Avoid Terminology Meltdown at the Emmaus Conference 2017

The time has come to stop praising an absence of faith, which may be called UOJ but is really the foundation of all sin.

The leaders of the Emmaus Conference in 2017 could avoid embarrassing themselves the way Jay Webber did in 2015. It is never too later to recognize error and repudiate it.

Here are some basics.

Vocabulary is the key. If someone sticks to Reformation and Biblical terminology, correct teaching is more likely to follow.

The Atonement is not being disputed among Lutherans, so it is a foolish waste of time to keep insisting that Justification by Faith means a "Limited Atonement," as if Christ only died for the elect. He died for the sins of mankind, once and for all.

Therefore, Justification by Faith is not Calvinism. That charge is akin to calling Tom Brady a linebacker. The Lutheran Reformation has always been associated with Justification by Faith. Romans and Galatians teach Justification by Faith. So do the other Pauline letters.

No one should confuse the Atonement with Justification, using one term for the other. The Atonement has many synonyms, and redemption is one of the clearest to use. Christ has redeemed the world, but that is not the same as "God has declared the entire world righteous."

Whether someone uses Universal Objective Justification (a WELS obsession), or Objective Justification (LCMS-ELS) or General Justification (Hoenecke), all three terms teach the same nonsense - utterly wrong and ridiculous. They insist that God has "declared the entire world righteous" or "absolved the world of its sins" and even "saved the entire world."

Making up new claims is clownish, but the UOJ peddlers never stop. Jesus did not declare the world forgiven when He said "It is finished" on the cross. He said that as a statement of His atoning death. Let's not make things up - that is a job for Enthusiasm, the creative manufacture of dogma.

God did not declare the entire world righteous when He raised Jesus from the dead. The justification of Jesus in 1 Timothy 3:16 is the proof of His sinless nature, since all sinners die.

The angelic blessing of the shepherds is not UOJ, as some would love to claim. "Peace on earth" is not world absolution. Note that all three "Moments of World Absolution - Without Faith" contradict each other, typical of Enthusiasm. For example. Roman Catholics cannot figure out if Purgatory lasts several weeks or several thousand years. They have taught Mary ascending into heaven as a Holy Day, so some want to add Joseph to this honor peculiar to the Son of God.



Thus, with mission creep, the bimbos of LutherQuest echo JP Meyer in having everyone in Hell forgiven and having the status of a saint. And Jay Webber confusedly has "in Christ" refer to the entire world, and not simply to believers, as the Word plainly shows.



Anyone can follow a theme in the Bible and see how it unifies the One Truth of the Scriptures. Abraham is a good example, justified by faith in Genesis 15, believing the Promises of God that he will be a father of nations. Abraham is the prime example of Justification by Faith in Romans 4, Galatians, Hebrews, James, etc. To fix UOJ - which is impossible - one would have to show Abraham was justified without faith in God's Promises.

If Abraham is not clear enough, then turn to Jesus. We are justified "by the faith of Jesus" in Romans 3:22, Galatians 2:16, and Philippians 3:9. Thy precious NIVs and even the NewKJVs mistranslate these passages as "faith in Jesus." The original text and KJV and Tyndale have "the faith of Jesus..."

Thus - the New NIV has to insert an "all" into the text to make it agree with Webber, Valeskey, Bivens, Scaer, and the National Council of Churches - all are justified. Shameful - and no one seems to notice.

If you deny their precious UOJ, the Scaerites will jump on you like a hobo on a hotdog.

Fuerbringer read Luther's sermons all the time, as he indicates in his excellent histories.