WELS TO CONSIDER BIBLE TRANSLATION
Christian News, July 4, 2011
A reader of Christian News in the Wisconsin Evangelical Synod wrote to CN on June 13:“Dear Friends:“The 61st biennial convention of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod will be held July 25-29, 2011, at Luther Preparatory School, Watertown, Wis. One of the major issues to be discussed at this convention is the ongoing study of new translations of the Bible with special emphasis on the recently revised NIV. As you have mentioned in Christian News, the old NIV will no longer be available, I believe, after 2013. This is forcing a decision on all those who are using it in publishing Bible study materials. Do they go with the New NIV or is it time to make a change? The study of new translations is a very important topic since it lays the ground work for the translation to be used in future WELS Synodical publications.“In recent discussions it seems ministers and lay people (with whom I have discussed this subject) who have examined these issues would like to see the AAT given serious prayerful consideration. Most feel that doctrine is of prime importance, far outweighing all other priorities. We feel the AAT fully meets this requirement.”
SUGGESTED OVERTURE ON NIV AND AAT FOR MEMBERS OF THE WELS
This issue of Christian News is being sent to most of the congregations of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. By the time they receive this issue, the time for submitting overtures to the WELS convention may have passed. However, any member of the WELS is invited to use anything in this issue at the WELS convention July 25-29. If CN had the name and addresses of all WELS convention delegates, CN would send them this issue. The CN editor has always been willing to speak on Bible translation and other issues to any interested group. He has frequently offered to participate in a debate with anyone who maintains that today confessional Lutherans should use the RSV, NIV, NEB, ESV, or some other translation rather than producing their own translation using An American Translation of the Bible by William Beck and improvements on the AAT from a team of confessional Lutherans from the LCMS, WELS, ELS, and CLC. . . . (for the entire article, see Christian News, July 4, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 25)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Christianity and the Culture War
Christianity and the Culture War
by Bradley Hughes
Christian News, June 27, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 24
The church faces significant challenges if it is to bring an end to Satan’s assault on the institutions of the United States and mitigate the growing dominion of evil in the country. The church bears significant responsibility for the cultural and moral decay that attends the manifest decline of the US culture and the broader Western Civilization.The symptoms of the problem are evident throughout the state of the American culture. Statistics with respect to abortion, alcoholism, bankruptcy, cheating, child abuse, crime, debt bondage, depression, divorce, drug addiction, fraud, gambling, government dependence, greed, homosexuality, illegitimacy, illiteracy, infidelity, over-medication on a chronic basis according to Medco Health Solutions Inc.)1 physical abuse, pedophilia, pornography, promiscuity, prostitution, sexual abuse and assault, STD’s, same sex adoption, same sex marriage, suicide, violence, and the rise of an increasing police state are overwhelming the culture and show few signs of abatement. Nancy Pearcey writes in Saving Leonardo that politics is downstream from culture and Christians must address the cultural decay in America if we are to prevent the rise of the secular state and persecution of Christians. While Satan and his demons never sleep, Christians often do. The report card is ominous.
Illegitimacy is becoming the national norm.
• In 1960, only 5% of American births were illegitimate.
• By 2004, 37% of American births were illegitimate—(32% of white births, 45% of Hispanic births, and 68% of black births).
• The rate of illegitimacy rose 75% from 1980-1990.
• By 2010, 40% of all American births were illegitimate—75% are to women 20 or older. (Black women account for 72% nationally and 80% in larger cities.)
• Nationally, 45% of unmarried couples living together are raising children.2
The problem of moral and cultural decay is explained by systemic secularism (and its philosophical progeny socialism and relativism) in the face of ill-prepared Christians who are both biblically illiterate and lack initiative regarding cultural engagement.
Further, the rise of global Islam presents a formidable challenge to Western Civilization. Christians are both doctrinally indigent and spiritually indolent in confronting the twin threats of Secular Humanism and Radical Islam. These two religious forces are co-bel- ligerents in the contest with Judeo-Christian values. They clearly represent the greatest threats to Western Civilization. The FBI estimates there are 15,000 web sites supporting terrorism. Terrorism has become Americanized with 68 citizens/residents charged and convicted of terrorist crimes in 2009-2010. Almost 200 citizens have been charged with terrorist crimes since 2001 with one quarter of them being converts to Islam.3
The most significant combatants supporting Secular Humanism and its cousin the Marxists (remember Corliss Lamont, Van Jones, Bill Ayers, Tom Hayden, etc.) and Radical Islam in this battle have been the media, the education system (and its public unions), the legal profession, and the government. Although the situation looks bleak, the solution lies in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Understanding the times (I Chron. 12:32) and engagement (Daniel 11:32; Acts 13:36) are the instruments of human remedy.
