Reply to Missionæren Nr. #24

Reply to Missionæren1 Nr. #24

Dear Brother C.M. Seehus!

I have read your short article, Weak Morals. I am therefore sending you some words in all brevity. There is no such publication that is called The Smith Publication. As the spokesperson for morals you should call everything by its proper name, for that is proper. The publication is called Skjulte Skatte.

In the April edition of this publication you have read about “Excommunication From the Church.”

Dear brother, either you are writing against better knowledge, or you have an especially imperfect understanding and are extremely badly informed.

The matter is the complete opposite of what you are saying. The “morals” are so far from being weak that I believe if you came into closer contact with them you would discover that they are far too strong.

Your interpretation of the article in the April edition of Skjulte Skatte is totally erroneous. The purpose of the article is not to strengthen people in their sin; on the contrary, its aim is to bring into death the sinful nature, the self-life, which is the cause of excommunicating everyone who falls in so-called base sins and taking the liberty of excommunicating someone who falls in one kind of sin but not the person who falls in another kind, being so brash as to dare to act according to one’s feelings and opinions instead of following the royal law in the Scriptures.

When Jesus says we shall forgive seven times seventy, how can you dare to say that it should be clear to everyone that someone who falls in such a base sin as drunkenness and adultery ought to be excommunicated immediately by a biblical church? And when Paul says, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” how can you then make such a decision that there can never be talk of appointing such a person to the work of preaching [the gospel] again?

According to your words, the words of Jesus Christ and of the apostles must therefore be unbiblical? Are their “morals” too weak? Or do you think you have forgiven a man by excommunicating him at the same time? When we receive forgiveness, isn’t it because the punishment was laid on Jesus Christ? Forgiveness isn’t just a nice word we hear and then have to bear the punishment ourselves?

We have enough of morality preachers, dear brother—those who invalidate God’s commandments for the sake of their own precepts. Strive rather to become a spokesman for the mind that was and is in Christ Jesus. He hates sin and loves the sinner. He works in order to lead people away from sin—not just manifest sins, but also the hidden sins—even the sins which people think are morally acceptable.

In this work you can also discover that we are fellow workers without running the risk of finding a reason for complaining about severity.

On the contrary, I rather think that the editor of Missionæren, and many with him, will prefer to speak about love that covers a multitude of sins and about all of God’s merciful grace and longsuffering.

Greetings in the love of Christ from your crucified with Him,