Anti-Catholic WELS

[MrS]

LutheranStudent:

I think that one of great mis-conceptions among many Catholics, perhaps something that is simply lost in the hype, is the fact that the Church was ripe with need for reform by the time Luther stood up.

Someone seemed to indicate the Lutheran doctrine of Holy Communion as being representative… Nope - Lutherans believe in the “Real Presence” of Holy Communion, too. Just not transubstanciation.

Reform yes… and that is still true today. But you reform from within. Luther did not have that courage of conviction, so he deserted and invented.

My daughter-in-law is a Luthern…great girl. She tell some people that she is “Catholic-Lite”. Her pastor, in an effort at ecumenism uses that phrase.

Wouldn’t Jesus be happy to know that “lite” is good enough.

As for the Real Presence… I believe that the book published about 60 years after Luther rejected the only true source of the Real Presence was titled " 200 Interpretations of This is My Body" Talk about confusion as a fruit of the Reformation.

 

[littlesheep]

Again, your intepretation is unique (when I was a Protestant I NEVER heard your interpretation) and I think the reason why is that it’s a comprehension problem.

I just could not let that statement go unchallanged.
kretzmannproject.org/ (You’ll have to go to the NT 1 link and then chapter 25 of Matthew and then scroll down.)
Popular Commentary
Matthew 25 V. 33. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. The reckoning as it will finally be made is here described; for the day of doom is inevitable. Another impressive passage, awesome in its very simplicity, in the absence of all seeking for effect. He who was within two days to celebrate His last Passover on earth and then to be crucified, here fitly sets forth the glory of His triumph, as Jerome remarks. In glory, the glory of heaven, the glory of His Father, the glory which was His before the world began, before He entered into the weakness and lowliness of our sinful flesh, He will come, accompanied by all the angels, as His messengers, ministers, and courtiers. Through their services He will cause all the nations of the world, both Jews and Gentiles, to be assembled before Him. He will then set each kind of people in a separate place, in the same way as the shepherd keeps the sheep separated from the goats, the one division being placed on the right side of the throne of glory, the other on the left. Note: There are only two divisions on the last day; no social distinctions, no preference by rank and wealth, no neutral people; in one or the other of the two assemblies every person in the world will find himself, inevitably, without escape, in the one case; with no desire to escape, in the other. That is the first act of the Judgment, the separating, the fixing of an impassable gulf. The sheep are those that followed the great Shepherd, Jesus, willingly, that heard His voice, the believers; the goats are those that refused obedience to His gentle rule, that were disobedient to the Gospel, the unbelievers, the hypocrites among the Christians, the entire godless world.

 

[littlesheep]

Cont.

The sentence upon the unrighteous: V. 41. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. V. 42. For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; v. 43. I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in; naked, and ye clothed Me not; sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not. V. 44. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee? V. 45. Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. V. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. A fearful arraignment and a just of those on the left hand of the King: Instead of the “Blessed” which they expected a “Cursed,” instead of the “Come” a “Depart from Me.” Several very important points: He does not say, Cursed of My Father, for they have brought the curse upon themselves. The everlasting fire was not prepared for them, but "really only for the devil and his angels. And this fire was not prepared from the beginning of the world, God had no counsel according to which He willed the damnation of any man. They have no one to blame but themselves, this just sentence strikes them by no one’s fault but their own. By the same method of appraisal of values which Christ used in the case of the righteous, they have been weighed and found wanting. They have not spent their life in the activity of good works flowing from the love of Christ. They may have gloried in deeds which are accounted great in the sight of men, and which arc wont to receive headline notices in the daily papers. But in the peculiar works of true charity, in the little deeds of service from day to day, in that life of kindness which is the natural outflow of a heart filled with faith and love toward Christ, they have been altogether deficient. Therefore all their works, even those upon which they have prided themselves, were evil, since they were not of faith. And who can picture the terror of the hypocrites among the Christians, "that had the form of godliness, but denied the power thereof, when on the Last Day their lack of mercy is reckoned against them! True, if Christ were to appear in person on earth, with a proper press-agent and manager, undoubtedly the world would be willing enough to dine Him and fete Him. But that is not the service He is looking for. What is done to one of the least of these, His brethren, in simple love, flowing like a pure stream, from a heart filled with faith in Him, that is recorded as being done to Him. As for the unrighteous, their doom is sealed: everlasting punishment is their lot, while the righteous, those justified through their faith in the Redeemer, will go into everlasting life. The former, by their own fault, have forfeited the happiness of Christ’s love and eternal glory; the latter, through the love and mercy of Jesus, which have become theirs by faith, will inherit the joys of everlasting blessing.

Summary. *In order to emphasize the need of watchfulness and faithfulness, Jesus tells the parables of the ten virgins and of the talents, and gives a detailed description of the Last Judgment. *

The “did not” makes a world of differance

 

[Sherlock]

littlesheep:

I just could not let that statement go unchallanged.
kretzmannproject.org/ (You’ll have to go to the NT 1 link and then chapter 25 of Matthew and then scroll down.)
Popular Commentary
Matthew 25 V. 33. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. The reckoning as it will finally be made is here described; for the day of doom is inevitable. Another impressive passage, awesome in its very simplicity, in the absence of all seeking for effect. He who was within two days to celebrate His last Passover on earth and then to be crucified, here fitly sets forth the glory of His triumph, as Jerome remarks. In glory, the glory of heaven, the glory of His Father, the glory which was His before the world began, before He entered into the weakness and lowliness of our sinful flesh, He will come, accompanied by all the angels, as His messengers, ministers, and courtiers. Through their services He will cause all the nations of the world, both Jews and Gentiles, to be assembled before Him. He will then set each kind of people in a separate place, in the same way as the shepherd keeps the sheep separated from the goats, the one division being placed on the right side of the throne of glory, the other on the left. Note: There are only two divisions on the last day; no social distinctions, no preference by rank and wealth, no neutral people; in one or the other of the two assemblies every person in the world will find himself, inevitably, without escape, in the one case; with no desire to escape, in the other. That is the first act of the Judgment, the separating, the fixing of an impassable gulf. The sheep are those that followed the great Shepherd, Jesus, willingly, that heard His voice, the believers; the goats are those that refused obedience to His gentle rule, that were disobedient to the Gospel, the unbelievers, the hypocrites among the Christians, the entire godless world.

But none of this refutes what I said, as this is hardly consonant with your interpretation about what constitutes the sins of the goats.