The lack of Christian preparedness is corroborated by the survey findings of the Barna Research Group. The Barna study, conducted approximately two years ago, states, “For the purposes of the survey, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-powerful creator of the world who still rules today.”4
In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview. Nine percent of Americans have such a biblical worldview and less than one out of every five (19%) born-again Christians had such an outlook on life.”5 If one were to incorporate additional doctrinal truths, e.g., the Trinity, the inerrancy of the Bible, original sin, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the exclusive divinity and salvific nature of Jesus, etc., it is likely that a Biblical worldview among professing Christians would drop precipitously. Further, the application of Biblical solutions to social problems, e.g. homosexuality, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc., would likely test the most fervent understanding of a biblical worldview and reduce those adhering to a strict biblical worldview to the low single digits. The small percentage of Christians with a biblical worldview often compromise that worldview in cases of personal circumstance. Finally, Barna research indicates that only 4% of those born after 1977 have a biblical worldview.6 (For entire article see Christian News, June 27, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 24)
by Bradley Hughes
Christian News, June 27, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 24
The church faces significant challenges if it is to bring an end to Satan’s assault on the institutions of the United States and mitigate the growing dominion of evil in the country. The church bears significant responsibility for the cultural and moral decay that attends the manifest decline of the US culture and the broader Western Civilization.The symptoms of the problem are evident throughout the state of the American culture. Statistics with respect to abortion, alcoholism, bankruptcy, cheating, child abuse, crime, debt bondage, depression, divorce, drug addiction, fraud, gambling, government dependence, greed, homosexuality, illegitimacy, illiteracy, infidelity, over-medication on a chronic basis according to Medco Health Solutions Inc.)1 physical abuse, pedophilia, pornography, promiscuity, prostitution, sexual abuse and assault, STD’s, same sex adoption, same sex marriage, suicide, violence, and the rise of an increasing police state are overwhelming the culture and show few signs of abatement. Nancy Pearcey writes in Saving Leonardo that politics is downstream from culture and Christians must address the cultural decay in America if we are to prevent the rise of the secular state and persecution of Christians. While Satan and his demons never sleep, Christians often do. The report card is ominous.
Illegitimacy is becoming the national norm.
• In 1960, only 5% of American births were illegitimate.
• By 2004, 37% of American births were illegitimate—(32% of white births, 45% of Hispanic births, and 68% of black births).
• The rate of illegitimacy rose 75% from 1980-1990.
• By 2010, 40% of all American births were illegitimate—75% are to women 20 or older. (Black women account for 72% nationally and 80% in larger cities.)
• Nationally, 45% of unmarried couples living together are raising children.2
The problem of moral and cultural decay is explained by systemic secularism (and its philosophical progeny socialism and relativism) in the face of ill-prepared Christians who are both biblically illiterate and lack initiative regarding cultural engagement.
Further, the rise of global Islam presents a formidable challenge to Western Civilization. Christians are both doctrinally indigent and spiritually indolent in confronting the twin threats of Secular Humanism and Radical Islam. These two religious forces are co-bel- ligerents in the contest with Judeo-Christian values. They clearly represent the greatest threats to Western Civilization. The FBI estimates there are 15,000 web sites supporting terrorism. Terrorism has become Americanized with 68 citizens/residents charged and convicted of terrorist crimes in 2009-2010. Almost 200 citizens have been charged with terrorist crimes since 2001 with one quarter of them being converts to Islam.3
The most significant combatants supporting Secular Humanism and its cousin the Marxists (remember Corliss Lamont, Van Jones, Bill Ayers, Tom Hayden, etc.) and Radical Islam in this battle have been the media, the education system (and its public unions), the legal profession, and the government. Although the situation looks bleak, the solution lies in the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Understanding the times (I Chron. 12:32) and engagement (Daniel 11:32; Acts 13:36) are the instruments of human remedy.
The lack of Christian preparedness is corroborated by the survey findings of the Barna Research Group. The Barna study, conducted approximately two years ago, states, “For the purposes of the survey, a biblical worldview was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-powerful creator of the world who still rules today.”4
In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview. Nine percent of Americans have such a biblical worldview and less than one out of every five (19%) born-again Christians had such an outlook on life.”5 If one were to incorporate additional doctrinal truths, e.g., the Trinity, the inerrancy of the Bible, original sin, the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the exclusive divinity and salvific nature of Jesus, etc., it is likely that a Biblical worldview among professing Christians would drop precipitously. Further, the application of Biblical solutions to social problems, e.g. homosexuality, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, etc., would likely test the most fervent understanding of a biblical worldview and reduce those adhering to a strict biblical worldview to the low single digits. The small percentage of Christians with a biblical worldview often compromise that worldview in cases of personal circumstance. Finally, Barna research indicates that only 4% of those born after 1977 have a biblical worldview.6 (For entire article see Christian News, June 27, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 24)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Christianity Today Sits on Fence
Creation Evolution Debate CHRISTIANITY TODAY SITS ON FENCE
Christian News, June 20, 2011
“The Search for the Historical Adam” is the title of the cover of the June, 2011 Christianity Today. The subtitle is “Some scholars believe genome science casts doubt on the existence of the first man and woman. Others say the integrity of the faith requires it.”
At one time Christianity Today defended the inerrancy of the Bible, the historicity of the Genesis account of creation, and opposed evolution. Now Christianity Today maintains that those who deny the inerrancy of the Bible and promote evolution should be permitted to remain in their denomination and not disciplined.
Christian News has frequently shown that no major denomination ever since it began has insisted on the absolute historicity of the Genesis account of creation, one man and one woman, and opposed evolution more that The Lutheran Church-Missouri synod. Until the 1950s no LCMS pastor or professor publicly promoted evolution or denied the inerrancy of the Bible. In the 1950s some LCMS professors and pastors began denying the inerrancy of the Bible and historicity of Genesis account of creation. They supported evolution. Although the LCMS continues to publicly oppose evolution, no pastor or professor in the LCMS who supports evolution has ever been removed from the LCMS. Since the 1950s all LCMS administrations, including the present LCMS administration, have refused to take action vs. evolutionists or even consider charges of false doctrine brought against evolutionists. Only those who dare to file charges of false doctrine against any evolutionists are kept off the LCMS clergy roster.
