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Lutheran Central |
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"The More I Read From Benke...More I Agree With Schulz" |
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When I first heard of Benke's participation, I thought that it was a bad
idea to add our doctrine to the smorgasbord of offerings that the Yankee
Stadium event was all about. "Take your Pick, we've got something for
everybody" seemed to be the spirit of the occasion. I didn't think that just
because Pastor Benke prayed in the name of Jesus, it made it alright to participate
in an event that seemed to put the name of Jesus on par with allah and heaven
knows what else. Justifying the participation by citing the national
event which preceded it hardly seems like the basis for a sound theological
decision on the matter. There have been many momentous events in history,
and if every one of them were a basis for departing from sound doctrine,
exceptions would swallow up the rule. I quite simply thought that it
was bad judgment by both Benke and our president in giving a green light
to the participation. However, I had not read anything further on the
event until the Pastor Schulz decision. When I read the decision, I
thought that the idea of a suspension was rather severe for a mere lapse
in judgment.
So, I read some of the submissions in the Atlantic District web site to find out what their take on the issue was, including Pastor Benke. The more I read from Pastor Benke, the more I agree with the decision of Pastor Schulz. As I read the response, it appeared that the situation, not the Bible or concern for sound doctrine, was what governed Benke's actions. I have the distinct impression reading the defense that "we are growing faster than any other district, so we must be doing something right, and we are right here too" without any reference to scripture. Maybe I'll find it as I read more, but I put more weight on Schulz' citation to scripture than Benke's citation to Resolution 3-07A. It would seem to me that the Mormons and the Moonies can make the same claim to truth based upon growth, but if the growth is not based upon scripture, it would be meaningless. The call to "charity" prevailing in differences of opinion should apply to adiaphora, not to scripture, and Pastor Benke's attitude does not seem at all humble on these issues. Calls for charity cannot override doctrinal issues, or the LCMS has nothing to offer other than being one of the smorgasbord of choices offered the participants and viewers of the stadium event. Dan Compton
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