OK, I think we're done here. We're just repeating ourselves and not getting anywhere. I'll even allow Brett's last post to be the final word on the subject.
July 24, 2014 at 9:21 AM
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Or - about justification by faith. No wonder Paul Kuske won't commune with WELS anymore. ---
Hello sir!
I was leaving a comment on the UOJ thread that was going on when he decided to shut the comments down. I cannot understand why one would create and build the oven, put it in the kitchen, turn it on, and then complain because the heat coming off of it is too much to take. I admit my eyebrows were raised several times during this "open discussion". I was heartened at first that it was taking place but then it just turned nasty. Anyway, I thought I would share what I was submitting right as the comments closed:
I find it relatively interesting that after going back to the top of the comment list and back down to here that the only actual Scripture I've seen quoted has come from Mr. Meyer and Pr. Rydecki. One of the only things actually quoted in rebuttal has been the lyrics to a "Weird Al" Yankovic song. That is rather telling.
I know I am appreciative of the discussion that was going on. I am heartened to know that there are those Christians who definitely care about where their church body is going in relation to doctrine.
I know I corrected my words and apologized for the confusion they may have caused. I obviously wasn't clear and it led into an entire limited atonement tangent that was unintentional. I didn't know that would be the lone nugget taken out of the main point about Law and Gospel that I was trying to make.
As one who has read Mr. Meyer's posts on several blogs and sites over the years, I have never suspected a hint of Calvinism. But once again, I think it becomes easier to pigeonhole someone when you label them. "You're a Calvinist! Now I know what you are and now I'll have that tack to take because Lutherans know that Calvinists are wrong, so you're wrong! I don't have to read any further!"
I guess another concern is that if one is prepared to leave the synod and have even typed up a draft to do so, but reneges on it just because of comments on a blog topic they started fully knowing about the hornet nest they were knocking over, I would wonder if you're going whichever way the wind blows at the moment. I don't know how much confidence I'd have in a pastor that would be that wishy-washy in their doctrinal stance and ministry.
I don't mean to be confrontational by saying that either. I agree that the time of day and the lack of sleep can lead to irresponsible posts. However, I would be taking a good long prayerful look at what you are doing and what exactly you believe. Go forward from then, but only if you are secure in your position and can defend it with Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
I think I find it disheartening that if this bait and switch is the blogger's motivation. But going back, it makes sense. Start off with topics that everyone can get behind and cannot truly defend such as GA or hazing or the CORE and then pull a bait and switch like that. I've read and watched the debate go back and forth on Ichabod and Intrepid and the like for a while now. At the very least you, Brett Meyer, and Pr. Rydecki can back up statements with actual Scripture and quotations from the Book of Concord. That seems to be sorely lacking from the other side, where anonymous name-calling seems to be the order of the day.
Hope you and yours are well and again thank you for your efforts!
In the risen Christ,
Ben Wink
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GJ - I agree with all you write, Ben. Vernon K. wrote many fine posts too.
To fake an open discussion about justification and become another Buchholz, axe in hand, carpenters building the gallows, is just too GA for me - the old fake a persona bit from their secret homoerotic ritual.
I had an experience with a Mequonite once. He wanted to interview me in New Ulm. He showed up with a tape recorder - something he never mentioned, for some reason. I did not care because I tell the same story. When he got to his question about Valleskey and Bivens going to Fuller, which they both denied and affirmed, he got very hostile and the mask came out, the slaver dripping on the kitchen table. He came smiling but left looking full of Pietistic wrath.
I have stories from others about the same kind of behavior.