“The Search For The Historical Adam” by Richard Ostling in the June Christianity Today says:
“Secularist brows furrowed in 2009 when President Obama chose prominent atheist-turned-Christian Francis S. Collins to be the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”
“Collins, one of the most eminent scientists ever to identify as an evangelical Christian, staunchly defends Darwinian evolution even as he insists on God as the Creator. And he now stands at the epicenter of a dispute that increasingly agitates fellow believers. At issue: the traditional tenet (as summarized in Wheaton College‘s mandatory credo) that ‘God directly created Adam and Eve, the historical parents of the entire human race.’”
“In a recent pro-evolution book from InterVarsity Press, The Language of Science and Faith, Collins and co-author Karl W. Giberson escalate matters, announcing that ‘unfortunately’ the concepts of Adam and Eve as the literal first couple and the ancestors of all humans simply ‘do not fit the evidence.’”
“Foundational confessions of faith from the Protestant Reformation assume a historical Adam, and official Roman Catholicism defined this teaching at the 1546 Council of Trent, in the 1950 encyclical Humani Generis of Pope Pius XII (who cautiously allowed leeway for humanity’s bodily evolution), and in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church. The broader public is intrigued, more so than by many other biblical topics; a 2005 Gallup Poll found that 40 percent of Americans think the various competing concepts of human origins matter ‘a great deal.’
“So, is the Adam and Eve question destined to become a groundbreaking science-and-Scripture dispute, a 21st-century equivalent of the once disturbing proof that the Earth orbits the sun?”
“But even the late James Montgomery Boice, founding chair of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, which insisted on a historical Adam, thought various scientific findings make it ‘hard to believe’ in a recent creation.”
“A second competitor, the ‘old earth’ version of creationism, is far more prevalent among evangelical intellectuals. It basically rejects evolution but affirms science’s longstanding and lopsided support for the planet’s vastly ancient age.
“A third alternative is the newer ‘intelligent design’ approach, which deems the Darwinian ‘natural selection’ model of evolutionary theory to be improbable and posits that some designing force lies behind nature, but does not explicitly define this as the God of Judaism and Christianity.
“Collins and his colleagues dismiss those three views in favor of ‘theistic evolution,’ which affirms that the biblical God was the creator of all earthly organisms, humanity included, and used as his method the standard evolutionary scenario of gradual natural selection among genetic mutations across eons. A non-random Internet survey of teachers at evangelical seminaries in 2009 showed that 46 percent accept that concept. Giberson estimates that ‘the overwhelming number in biology departments at Christian colleges would be fine with this,’ though a 2005 survey found that only 27 percent identified as evolutionary creationists. In a mail survey of ASA scientists last year, 66 percent of respondents affirmed that ‘Homo sapiens evolved through natural processes from ancestral forms in common with primates,’ while 90 percent agreed that the Earth is some 4.6 billion years old.
“In late 2007, Collins launched the San Diego-based BioLogos Foundation to promote theistic evolution, especially among evangelicals. He sought not only to embrace what he considers to be the best evidence, but also to bolster Christian credibility among people who are knowledgeable about mainstream scientific . . . . continued in Christian News, June 20, 2011, Vol. 59, No. 23
Christian News, June 20, 2011
“The Search for the Historical Adam” is the title of the cover of the June, 2011 Christianity Today. The subtitle is “Some scholars believe genome science casts doubt on the existence of the first man and woman. Others say the integrity of the faith requires it.”
At one time Christianity Today defended the inerrancy of the Bible, the historicity of the Genesis account of creation, and opposed evolution. Now Christianity Today maintains that those who deny the inerrancy of the Bible and promote evolution should be permitted to remain in their denomination and not disciplined.
Christian News has frequently shown that no major denomination ever since it began has insisted on the absolute historicity of the Genesis account of creation, one man and one woman, and opposed evolution more that The Lutheran Church-Missouri synod. Until the 1950s no LCMS pastor or professor publicly promoted evolution or denied the inerrancy of the Bible. In the 1950s some LCMS professors and pastors began denying the inerrancy of the Bible and historicity of Genesis account of creation. They supported evolution. Although the LCMS continues to publicly oppose evolution, no pastor or professor in the LCMS who supports evolution has ever been removed from the LCMS. Since the 1950s all LCMS administrations, including the present LCMS administration, have refused to take action vs. evolutionists or even consider charges of false doctrine brought against evolutionists. Only those who dare to file charges of false doctrine against any evolutionists are kept off the LCMS clergy roster.
“The Search For The Historical Adam” by Richard Ostling in the June Christianity Today says:
“Secularist brows furrowed in 2009 when President Obama chose prominent atheist-turned-Christian Francis S. Collins to be the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).”
“Collins, one of the most eminent scientists ever to identify as an evangelical Christian, staunchly defends Darwinian evolution even as he insists on God as the Creator. And he now stands at the epicenter of a dispute that increasingly agitates fellow believers. At issue: the traditional tenet (as summarized in Wheaton College‘s mandatory credo) that ‘God directly created Adam and Eve, the historical parents of the entire human race.’”
“In a recent pro-evolution book from InterVarsity Press, The Language of Science and Faith, Collins and co-author Karl W. Giberson escalate matters, announcing that ‘unfortunately’ the concepts of Adam and Eve as the literal first couple and the ancestors of all humans simply ‘do not fit the evidence.’”
