COMMENTS
President Cripe:
Thank you for making your feelings public and immediate for us in the Ohio District to see.
I've posted
similar concerns at my blog, Necessary Roughness. In a comment on another blog, Rev. Wilken said my post was a "Good Post," and perhaps we can imply that he agreed.
Pirate Radio may be tongue-in-cheek. The Internet address was registered the day Issues, Etc., was cancelled. There seems to be a consensus that there are plenty of advantages for the show to refrain from discussing the Synodical politics that may have played in its cancellation. I'm just happy to have Talk Radio for the Thinking Christian back on the air, and we should take this opportunity to spread the word to those who've never heard the show before.
Dan
President Cripe: thanks for the updates on Issues etc. I have already used the "donate" button and can't wait for continuation of this important ministry.
John
1. Good question! -- why the term "pirate?"
2. You seem to be treading on the 8th Commandment by putting the worst construction on "no holds barred" and "pandering to their followers emotions. (this is particuraly demeaning)." The construction I put on it is this -- in the past they could not speak to controversies that directly touched Synod. Now they have no such restriction.
3. Your concerns would be better expressed as exhortations rather than mind-reading or speculation. Or, better, just talk to Todd Wilken and get the straight scoop.
4. If we say "the suspicions are true" that they were fired for "other than financial reasons" then wouldn't we also have to say that the suspicions are true that Gerald Kieschnick and David Strand lied about the whole affair? Better not to go down that road!
5. What you give with one hand you take away with another --- you hope they get plenty of donations but see the term "pirate" as "permission to skip the 'donate' button." Luther's explanation to the 7th Commandment is instructive here.
I think we need to have a little sense of humor about the use of the word "pirate" here. We can run a bit of danger of falling into some pietism if we lose a sense of humor. Let's not take ourselves so seriously. I think Luther and other early Lutherans were not beyond using humor - as one finds even in the Large Catechism. Besides, anyone can put about anything on Wikipedia.
I would reckon that Rev. Wilken is still faithful to his ordination vows, including his confessional subscription. Synod itself wants to be held to the standard of Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions. We have nothing to fear in being called to repentance and critique if that standard is Scripture and the Confessions. If synod cannot be held to that standard then it becomes sectarian and an authority unto itself. We live in the end times and as Luther pointed out in his Letter to the German Nobility, reform doesn't always come through the official channels. Before and during the synodical conference days the Missouri Synod called the Wisconsin Synod to task on a few issues. Institutional conservatism doesn't always amount to orthodoxy.
Someone recently posted this on pirates and Issues Etc:
http://blogstuhl.blogspot.com/2008/06/st-augustine-on-pirates.html