The Response You Never Saw

A shout out to fellow blogger Latif Gaba for pointing me to the living definition of hypocritical.

I took the opportunity to try to respond to Rev. McCain, but, surprise, he refused to post it.

This is the blog post in question.

Here is my response. It appears that my response didn't praise and agree with Rev. McCain enough to get posted. Let me know what you think.

Well glory be! I'm not a pastor, but I am a confessional Lutheran! Following your line of reasoning, Rev. McCain, I guess that means I am not bound by your internet encyclical about anonymous blogging, since I am nothing more than a lowly layman.


I find it interesting that you say in your response to Rev. Beisel, "I think we should also be willing to fact [I am guessing you meant "face"] some hard facts and start some “self-policing” among the “confessional” crowd." Help me out here, since I'm just a poor, uneducated, layman. Has there been created a special office for you? Paging through the Synodical Handbook, I didn't see anything along the lines of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Committee on Theology and Church Relations I found, but not your name as the prefect of this committee. I am seriously doubtful that your position at Concordia Publishing House as Publisher and as the Executive Director of the Editorial Department has granted you a special indult for "self-policing" the "confessional" crowd.

My question is this:

By whose authority do you get to play the role of Confessional Cyber Cop?

Feel free to ignore answering that, just as you felt the need to sidestep admitting wrong for making accusations against Rev. Beisel and his former parish.

I do enjoy how only in the LCMS is the 8th Commandment optional.

I also find some humor in how you speak with such authority, time and time again, about your experiences in the parish when the total time you have served a parish as a called pastor is a grand total of two years. To have that many stories about all the things you did really amazes me. This must have been a seriously damaged congregation for you to have experienced so much in only two years.

I also enjoy your hyperbole about all the stories you've heard about pastors who did this or that to their congregation. For almost 18 years you have been working as a bureaucrat, not as a pastor. I do not believe that living vicariously through the stories that you've heard over the years count as parish experience, let alone make you an expert. Furthermore, your views on these issues facing actively serving pastors have been clouded by your previous role as Assistant to the President. In that position, you were privileged to learn about situation that occurred in the parish involving pastors who may, or may not have, been at fault.

I also enjoy the cunningness of your witch hunt in this blog post. It sounds very innocent, "PS – In the spirit of this blog post, if you wish to offer a comment, sign your full name, and location to your remark. I’m trying to encourage the perpetually anonymous-inclined folks here to step out into the light."

Really? This is on par with Rev. Waldo Werning gathering together a list of names to be published in a book in the most unflattering light.

If you were serious about open and honest discussion, you wouldn't have this blog set up to control which comments get posted. I understand you have a reputation to keep and would not enjoy someone being critical of you.

This is why I will keep myself as an anonymous blogger. You have no interest in discussion. You only have an interest in attacking those who do not think like you.

Your actions, statements, and the way you treat other faithful pastors reminds me of my old Greek professor at Concordia River Forest. Rev. Prof. Froehlich said it was like a football game. The Devil and his minions are one team and the confessional Lutherans are on the other. When the confessionals come out on the field, they are tackling themselves, not the Devil.