I’ve opted for a minimalist look on the old Cyberbrethren blog site. Cleaner lines, less clutter, photos and pictures will "pop" more. The typeface on the old themeset looked "amateur hour", as serif faces generally do on web sites. New look. Same old blogger.

I love the Gospel. That is why I love Lutheranism. I don’t receive Jesus and His Word and His teachings (doctrine) anywhere else like I do in Lutheranism. I don’t get nearly enough of the Gospel in Roman Catholicism or Eastern Orthodoxy, neither of which is fully catholic or orthodox. I don’t get enough of the Gospel in Calvinism, with its fixation on God’s "sovereignty" instead of Gods’ love in Christ. I don’t find enough of the Gospel in Arminianism, which throws me always back on my "decisions for Jesus." I don’t get it enough in the Charismatic movement with tongue-speaking emotionalism. I surely don’t get enough "Evangel" in Evangelicalism, that’s for sure, with hand-waving nonsense and endless legalisms. I’m not saying the Gospel is not to be found in these places, I just don’t get enough of the Gospel from these sources. I don’t get enough of the water of life and the bread of life in those place. I’m told sometimes by well intentioned people, "You just don’t understand, the Gospel is really at the heart of these confessions." I wish that were so.  I’ve seen enough of all of these to know what I want. I want Jesus. I want the Gospel. I want pure doctrine. That’s why I want Lutheranism.

I can almost hear some people saying, "But doesn’t Lutheranism have problems?" Of course it does. Welcome to life in this fallen world! Welcome to the result of the fall into sin. The last time I checked the church is  full of people who are just like you and like me. You know, full of people who are poor, miserable sinners, just like us. We make mistakes. Sometimes incredibly stupid mistakes. Indeed, more than mistakes, we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. When I talk about Lutheranism, I ‘m talking about the real deal, the good stuff, the 1oo% proof, unvarnished, unfiltered, pure Lutheranism as we find it so powerfully confessed in the Bo0k of Concord and in the many wonderful doctrinal and devotional writings of Orthodox Lutheran fathers which offer the burning the blazing hot, glowing fire of Lutheranism, in all its spectacular glory and truth, the truth of the very Word of God itself, the Gospel of Jesus.

I was reading recently in a collection of essays by Robert Preus titled "Doctrine is Life: Essays on Justification and the Lutheran Confessions."  Preus provides a powerfully beautiful quotation from Johannes Quenstedt, the great Orthodox Lutheran dogmatician. Quenstedt is buried on the grounds of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, where precisely is now unknown, but on the wall, faded and almost unrecognizable, on the northeast corner of the church, is a large memorial stone, and in the Luther House in Wittenberg, now the world’s greatest Luther museum, you can enter the room used as a lecture hall when the house was converted into a seminary, and you will find there a portrait of Quenstedt, staring out at you with all seriousness.

Here is that quote. Quenstedt was commenting on 1 John 3:16: "This is how we know love: that Christ laid down His life for us."

This is the love of God; rather than banish men eternally from heaven He removed Himself from heaven, clothed Himself with flesh, became the Creature of a creature, enclosed Himself in the womb of the virgin, was wrapped in rags, laid in hay and housed in a barn. Nor does His love stop here; but after a life spent in poverty and adversities this love drives Christ to the ground on Olivet, binds Him in chains, delivers Him to jailers, cuts Him with the lash, crowns Him with thorns, fastens Him with nails to the Cross, and gives Him to drink the cup of bitterness. And finally this love compels Him to dies, to die for adversaries and enemies (Rom. 5:6). Continuously and in these sundry ways Christ, who thirsts so greatly for our salvation, declares His love and mercy toward the human race. (p. 44).

This is what preaching Jesus is all about. If you want something other than Jesus, there are lots of options. If you want as much of Jesus as He gives to you, then Lutheranism is where you need to be. I love Jesus. I love His Word and His doctrine. That’s why I love Lutheranism. And I believe you will too, my friend. God grant it! Amen.