“Foundational confessions of faith from the Protestant Reformation assume a historical Adam, and official Roman Catholicism defined this teaching at the 1546 Council of Trent, in the 1950 encyclical Humani Generis of Pope Pius XII (who cautiously allowed leeway for humanity’s bodily evolution), and in the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church. The broader public is intrigued, more so than by many other biblical topics; a 2005 Gallup Poll found that 40 percent of Americans think the various competing concepts of human origins matter ‘a great deal.’
“So, is the Adam and Eve question destined to become a groundbreaking science-and-Scripture dispute, a 21st-century equivalent of the once disturbing proof that the Earth orbits the sun?”
“But even the late James Montgomery Boice, founding chair of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, which insisted on a historical Adam, thought various scientific findings make it ‘hard to believe’ in a recent creation.”
“A second competitor, the ‘old earth’ version of creationism, is far more prevalent among evangelical intellectuals. It basically rejects evolution but affirms science’s longstanding and lopsided support for the planet’s vastly ancient age.
“A third alternative is the newer ‘intelligent design’ approach, which deems the Darwinian ‘natural selection’ model of evolutionary theory to be improbable and posits that some designing force lies behind nature, but does not explicitly define this as the God of Judaism and Christianity.
“Collins and his colleagues dismiss those three views in favor of ‘theistic evolution,’ which affirms that the biblical God was the creator of all earthly organisms, humanity included, and used as his method the standard evolutionary scenario of gradual natural selection among genetic mutations across eons. A non-random Internet survey of teachers at evangelical seminaries in 2009 showed that 46 percent accept that concept. Giberson estimates that ‘the overwhelming number in biology departments at Christian colleges would be fine with this,’ though a 2005 survey found that only 27 percent identified as evolutionary creationists. In a mail survey of ASA scientists last year, 66 percent of respondents affirmed that ‘Homo sapiens evolved through natural processes from ancestral forms in common with primates,’ while 90 percent agreed that the Earth is some 4.6 billion years old.
“In late 2007, Collins launched the San Diego-based BioLogos Foundation to promote theistic evolution, especially among evangelicals. He sought not only to embrace what he considers to be the best evidence, but also to bolster Christian credibility among people who are knowledgeable about mainstream scientific . . . . continued in Christian News, June 20, 2011, Vol. 59, No. 23
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
J-E-D-P OR GOD?
J-E-D-P OR GOD?
Christian News, June 13, 2011
Moses did not write the first books of the Bible and monotheism and Christianity gradually evolved from pagan origins, claims “The Bible’s Buried Secrets – Beyond Fact or Fiction” a PBS/NOVA special shown throughout the nation.
The film reflects what is basically now taught in most of the seminaries and colleges of the major Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church and by the Pope. Christianity is no longer considered the one and only saving faith founded on solid historic fact.
The jacket of the DVD says:
“NOVA: The Bible’s Buried Secrets: Archaeology’s New Theories
An archeological detective story traces the origins of the Hebrew Bible. Aired November 18, 2008 on PBS. Go on a scientific journey to the beginning of modern religion, and dig into both the Bible and the history of the Israelites through the artifacts they left behind. The film focuses on the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) as the foundation for the great monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This powerful exploration of science, scripture, and scholarship examines the most pressing issues in biblical archaeology.
“Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
“Language: English (DTS 5.1), English (PCM Stereo)
“Subtitles: English
“Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
“Run Time: 120 minutes”
This issue of CN includes “A Q & A With Paul S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of Nova.”
According to “The Bible’s Buried Secrets – Beyond Fact of Fiction”, the first five books of the Bible were not written by Moses as Jesus said (Matthew 19) and inspired by God but by various human sources designated as J-E-D and P centuries after Moses died. Jesus is considered a deluded child of his times and not true God and true man, the second person in the Holy Trinity revealed already in Genesis.
No pastor of professor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod until the 1950s challenged the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, the doctrine that the known 8th century Prophet Isaiah wrote the 66 chapters of Isaiah the sixth century Prophet Daniel wrote the book of Daniel, the Old Testament contains passages which directly predict the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the account of the origin of man and that the universe in Genesis is factual and evolution is contrary to Scripture and true science. When the CN editor and Kurt Marquart were students at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis during the 1950s, they publicly protested when various liberal professors promoted the J-E-D-P source hypothesis, the Deutero or Trito-Isaiah theory, the non-historicity of Genesis and Johan, evolution, and denied direct rectilinear messianic prophecy and the vicarious satisfaction of Christ.
“Specification of Doctrinal Issues,” a statement Otten submitted to the St. Louis faculty on February 8, 1959 includes statements on scripture, the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, the immortality of the soul and resurrection, creation, the Old Testament, Predestination and the Brief Statement. It is in “Concordia Seminary, St. Louis vs. Otten Case – Book of Documentation arranged by Kurt Marquart.” Those who later formed organized conservative groups remained silent.
