HT: Ecclesia Augustana
Maybe these things shouldn't surprise me anymore, but they still do. The graphic below was posted last evening by Ecclesia Augustana. It is a copy of a pamphlet being handed out at Bethany Lutheran College by their chaplain, Rev. Don Moldstad, for a presentation he was making on the papacy.
It's bad enough that this pamphlet misrepresents the Scriptural and Lutheran doctrine of justification.
But equally disturbing is the deceptive manner in which these statements have been presented. They are listed under the column entitled "The Lutheran Confessions." They are directly listed, in quotation marks, under "Luther's Small Catechism." But they are not found in Luther's Small Catechism. Anywhere. They come, instead, from the ELS's explanations of Luther's Catechism. A pastor who cannot distinguish between the Lutheran Confessions and the writings of his own synod is inept. A pastor who knows the difference and still presents his synod's writings, in quotation marks, under "The Lutheran Confessions," is being deceptive.
If Rev. Moldstad is led to recognize his error, at very least his error of misrepresenting the words of Luther's Small Catechism, we will welcome his public apology and gladly publish it here on Intrepid Lutherans.
Under the column entitled "The Lutheran Confessions":
From Luther’s Small Catechism:
“I believe in the forgiveness of sins because the Bible assures me that God the Father has by grace forgiven all sinners and declared them righteous.”
“God can declare sinners righteous because, (sic) on the redemptive work of Christ, He has aquitted (sic) all men of the guilt and punishment of their sins, and has imputed to them the righteousness of Christ. He therefore regards them in Christ as though they had never sinned.”
“I receive this justification when the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, leads me, the sinner, to believe that God has forgiven all my sins for Christ’s sake.”
