Thursday, February 26, 2004 AD
I think you need to switch to decaf...
Josh S has been pounding his keyboard into oblivion over at his blog today.
But it has to be said, his basic point is spot on, when he complains about the way people attack Lutherans for practising closed communion:
A real eye-opener for me. I've been programmed to see the Lutheran position as the problem, whereas in fact its the doctrinal chaos of the rest of Protestantism that is the real issue. Innumerable errors have taken up "squatters' rights" in the church, and it is a bit galling to be told by someone who is squatting in your own house that, "You should stop being such a breadhead and accept you need to share the house with others."
But it has to be said, his basic point is spot on, when he complains about the way people attack Lutherans for practising closed communion:
Confessional Lutherans have basically believed the same thing for 500 years, and we're not planning to change any time soon. And since I'm a bit upset right now, I'm going to point something out:
Whiny Protestants argue to me that because the church is currently so fragmented, we need to practice open communion in order to have any semblance of unity and get things off the ground again. My response is simple, and offensive: WE'RE NOT THE ONES WHO CONTINUALLY INVENT NEW HERESIES. Protestants can't seem to stop dividing and inventing ever-newer and ever-weirder doctrines. Business model of church growth? Charismatic renewal? You guys come up with that crap, and then we have to work to keep it out (and in the LCMS, we're losing the battle because so many Lutherans are Protestants at heart). And now you say that because YOU can't stop coming up with stupid crap like church growth, spekkin' in tongues, credobaptism, immersionist legalism, denial of the Real Presence, denial of baptism unto the remission of sins (As Mr Nicey-Nicey said, "it's in the Bible and the Creed. Get over it"), confusing the Trinity, confusion of Law and Gospel, once saved always saved, and that only BEGINS the list; but because YOU can't discipline yourselves doctrinally and practice something even remotely RESEMBLING self-control instead of having a big, giant, neverending orgy of heresy, LUTHERANS need to start acting more like you "for the sake of the Church." Oh gee, yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's like saying because you can't control your sexual promiscuity, we need to redefine marriage for the good of society. Oh wait, people are already saying that.
A real eye-opener for me. I've been programmed to see the Lutheran position as the problem, whereas in fact its the doctrinal chaos of the rest of Protestantism that is the real issue. Innumerable errors have taken up "squatters' rights" in the church, and it is a bit galling to be told by someone who is squatting in your own house that, "You should stop being such a breadhead and accept you need to share the house with others."