“Our Great Scholars,” an editorial in the September 23, 1963 Lutheran News (now Christian News), showed that the J-E-D-P source hypothesis was being promoted in Lutheranism, including the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Concordia Publishing House. CN quoted at considerable length from a Professor emeritus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who showed that the J-E-D-P source hypothesis is fiction and has no basis in fact and real scholarship. The October 7, 1963 Lutheran News published “The Documentary Hypothesis” by Lutheran Hour speaker Walter Maier, who earned his Ph.D. in Semitics at Harvard. Maier showed how the J-E-D-P source hypothesis undermines historic Christianity and is based on the false evolutionary notion that monotheism and Christianity gradually evolved, rather than being directly revealed by God to man. Otten quoted Maier and others in his chapter on the Old Testament in Baal or God in a section on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Maier’s “The Documentary Hypothesis” is also in the CN editor’s “Maier Still Speaks – Missouri and the World Should Listen.” Paul McCain and CPH refused to publish this book or any books by Maier. CPH does publish books by authors who promote the J-E-D-P source hypothesis besides publishing books by those who reject J-E-D-P. The J-E-D-P source hypothesis has become an open question in the LCMS. It can be affirmed or denied. LCMS bureaucrats want a church body which is open to both positions.
James Burkee in his Fortress published book “Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod” in which he says that “Otten was the most significant figure in modern LMCS history” (94f) writes:
“His backbreaking schedule and staunchness made Otten a minor celebrity in conservative circles.
“Throughout 1962, Otten maintained his speaking schedule and continued to produce materials for the SOC while tending to his small congregation in New Haven. His publications were aimed squarely at the synodical administration and the seminary. His three-part series ‘What Is Troubling the Lutherans?’ charged that a credibility gap existed between synod and congregations and that the church was not communicating honestly through its publications.
“The hodgepodge group was geared up for the 1962 convention in Cleveland. Otten personally wrote nearly fifty memorials (statements to be voted on by the convention) and had them signed and submitted by supporters. The SOC purchased a booth at the convention, for which it was charged ten times the going rate by Wolbrecht before its contract was rescinded altogether.”
While the organized conservatives who wanted no public association with Otten worked on getting their men elected, Christian News has always concentrated on the actual doctrinal issues, particularly those involving Scripture, justification by faith alone and universalism.
CONVENTION OVERTURES
Reproduced in this issue (pp. 12-13), from the 1965 Convention Workbook of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are some overtures Christian News was able to get more than 300 pastors and laymen from some 25 states and Canada to sign. They are titled (2-10) “To Petition the 1965 Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historic Christian and Lutheran Doctrine of the Mosaic Authorship of the First Five books of the Bible, etc.” (2-11) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Request. . . Resignation of all . . . Professors, Pastors, Teachers Who Continue to Maintain that the . . . Prophet Isaiah did Not Write the Entire Book of Isaiah.” (2-12) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historicity of the Jonah Account.” (2-13) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historic Christian Doctrine that the Old Testament Directly Predicts a Personal Messiah.” (2-15) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Have the synod Affirm Its Conviction that Adam and Eve Were Historical Personages, etc.” (2-16) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm that it Accepts the Doctrine that God Made Heaven and Earth in Six Days, etc.” (2-17) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Declare that the theory of the Evolutionary Origin of Man and the World Will Not be Accepted Within the Synod, etc.” Each of these overtures on pp. 52-66 are followed by signatures of more than 300 pastors and laymen from some 25 states.
The Response of the LCMS’s 1965 convention is reproduced in this issue (p. 13).
Liberals were miffed that the “young, punk uncertified editor” was able to organize conservatives to submit so many overrules.
Six of them at one convention alone were signed by more that 300 laymen and pastors from some 25 states. Rev. Wayne Saffen of the University of Chicago and the Bonhoeffer House wrote in the Lutheran Camps pastor in 1968:
“We repeat. It is an impressive record. Concerns which had been generated when the editor was still a student have almost all been validated by convention resolution: affirming a six-day creation, a historical Jonah, an inerrant Scripture, Adam and Eve as real historic persons etc. Missouri Synod in convention assembled has vindicated almost every doctrinal stand of Herman Otten as its official position. Now, that has to be impressive. How can the Synod, then, still withhold recognition of his ordination when it was carried out in strict accordance wit the directions of C.F.W. Walther?”
Christian News, June 13, 2011
Moses did not write the first books of the Bible and monotheism and Christianity gradually evolved from pagan origins, claims “The Bible’s Buried Secrets – Beyond Fact or Fiction” a PBS/NOVA special shown throughout the nation.
The film reflects what is basically now taught in most of the seminaries and colleges of the major Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church and by the Pope. Christianity is no longer considered the one and only saving faith founded on solid historic fact.
The jacket of the DVD says:
“NOVA: The Bible’s Buried Secrets: Archaeology’s New Theories
An archeological detective story traces the origins of the Hebrew Bible. Aired November 18, 2008 on PBS. Go on a scientific journey to the beginning of modern religion, and dig into both the Bible and the history of the Israelites through the artifacts they left behind. The film focuses on the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) as the foundation for the great monotheistic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. This powerful exploration of science, scripture, and scholarship examines the most pressing issues in biblical archaeology.
“Format: Classical, Color, DVD, NTSC
“Language: English (DTS 5.1), English (PCM Stereo)
“Subtitles: English
“Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
“Run Time: 120 minutes”
This issue of CN includes “A Q & A With Paul S. Apsell, Senior Executive Producer of Nova.”
According to “The Bible’s Buried Secrets – Beyond Fact of Fiction”, the first five books of the Bible were not written by Moses as Jesus said (Matthew 19) and inspired by God but by various human sources designated as J-E-D and P centuries after Moses died. Jesus is considered a deluded child of his times and not true God and true man, the second person in the Holy Trinity revealed already in Genesis.
