sheaves. We shall come rejoicing, bringing them in to burn." |
Objective Justification Cheerleaders (aka Justification by Faith deniers) say these things:
1. "Our church has always taught Objective Justification."
That is demonstrably false in ELCA, WELS, and the LCMS. They began with Justification by Faith. Thanks to a scholar, The Path To Understanding Justification has documented the early JBF statements of the LCMS and the turn to OJ. The ELS began with an OJ chip on their stooped shoulders.
1a. "You have turned against the teaching of your Synod."
The Gausewitz Catechism was used for decades in the Synodical Conference, where he was president. That work by a WELS leader taught Justification by Faith, so ever since - WELS-LCMS leadership has been comprised of men who turned against their own synod, the Book of Concord, and the Scriptures - in ascending order. The OJists turned against the teaching of their synods.
2. "You are a Pietist!"
OJ comes directly from late, rationalistic Pietism. The terms OJ and SJ were used by the Calvinist translator of the Pietist Knapp.
3. "You are a Calvinist!"
Tell me, O Hamlet of Dogmatics, where is one born already forgiven, absent the Word, lacking the Means of Grace? Yes, Calvin taught that God predestined everyone. That even sounds like Walther's Election without Faith.
4. "You are an Arminian!"
Calvin used that term for everyone who disagreed with him. David Scaer likes to toss it around to insult the Walter A. Maier family, whose publications make his look like that of an earnest first-year seminary student.
For the Preus brothers, this was not a minor issue. Jack Preus was not the only one to look into the issue. Ralph Bohlmann also did. The inability of the Missouri Synod once and for all to bring this matter to a conclusion may partially lie in that the Missouri Synod had long been “Protestantized” in an Arminian direction.
Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer. Luther Academy. Kindle Edition.
5. "You are a horrible person!"
That is all the more reason to create and sustain justifying faith by declaring the truth of the Scriptures. The OJists are born forgiven, so they have no need for contrition or forgiveness.
6. "Luther taught Objective Justification." Webber
That statement is direct evidence of Biblical and doctrinal ignorance in the ELS, LCMS, and WELS, because nobody fell off a chair laughing at the paper. WELS published it in their precious Essay File.
7. "There is no connection between OJ and Church Growth." Webber
One only needs to crack open Valleskey's tome, We Believe, Therefore We Speak, which begins with OJ and exhausts almost every fad and dumb idea from Fuller Seminary.
8. "You have criticized Francis Pieper."
The Bible judges all books. If Pieper looks bad in comparison with the Scriptures, then that should take precedence over venerating a dead leader.
9. "Walther always taught OJ."
True, Walther learned OJ from Pastor Martin Stephan, a Pietist with a Pietist congregation, a former student at Halle University, where the Easter absolution of the world was taught.
