Follow the fold and stray no more
Stray no more, stray no more.
Put down the bottle and we'll say no more
Follow, follow, the fold.
Before you take another swallow!
Follow the fold and stray no more
Stray no more, stray no more.
Tear up your poker deck and play no more.
Follow, follow, the fold.
To the meadows, where the sun shines
Out of the darkness
And the cold.
And the pain and shame in which you wallow.
Follow the fold and stray no more
Stray no more, stray no more.
If you're a sinner and you pray no more
Follow, follow, the fold.
Guys and Dolls
Daniel has left a new comment on your post "Keeping a Corrupt System Corrupt":
I took a trip to the Seminary during my sophomore year at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. This was during an all-expenses paid day of traveling and lunch, in an attempt to encourage the youth of Wisco to enter the Ministry.
Even at that young age (before I had been introduced to the Book of Concord), the class I had to sit through was almost unbearable. It was a Hebrew instruction class, and the information that the professor asked was unbelievably easy; I thought any simpleton could answer - and no student save one was answering. Most of the other students were busy on their laptops looking at MySpace and their email accounts (this was before the rise of FaceBook).
Suffice it to say, I could not envision myself enduring 8 more years of the WELS “training” I had been forced to take in for the past 14. In the end, I seriously considered transferring schools and entering the seminary tract at MLC at the beginning of last year. I am glad I did not make that decision now (this was also before I discovered the Book of Concord for myself).
***
GJ - In 1987, no one had laptops yet, but the stifling atmosphere of the classroom was the same. No one was supposed to show any interest in class - that was not cool.
I ended up in the Formula of Concord class, which everyone treated as the equivalent of root canal surgery. Although the instructor was very good, no effort was made to apply anything to the current situation. That would have blown up WELS, just as it would today.
When I read the comment above, I immediately thought of the Salvation Army in Guys and Dolls. Every so often they appeared, thumping the bass drum, chanting "Follow the Fold."
There were dozens of claims about WELS education being vastly superior to anything on earth, but the evidence was lacking. For instance, the library was hardly used at all. The required books were mostly Reformed. One of my classmates (although I was not allowed to consider myself in the elect) wondered why my library was so Lutheran and his was so Reformed. Many expressed shock that I could read German. I responded, "You can't? And you are graduating from a Lutheran seminary?" The librarian muttered, "I ask the same thing."
When the class was asked about Luther and Zwingli on Holy Communion, one senior began ranting about Luther being stubborn and wrong! I saw a Middler paper, probably from Valleskey's course, repeating the Lord, Liar, Lunatic argumentation of Josh McDowell. I said, "Where did you get this garbage?" The student would not say.
Seminaries often have the same agenda, teaching conformity and fostering apostasy. Mequon had some good instructors and some good students. The overall atmosphere was one of robotic following a host of unwritten rules.
So-called graduation was followed by a required week of Church Growth indoctrination, which was soon followed by the Paul Calvin Kelm program of Church Growth in the name of evangelism. The second week of torture was aimed at established pastors and was heavily salted with CG Stormtroopers of proven incompetence.
I agree with the WELS pastor who argues that the synod schools are now hopeless.