No pastor of professor in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod until the 1950s challenged the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, the doctrine that the known 8th century Prophet Isaiah wrote the 66 chapters of Isaiah the sixth century Prophet Daniel wrote the book of Daniel, the Old Testament contains passages which directly predict the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the account of the origin of man and that the universe in Genesis is factual and evolution is contrary to Scripture and true science. When the CN editor and Kurt Marquart were students at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis during the 1950s, they publicly protested when various liberal professors promoted the J-E-D-P source hypothesis, the Deutero or Trito-Isaiah theory, the non-historicity of Genesis and Johan, evolution, and denied direct rectilinear messianic prophecy and the vicarious satisfaction of Christ.
“Specification of Doctrinal Issues,” a statement Otten submitted to the St. Louis faculty on February 8, 1959 includes statements on scripture, the vicarious satisfaction of Christ, the immortality of the soul and resurrection, creation, the Old Testament, Predestination and the Brief Statement. It is in “Concordia Seminary, St. Louis vs. Otten Case – Book of Documentation arranged by Kurt Marquart.” Those who later formed organized conservative groups remained silent.
“Our Great Scholars,” an editorial in the September 23, 1963 Lutheran News (now Christian News), showed that the J-E-D-P source hypothesis was being promoted in Lutheranism, including the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Concordia Publishing House. CN quoted at considerable length from a Professor emeritus at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who showed that the J-E-D-P source hypothesis is fiction and has no basis in fact and real scholarship. The October 7, 1963 Lutheran News published “The Documentary Hypothesis” by Lutheran Hour speaker Walter Maier, who earned his Ph.D. in Semitics at Harvard. Maier showed how the J-E-D-P source hypothesis undermines historic Christianity and is based on the false evolutionary notion that monotheism and Christianity gradually evolved, rather than being directly revealed by God to man. Otten quoted Maier and others in his chapter on the Old Testament in Baal or God in a section on the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Maier’s “The Documentary Hypothesis” is also in the CN editor’s “Maier Still Speaks – Missouri and the World Should Listen.” Paul McCain and CPH refused to publish this book or any books by Maier. CPH does publish books by authors who promote the J-E-D-P source hypothesis besides publishing books by those who reject J-E-D-P. The J-E-D-P source hypothesis has become an open question in the LCMS. It can be affirmed or denied. LCMS bureaucrats want a church body which is open to both positions.
James Burkee in his Fortress published book “Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod” in which he says that “Otten was the most significant figure in modern LMCS history” (94f) writes:
“His backbreaking schedule and staunchness made Otten a minor celebrity in conservative circles.
“Throughout 1962, Otten maintained his speaking schedule and continued to produce materials for the SOC while tending to his small congregation in New Haven. His publications were aimed squarely at the synodical administration and the seminary. His three-part series ‘What Is Troubling the Lutherans?’ charged that a credibility gap existed between synod and congregations and that the church was not communicating honestly through its publications.
“The hodgepodge group was geared up for the 1962 convention in Cleveland. Otten personally wrote nearly fifty memorials (statements to be voted on by the convention) and had them signed and submitted by supporters. The SOC purchased a booth at the convention, for which it was charged ten times the going rate by Wolbrecht before its contract was rescinded altogether.”
While the organized conservatives who wanted no public association with Otten worked on getting their men elected, Christian News has always concentrated on the actual doctrinal issues, particularly those involving Scripture, justification by faith alone and universalism.
CONVENTION OVERTURES
Reproduced in this issue (pp. 12-13), from the 1965 Convention Workbook of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are some overtures Christian News was able to get more than 300 pastors and laymen from some 25 states and Canada to sign. They are titled (2-10) “To Petition the 1965 Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historic Christian and Lutheran Doctrine of the Mosaic Authorship of the First Five books of the Bible, etc.” (2-11) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Request. . . Resignation of all . . . Professors, Pastors, Teachers Who Continue to Maintain that the . . . Prophet Isaiah did Not Write the Entire Book of Isaiah.” (2-12) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historicity of the Jonah Account.” (2-13) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm the Historic Christian Doctrine that the Old Testament Directly Predicts a Personal Messiah.” (2-15) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Have the synod Affirm Its Conviction that Adam and Eve Were Historical Personages, etc.” (2-16) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Reaffirm that it Accepts the Doctrine that God Made Heaven and Earth in Six Days, etc.” (2-17) “To Petition the Detroit Convention to Declare that the theory of the Evolutionary Origin of Man and the World Will Not be Accepted Within the Synod, etc.” Each of these overtures on pp. 52-66 are followed by signatures of more than 300 pastors and laymen from some 25 states.
The Response of the LCMS’s 1965 convention is reproduced in this issue (p. 13).
Liberals were miffed that the “young, punk uncertified editor” was able to organize conservatives to submit so many overrules.
Six of them at one convention alone were signed by more that 300 laymen and pastors from some 25 states. Rev. Wayne Saffen of the University of Chicago and the Bonhoeffer House wrote in the Lutheran Camps pastor in 1968:
“We repeat. It is an impressive record. Concerns which had been generated when the editor was still a student have almost all been validated by convention resolution: affirming a six-day creation, a historical Jonah, an inerrant Scripture, Adam and Eve as real historic persons etc. Missouri Synod in convention assembled has vindicated almost every doctrinal stand of Herman Otten as its official position. Now, that has to be impressive. How can the Synod, then, still withhold recognition of his ordination when it was carried out in strict accordance wit the directions of C.F.W. Walther?”
