I read this post last night and about had an aneurysm. Ad hominen tu quoque is not an argument, but something a five year old will do when he gets into trouble. So President Barry had counting as part of his plan. Guess what: if he did implement such a thing, it is just as stupid of an idea as Ablaze(TM) is. What I remember of his plan was that it was "Get the message right Missouri! Get the message out Missouri!"

He asks what the problem with Ablaze(TM)? Two words: Gospel Reductionism. It is the same rotten theology that was being peddled by Seminex and others who seem to think that the law is something that can be ignored. Why is this? Ablaze(TM) encourages people to count times people proclaim the gospel to unbelievers. What is wrong with this? It doesn't encourage or even mention the proclamation of the law, which is just as important as the proclamation of the Gospel. Proclamation of the Gospel without the law is like near beer. Beer isn't beer without alcohol, and the Gospel isn't the Gospel without the Law. This isn't brain surgery, but simple Lutheran theology. The fact the current SP seems to have trouble with this and also has trouble with how to apply this to the mission field is disturbing. The fact so many Lutherans are also buying into this shows how a little leaven can ruin a whole lump or, in this case, Synod.

There is one other thing wrong with this: I don't have the burden of proof in this case. It is up to anyone who is doing something beyond what is handed down to us by the Church to prove he is right, not the other way around. It would do well for people to remember that, in most cases, us "ultra-conservatives" have 2000 years of history backing us up.