We Interrupt This Sinaiticus Briefing for More ELCA Scandals

 

I was reading, for the second time, Who Faked the "World's Oldest Bible"? 

I checked on the Facebook news and saw ELCA in Chicago was doing what ELCA does best. The latest does not deserve being named, since is it all derived from 2009 and the cowardly years before that.

 The vote - 2009 - aftermath.

The tongue-clucking will not include these questions, "Why are the Missouri, Wisconsin, and Little Norwegian synods working with ELCA?" or "Why are the pastors sharing their address lists with Thrivent?"

Calvinist News, now fronted by Phil Hale, has the same ecumenical and Thrivent problems. I do not worry that he never mentions my books, because he never mentions:

1. Justification by Faith
2. The Chief Article
3. The Means of Grace
4. The Efficacy of the Word.

The book I just finished is fascinating, because the marks of deceit and fraud are all over Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph). What made Tischendorf a party in promoting a recent, custom-made Bible as the "world's oldest Bible"? That turned him into an international celebrity, the reputation he craved.

An Ad - And the Story Behind It

 

Don't Get Me Started - But You Did Already

 

 

I was discussing Justification by Faith with another pastor, a long-time friend. How does Objective Justification persist in the minds of some, especially among clergy trained in that dogma?

Chemnitz reminded his Examination of the Council of Trent readers that the early councils paraded the Gospels before the sessions started, to reminded everyone that they were the true sources of Christian doctrine, not any creed or source written by man. They were not against creeds, confessions, statements by men - but they did not want to start at a given point and work out from there, a cancerous practice pursued today with great harm to minds and morals. 

One case in point serves as an example - if a synod staff member has engaged in heinous sins, the synod president tells him from the start that the felon is already forgiven. No, not that Christ died for his sins, but that he was forgiven even before he was born. Result? He continues his crimes and gets five years instead of his incredibly light lawyer-forged sentence. 

The attempted solution with Objective Justification, is to embrace almost as many books on their topic as the Roman/EO Immaculate Conception of Mary (recently celebrated).  The OJists circle the wagons around the timeless tosh of Walther, Pieper, and the false teachers of WELS, CLC (sic), etc. No one is ever going to escape that maze, because it is man's word and not God's Word. Worst of all, those who engage in hyperbole - like David Scaer - make everything worse, so the abused seminary graduates go through life blinded by their own obstinate rejection of the Chief Article.

The actual solution is to return to the Scriptures and let the Word of God be the exegesis of the Word of God. If one passage seems dark (our fault, not God's) then we use the bright, clear passages to shine their light on those places where the message is not as clear to us. 

Romans 10 - sometimes called the Means of Grace chapter - clearly teaches that forgiveness comes through faith and faith from hearing the Gospel of the Atonement (Isaiah 53 for Ft. Wayne, St. Louis, Mordor, and Eau Claire graduates). "Who has believed our Report?"

Or - my radical suggestion - study Romans 4 for the example of Abraham, justified by faith that it might be by grace. And even more pointed - this example being applied to all who believe (Romans 4:24-25, not just 25), then summarized by Romans 5:1-2. "We have access by faith into this grace..."