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| Jaroslav Pelikan's grandfather was a bishop in the Slovak Zion Synod, which is now the SELC in the LCMS. We knew Dr. Pelikan at Yale, and I met his father in the hospital in Cleveland, where Jaroslav's brother Theodore served as a pastor. NY Times Obituary |
Dear Pastor Jackson,
In your writings, you’ve made
the point that the leadership of the conservative Lutheran synods no longer
believe in Biblical principles.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is
generally regarded as a theologically conservative synod. Within the LCMS, the
SELC district is generally regarded as one of its more conservative districts.
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| The banner photographs on the SELC website includes this photograph of a Bible and Rosary, apparently to help lead pastors and laity to Rome. Compare it with this Roman Catholic website. |
The SELC district October monthly newsletter
included an article titled “A Lutheran Christian View of Biblical Inspiration.”
In this article, the author (a Lutheran
minister) rejected the principles of Biblical inerrancy and infallibility. The author began by ridiculing the idea that
the writings comprising the Bible were divinely inspired:
“Contrary to the popular opinion of
certain pious believers, as suggested by a picture of a balding elder, John, on the Aegean island of
Patmos, a wasp-nest-like opening protruding from his forehead through which, seemingly
hypnotically, he is receiving from the Holy Spirit the words of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (or
some other New Testament writing). Such a mechanical view of inspiration is clearly not a
Biblically accurate portrayal of how the written Word came to be. [GJ - The Straw Man argument is enhanced by vapors. So did we miss the accurate view?]
Those
of us privileged to have studied the Biblical languages of koine Greek and
Hebrew cannot help but gain at least a tiny insight as to
differences in each writer’s literary style. In other words there is no uniform Biblical language of the Holy
Spirit.” [GJ - Sarcasm plus "I studied Greek and Hebrew!"
He went on to mock the belief that the
inspired writings were divinely preserved:
“Consecrated lay people and even
seminarians occasionally become seemingly traumatized when told that their Christian faith rests on
the Triune God revealed to us in the verbally inspired original autographs of the canonical Scriptures
all of which, likely irretrievably long lost, would probably never be recognizable with any degree of
certainty, even if ever found.” [GJ - His Unitarian, rationalistic perspective would make the scholars of ELCA or Fuller Seminary proud. There is no Bible; it is not preserved; disputes distract us from Mission. Some boys reach seminary not knowing this - and are traumatized. Publishing such tommy-rot should traumatize more than one reader.]
His statement that we don’t have the
authoritative Word of God contradicts God’s promise to preserve his inspired
Word (for example, Mark 13:31).
I would ask, of what use is it to believe that
the original text of the Bible was inspired, if the original text no longer
exists? And, if God didn’t keep his
promise to preserve his inspired writings, why then should we trust any other
promise that God made?
The author then went on to disparage the
principle of the Bible as a reliable source of divine truth -
“Christians need not endlessly debate the
authenticity of the inspired word of God, they do however, very much need to seek the same
Spirit’s help and guidance for the proper interpretation of the Biblical text.”
So, the Holy Spirit did not inspire the
writers of Scripture, and even if he did, we don’t have reliable copies of
those writings. Nonetheless, we should ask the Holy Spirit to guide us for
proper interpretation of the non-inspired, non-authoritative Bible.
Finally, the author made the following
statement which I find disturbing, coming from a Lutheran minister:
“In our felt need at times perhaps to
defend the written Word of God, there is an ever present danger of exerting overly much time or energy
disputing the meaning of undeniably theologically loaded
words at the expense of ever applying the
Word to our daily lives.” [GJ - He pities the people who get wound up about inerrancy, which damages the efficacy of his practical wisdom derived from his heavily edited Bible.]
I would ask, wasn’t the Lutheran Reformation
all about correct discernment of Biblical doctrine and the defense thereof?
