Please tell me that the “RSS feed for comments on this post” is a relatively recent addition. (Like, in the last couple of months, maybe?) Because the alternative is that I am either blind or a few cards short of a full deck. =p

You may also call my office phone number.

For example, in what specific “ministries” are the LCMS and ELCA conjointly participating? How many are there? What are their budgets, geographical locations, and spheres of influence? What are the histories of these “ministries” in terms of origins, length and effect?

What would happen to those “ministries” if the LCMS pulled out?

What would happen to those “ministries” if the ELCA pulled out?

I find it rather interesting that the behemoth ELCA should care one whit about any LCMS participation with anything. What could they possibly stand to lose if the LCMS pulled out?

Kieschnick’s Ablaze!/Fanning the Flame program has extremely exacerbated an already difficult financial trend in synodical budgeting, in some cases one might guess, seriously jeopardizing all kinds of missions and ministries.

I think it is GOOD that Harrison was not invited. It shows that HE STANDS APART.

And it’s not just that Harrison was not included — it’s also that Hartwig WAS included. Perhaps in due time others will be able to ascertain the extent to which Hartwig has equivocated on many crucial issues quietly behind the scenes. Yes, he has helped in certain situations, but he has also pulled the rug out from other efforts to confront and curtail the Kieschnick machine.

After I got the e-mail I talked to Mr. Colver personally and am quite certain that this is Rev. Harrison’s opinion. I never asked the question directly but am quite certain of this. That is why I wrote the headline the way I did. I was not trying to be deceptive.

TR

Jesus died for everyone, even me.

The Holy Spirit has given faith through His Word and Sacraments, even to me. But He has given me the freedom to reject the Lord in whom that faith trusts.

Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions teach the One True Faith, the Means of Grace, the Lord Jesus Christ by whom I am saved. If I confess a Jesus other than the One revealed in the Bible I do not know the Father and He does not know me. If I say I have no sin I deceive myself and the Truth is not in me.

I am not here to judge anyone’s soul. I am here to live the life Christ has given me to live. Therefore, I must be watchful and pray to God that the evil foe, the world and I my own sinful nature will not lead me into the temptation to reject Jesus who has so clearly and freely given Himself for you and for me. If we choose to reject the Word of God and teach another, it would be better for us if we had never been born.

John Hooss

To answer your question: that’s not my call. I’m not saying that there aren’t Christians outside of the LCMS. There are plenty of denominations that make a good public confession. The lips is what it’s about here. That’s the main thing I have to go on. Even so, to claim that there are not Christians in denominations that are in error is ridiculous. There are many simple people in various denominations that cling to Christ’s promises. There are also alot of people who are gonna have alot of stubble burnt away as they approach death. Earthly props will fall. Furthermore, God cleanses people from hidden faults (ps 19).

However, I am bound to God’s self-revelation, which requires me to confess (to say the same thing as God says back to him and to say the same with the Church), to be like minded, and to speak in a sound pattern of words. Furthermore, by the grace of God, I will not use his name in vain. I will not use his name to pray to what I know to be an idol.

Yes, I believe that Jesus died for the whole world. But this same Jesus suffers himself to be rejected, especially by those who use his name in vain. They have set up another God in their hearts.

I think we need to be asking the question of whether we want to pray with ELCA pastors unless they are thinking about leaving. That should have been our policy from the start. Walther prayed with other Lutherans who did not share his confession during the free conferences because they were seeking understanding. Walther stopped praying even with people who had belonged to Synodical Conference after the predestinarian controversy erupted. He surely wouldn’t have been caught praying with a Methodist.

The Jesus of the ELCA’s public confession is not the Jesus who sees God’s creation as paradigmatic for human relationships. The Jesus of the ELCA’s public confession is not one with the Creator.

What is in the hearts of the simple–that I do not know. I have no confidence that there is Church in their assemblies. Just like I have no confidence that there is Church at a Reformed assembly.

Furthermore, just as another general standard: those who do not go to the Lord’s Supper…as for me (and all who subcribe to the Lutheran Confessions) I will not call them Christians. God is not bound. I am.

Pax in Christo

We’ll definitely get that marriage series up and running!