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
"GREATEST LUTHERAN FACULTY ON EARTH"
Study the Facts and Evidence
“GREATEST LUTHERAN FACULTY ON EARTH”
Christian News, June 6, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 21
The Best Seminary Commencement Speech I’ve Ever Heard,” a story posted by CPH’s Paul McCain on his “Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog” on May 24 has the commencement speech LCMS President Matthew Harrison delivered at the recent commencement at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana where the faculty awarded Harrison an honorary doctorate. McCain, like a typical bureaucrat, knows what to say to keep his position.
Dr. Harrison began: “I want to share with you – especially with the faculty of this august institution – the same words I just shared with the faculty of the St. Louis Seminary; you are the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth. And I want there to be absolutely no doubt that when I say that to one of the two faculties, I really meant it.”
“Once Again – The World’s Finest Seminary,” was the five column headline of a full page story in the March 18, 1974 Christian News. The subtitle was “Support Concordia Seminary.” It had photos of a rally of more than 1500 who gathered at the seminary when 45 out of 50 faculty and staff members left the seminary taking most of the students with them. The editorial concluded: “For the first time in a good number of years members of the LCMS can enthusiastically encourage students to enter the ministry and attend Concordia. They won’t be brainwashed by liberal professors. Those now teaching at Concordia are both scriptural and scholarly. Concordia now has the potential of once again becoming the finest seminary in the world.” The editor risked getting into difficulty with his friends at what is now Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, formerly Springfield, Illinois. At the time fund raisers for both LCMS seminaries asked CN for its subscription list in order that they could find names of conservative laymen who might support the seminaries. CN gave the fundraisers its list without charge even though it meant some of our supporters could be sending less to CN.
Unfortunately, today CN can no longer call either Concordia Seminary, St. Louis or Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, “the world’s finest seminary” or “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth” as President Harrison now says.
Anyone who regularly reads Christian News should be familiar with enough facts which disqualify calling either seminary the “world’s finest seminary” or “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.”
What about the faculties of the seminaries of the WELS, ELS and CLC? The editor knows little about them other than what he reads in their seminary publications. These publications take a far more confessional Lutheran stand than the journals of either LCMS seminary. The journals of the LCMS seminaries praise Dieterich Bonhoeffer as a great, faithful Lutheran theologian faithful to “the Word of God.” The St. Louis seminary even says Bonhoeffer is the most important Lutheran theologian since Martin Luther. CN has shown for almost 50 years that Dietrich Bonhoeffer denied the resurrection of Christ, said Genesis was a myth and demythologized the Bible even more than Rudolf Bultman. All the documentation anyone needs is in CN’s recent book Bonhoeffer and King: Their Life and Theology Documented in Christian News 1963-2011, which those who want to be politically correct in the LCMS avoid mentioning. Both seminaries have invited such liberals as Martin Marty, Richard Neuhaus, Carl Braaten, Gerhard Forde, Herbert Chilstrom, Robert Jenson, Richard Koenig, Leonard Sweet, Walter Wangerin, Thomas Troeger and a host of others to speak without generally giving those who oppose their anti-scriptural theology and the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual position of their denominations an opportunity to respond and question them. Seldom, in recent years, has either seminary invited someone who took a public stand against the anti-scriptural position of Seminex to speak while those who backed Seminex like Walter Schoedel, Charles Mueller, Richard Neuhaus, Martin Marty, Carl Braaten, Richard Koenig, and others are welcomed and praised as great Lutheran theologians.
When the Concordia Theological Quarterly of the Ft. Wayne seminary published an essay it attributed to Dr. John Johnson, now president of Concordia University Chicago, it refused to publish a retraction and apology when Professor Nathan Jastram, chairman of the theology department of Concordia Wisconsin, in great detail documented the fact that almost the entire essay was plagiarized. Jastram’s honesty and courage killed any chances of him getting elected president of the Ft. Wayne seminary. The Concordia Journal of the St. Louis seminary published a eulogy of Father Richard Neuhaus by Atlantic District President David Benke even though Neuhaus denied the inerrancy of the Bible, justification by faith alone, supported universalism and Bultmann’s demythologizing of the Bible ever since his student days at the St. Louis seminary. The St. Louis journal publishes reviews by such liberals and higher critics of the Bible as Matthew Becker, Henry Rowold and Robert Holst. It praised the artwork of He Qi, a Chinese artist who taught at the Communist controlled Nanking seminary and refused to condemn the mass murderer and adulterer Mao Tse Tung and confess that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and non-Christians are lost.
The St. Louis seminary, to this day, refuses to accept the ruling of the LCMS’s highest judicial court, its Board of Appeals that the seminary failed to show just cause for refusing to certify the CN editor for the ministry when he told nothing but the truth about what was being taught by various liberal professors at the seminary.
Today neither LCMS seminary qualifies for being “the World’s Finest Seminary.” Neither has “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.” CN does not hesitate to disagree with the new administration of the LCMS when it makes such claims about the LCMS’s seminaries and when it has nothing but praise for the LCMS’s Council of Presidents, a group whose majority has a long liberal, pro-Seminex record and which has found that Jesus First leader Charles Mueller, Sr., has always been an orthodox Lutheran, while the editor of Christian News is an unrepentant liar because he said Jesus First leader Mueller wants the LCMS’s clergy roster to be open to those like Matthew Becker who promote the ordination of women and evolution.
The facts and evidence show that neither LCMS seminary has “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.”