Does the author believe that Martin Luther ‘exerted too much time and energy’
in studying the Scriptures to discover the pure doctrine hidden beneath
centuries of accumulated Roman Catholic errors? Does the author believe that
Martin Chemnitz ‘exerted too much time and energy’ compiling the Book of
Concord to create a summary of the correct teachings of the Bible upon which
the Lutheran Church is based?
Regarding ‘undeniably theologically loaded
words’ over which we may ‘exert too much time and energy’ disputing, would the
author consider ‘justification by faith alone’ to be one of those terms that we
should not bother defending?
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| The LCMS clergy I knew, who never took the Reformation seriously, became Roman Catholics - Neuhaus and Wilken. |
I’m dismayed that a conservative district
within a conservative Lutheran synod would publish an article in their official
monthly newsletter rejecting the principles of Biblical inerrancy and
infallibility. Worse yet, they published this article in October, the
anniversary month of the Lutheran Reformation. How can they be so tone-deaf as
to reject the principles of Biblical inerrancy and infallibility in the
anniversary month of the Lutheran Reformation, which was predicated on Biblical
inerrancy and infallibility?
In light of their position that the Bible is
neither inerrant nor infallible, perhaps the churches of the SELC district should
change their declaration of the Reformation principle of
“Sola Scriptura” to “Sorta Scriptura.”
***
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| Does the ending of Mark require a separate author? What does this say about the rationalism of Matt the Fatt's LCMS? |
GJ - This is an excellent analysis of one article in the SELC newsletter. Another article, on science and Creation, is equally patronizing and sarcastic.
The ALC adopted the same attitude and logical fallacies when moving toward union with the LCA and Seminex (AELC). The Bible "did not fall from heaven," they said. So who claimed that concept of inspiration?
I cannot find the author's description of John on Patmos, but I would caution the pastor not to leave the lid loose on his pot of airplane glue.
The Rosary is one of many signals from the Harrison-McCain team - we are really Catholics and will wait for the backward ones to join us, if they become enlightened. Both seminaries - Ft. Wayne and "the other one" (as ELDONA often says) - promote Romanism and that elite intellectualist snobbery so abundant in the half-educated.
David Scaer is a perfect example of one who disparages Justification by Faith, which he does not describe accurately, and promotes the doctrinal laxity of Rome/Eastern Orthodoxy.
At the heart of the doctrine was that God justified the entire world in the resurrection of Christ. The contrary position was that faith made justification or forgiveness effective, and hence justification was not prior to faith, a position that has reappeared in the theologies of Gerhard Forde, Steven Paulsen and James Nestigen.
Scaer, David P.. Surviving the Storms: Memoirs of David P. Scaer . Luther Academy. Kindle Edition.
Pity those poor boys who graduate after years of such brain-washing! Bishop James Rodham Heiser, STM, was so addled by his years at Ft. Wayne that he did not remember being taught Objective Justification by his hero, David Scaer.
The Chief Article is that "faith makes justification or forgiveness effective"? Scaer is either intoxicated by Rome and EO - or he is a clumsy liar. Simply put, following Paul and the Holy Spirit, the preaching of the Atonement creates faith because of the efficacy of the divine Word. Faith receives the Gospel Promises.
I highly recommend Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4 - 5:2, a short reading assignment that will clarify and elucidate the true meaning of Justification.
Romans 10 teaches the Means of Grace and traces Gospel preaching back to Isaiah 53 - faith comes from hearing the Report - Jesus dying for our sins.
Notice that Scaer is using a Straw Man fallacy against Justification by Faith. Is it any wonder that the Ft. Wayne and St. Louis students are so bereft of Biblical understanding? They learn slogans and say to each each - "Cooperate to graduate." Ah, there is the Reformation spirit. No wonder the 500th was such an embarrassment to them, shaming their porcine greed for easy calls and plush benefits.
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| Scaer failed his PhD in Germany and never recovered from it. He finished a ThD at Our Lady of All Sorrows Seminary, St. Louis. |
