Outer Rim Territories

My Great-Great-Great Grandfather’s Church

July 3rd, 2008 | by Christopher Gillespie |  Print This Post

Now, as promised, my generous uncle has sent an excerpt from the autobiography I mentioned in the last post. This is really scary stuff, folks. Read it closely, listening for similarities to the current scene.

From the autobiography of my GGG Grandfather, Rev. Johann Heinrich Werfelmann (1827-1905):

“Because our parents placed full importance on our Christian instruction and education, they inquired energetically when we came home from school or from confirmation instruction about what we had learned that day. Then when they perceived from our telling that we had been told something false, we were told not to believe it and showed us from the Bible what was true and right. And for this instruction of my parents I have nightly to thank God, that I have been preserved from error and from going astray from youth on up, have feared God and striven to please God and to be saved.”

“When I was confirmed in my fifteenth year and was praised as the best pupil, I had learned the entire Hanoverian Catechism according to which all religious instruction was conducted, together with all the questions and answers, Bible passages and songs in my head, but in my heart there I was lacking every thing. I did not know the Ten Commandments and the articles of the Christian faith. Luther’s Small Catechism was laid entirely aside. Biblical stories were from the beginning presented according to the rationalistic, miserable history of religion of the Hanoverian Catechism. For the period of my childhood and youth occurred during the time that rationalism prevailed in Germany and in my home region. Theory of virtue was taught and enjoined, and depravity of life prevailed without limit and shame. It is not to be wondered at that that there were so few pious and God-fearing persons, and on that account peace of conscience and hope of salvation rested for the most part on their piety and on honorable virtuous conduct, making the Lord Jesus at most a helper and a stop-gap. It was an advantage that the Bible in the school was used as a reader. With these people the result was that they did not take their so-called errors and weaknesses seriously and comforted themselves with the notion that God was indeed gracious and merciful and would not take too seriously such weakness, and the Lord Jesus would make up for their lack. Among such weaknesses were those that Paul called obvious works of the flesh such as enmity, envy, anger, quarrelsomeness, discord, irreconcilability, necessary lies, necessary theft, betrayal, indecency.”

“The pastor by whom I was confirmed (if one could call that process confirmation), Ost was his name, believed nothing of the Bible. That there was a Higher Being, and that man had an immortal soul, he indeed let stand; but Christ was nothing more according to him than a wise teacher, the Holy Ghost was truth, heaven and hell were notions taken from heathendom, and means of keeping people in decency and inciting people to the virtuous life. There are no angels. Resurrection of the dead is a delusion. Only the soul lives on and, when it leaves the body, receives a body prepared from light. The destiny of man is three-fold: First, to become ever wiser and understanding; second, ever more pious and virtuous; and third, to become ever more fulfilled and happy. This is our destiny after death as well as before it. And whoever falls behind the others, he can also in eternity not catch up, but remains behind, and this is his damnation. It remains his eternal pain. Whoever in these three ways is ahead of the others, he remains ahead in all eternity, and therein consists his blessedness and joy.

On account of this at our confirmation we were not questioned about our baptismal covenant, nor about faith, nor about doctrine and the Church, but we had simply to answer three questions: whether we wanted to become ever wiser and more understanding, more pious and virtuous, more complete and happier. Through such teaching and such instruction I would certainly have been spiritually corrupted, had not God through my parents protected me. But because they showed me the error in such instruction from God’s Word, often in class I endured the old pastor when he sought to impress upon us his unbelief, as a blind leader who would plunge many along with him into the pit. But how wonderful it was that I already in my childhood years busied myself always with the thought: what must I do in order to be saved? To be saved was always my greatest wish and I could nevertheless not come to clarity and certainty about this. Even from my parents I received on this question the kind of answer that did not fully and lastingly quiet me. I was afraid of hell, and this held me back from many a sin. I wanted very much to go to heaven, and this moved me to change morally. But whether I would attain that which I wished, remained doubtful to me. If I resolved to drive such thoughts that disturbed me out of my mind, it did not work; they always came back. If I tried to calm myself with the thought that I had lived piously and morally, and that I could not do more than this, and God would not demand more of me, this did not calm my unrest. I prayed. Even as a youth, while my companions had afternoon leisure, I memorized songs from the hymn book and impressed them on my consciousness, but rest for my conscience it did not bring. I did not escape from doubt and uncertainty.

At the last I always came to the thought: the all-knowing God knows whether I will be saved or not. He does not deviate from that which He knows ahead of time. That will come to pass and no man can prevent it. If God knows now that I will be saved, then I will certainly come into heaven. If, however, He knows that I will not be saved, then nothing will help me, do what I will and can. I must put it behind me, until I see it. But also this brought me no rest. So already in my childhood God’s election caused me much trouble and unrest, although I had heard nothing about God’s gracious choice either in school or in church. In this lamentable situation I was certainly not satisfied with God. I was angry and hostile toward Him. I often wished that I had never been born or that I had died soon after birth. I was unhappier than an animal that had no hell to fear.”

“On the 4th of July 1849, Pastor A. Selle came to us with the Candidate W. S. Stubnatzi, and on the 5th of July after the service and a sermon by Candidate Stubnatzi, the latter was solemnly ordained and installed. Because we had the roomiest house in the settlement the Pastor Stubnatzi moved in with us. In our house he held services on Sundays and school during the week for more than a year, until the congregation built a house. Through him I became acquainted with Lutheran doctrine for the first time, as we had much association with one another.”

Unfortunately you and I both know that the majority of American Christendom fits the same bill and we stody Missouri Lutherans are usually just a bit behind the times. If his proves to repeat itself, we’re in for rough sailing. Then again, we know how this ship was righted the last time… will we have the courage to do it again?

As I read the state of affairs a generation into the history of the Synod, I believe we face the same challenges. Pr. Werfelmann was raised under the same oppressive thumb of the Law. He was fed the same poison the infects so many today.

More and more bloggers are taking issue with the “grandfather’s church” phrase. Here’s another tasty bit to consider:
Your Grandfather’s Church « Planet Augsburg

It seems like everybody and his brother is suddenly writing about “this is not your grandfather’s church,” the notorious quip used over the years by the president of the LCMS. I’ve been working through my thoughts on this for a while (that is to say, I’m sure I thought of blogging about it first), and so I suppose everybody, his brother, and his brother’s dorky friend with the acne has now written about it.

What bothers me most is where the phrase comes from. It’s taken from the Oldsmobile slogan “this is not your father’s Oldsmobile.” Our president speaks of our church as if he were the ad man for an automobile company! The ad is a blatant appeal to the vanity. About the target it says “You’re cosmopolitan. You’re sophisticated. You demand more than getting from point A to point B: You move in style.” About the car it says “Elegant. Sporty. Chick magnet. Better than your neighbor’s car.” The ad man doesn’t know you. But he speaks flattering words in order to manipulate you, and doing so, taking advantage of another’s weakness, is wrong.

Your grandfathers saviour
And so when our president says “this is not your grandfather’s church,” he’s appealing to the vanity. Considered and deliberate or not, that’s the physics of such a phrase. To the hearer it says “You don’t just need law and the gospel. You deserve more than that. You demand more than that, because you’re intelligent and discerning and stunningly sophisticated. You look 20 years younger than your really are and frankly, you’re worth it.” About of church is says “We’re not fuddy-duddies. We’re hip. We’re on the move. We are ready to Par-tay. We’re cool. (This is a church that grew up in the 60s, you understand, or it would say “WE h1P. we k00L.” We’re up 2 date and ready 2 speak 2 where U R, boi.”)

Tags: church, heresy, slogan