“GREATEST LUTHERAN FACULTY ON EARTH”
Christian News, June 6, 2011, Vol. 49, No. 21
The Best Seminary Commencement Speech I’ve Ever Heard,” a story posted by CPH’s Paul McCain on his “Cyberbrethren: A Lutheran Blog” on May 24 has the commencement speech LCMS President Matthew Harrison delivered at the recent commencement at Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana where the faculty awarded Harrison an honorary doctorate. McCain, like a typical bureaucrat, knows what to say to keep his position.
Dr. Harrison began: “I want to share with you – especially with the faculty of this august institution – the same words I just shared with the faculty of the St. Louis Seminary; you are the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth. And I want there to be absolutely no doubt that when I say that to one of the two faculties, I really meant it.”
“Once Again – The World’s Finest Seminary,” was the five column headline of a full page story in the March 18, 1974 Christian News. The subtitle was “Support Concordia Seminary.” It had photos of a rally of more than 1500 who gathered at the seminary when 45 out of 50 faculty and staff members left the seminary taking most of the students with them. The editorial concluded: “For the first time in a good number of years members of the LCMS can enthusiastically encourage students to enter the ministry and attend Concordia. They won’t be brainwashed by liberal professors. Those now teaching at Concordia are both scriptural and scholarly. Concordia now has the potential of once again becoming the finest seminary in the world.” The editor risked getting into difficulty with his friends at what is now Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, formerly Springfield, Illinois. At the time fund raisers for both LCMS seminaries asked CN for its subscription list in order that they could find names of conservative laymen who might support the seminaries. CN gave the fundraisers its list without charge even though it meant some of our supporters could be sending less to CN.
Unfortunately, today CN can no longer call either Concordia Seminary, St. Louis or Concordia Seminary, Ft. Wayne, “the world’s finest seminary” or “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth” as President Harrison now says.
Anyone who regularly reads Christian News should be familiar with enough facts which disqualify calling either seminary the “world’s finest seminary” or “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.”
What about the faculties of the seminaries of the WELS, ELS and CLC? The editor knows little about them other than what he reads in their seminary publications. These publications take a far more confessional Lutheran stand than the journals of either LCMS seminary. The journals of the LCMS seminaries praise Dieterich Bonhoeffer as a great, faithful Lutheran theologian faithful to “the Word of God.” The St. Louis seminary even says Bonhoeffer is the most important Lutheran theologian since Martin Luther. CN has shown for almost 50 years that Dietrich Bonhoeffer denied the resurrection of Christ, said Genesis was a myth and demythologized the Bible even more than Rudolf Bultman. All the documentation anyone needs is in CN’s recent book Bonhoeffer and King: Their Life and Theology Documented in Christian News 1963-2011, which those who want to be politically correct in the LCMS avoid mentioning. Both seminaries have invited such liberals as Martin Marty, Richard Neuhaus, Carl Braaten, Gerhard Forde, Herbert Chilstrom, Robert Jenson, Richard Koenig, Leonard Sweet, Walter Wangerin, Thomas Troeger and a host of others to speak without generally giving those who oppose their anti-scriptural theology and the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual position of their denominations an opportunity to respond and question them. Seldom, in recent years, has either seminary invited someone who took a public stand against the anti-scriptural position of Seminex to speak while those who backed Seminex like Walter Schoedel, Charles Mueller, Richard Neuhaus, Martin Marty, Carl Braaten, Richard Koenig, and others are welcomed and praised as great Lutheran theologians.
When the Concordia Theological Quarterly of the Ft. Wayne seminary published an essay it attributed to Dr. John Johnson, now president of Concordia University Chicago, it refused to publish a retraction and apology when Professor Nathan Jastram, chairman of the theology department of Concordia Wisconsin, in great detail documented the fact that almost the entire essay was plagiarized. Jastram’s honesty and courage killed any chances of him getting elected president of the Ft. Wayne seminary. The Concordia Journal of the St. Louis seminary published a eulogy of Father Richard Neuhaus by Atlantic District President David Benke even though Neuhaus denied the inerrancy of the Bible, justification by faith alone, supported universalism and Bultmann’s demythologizing of the Bible ever since his student days at the St. Louis seminary. The St. Louis journal publishes reviews by such liberals and higher critics of the Bible as Matthew Becker, Henry Rowold and Robert Holst. It praised the artwork of He Qi, a Chinese artist who taught at the Communist controlled Nanking seminary and refused to condemn the mass murderer and adulterer Mao Tse Tung and confess that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and non-Christians are lost.
The St. Louis seminary, to this day, refuses to accept the ruling of the LCMS’s highest judicial court, its Board of Appeals that the seminary failed to show just cause for refusing to certify the CN editor for the ministry when he told nothing but the truth about what was being taught by various liberal professors at the seminary.
Today neither LCMS seminary qualifies for being “the World’s Finest Seminary.” Neither has “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.” CN does not hesitate to disagree with the new administration of the LCMS when it makes such claims about the LCMS’s seminaries and when it has nothing but praise for the LCMS’s Council of Presidents, a group whose majority has a long liberal, pro-Seminex record and which has found that Jesus First leader Charles Mueller, Sr., has always been an orthodox Lutheran, while the editor of Christian News is an unrepentant liar because he said Jesus First leader Mueller wants the LCMS’s clergy roster to be open to those like Matthew Becker who promote the ordination of women and evolution.
The facts and evidence show that neither LCMS seminary has “the greatest Lutheran faculty on earth.”
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