DISPUTED DOCTRINES -- Chapter Twenty-Eight

QUESTION OF THE OPEN FORUM

This matter has come to the front through the influence of Liberalists and "airminded" priests and pastors, who have sought in this way to impress their superior wisdom on their less fortunate brethren of the human race. Here and there it has been taken up by Lutheran pastors. The question at issue, however, is not whether a pastor who is conscious of his wisdom may not have an opportunity to share it with others who, at least, do not know as much as he; but whether it is right to substitute the Open Forum for the sermon.

This question is important and should be settled aright before it has gone too far and entrenched itself in the polity of the Church. It may readily be granted that the pastor who feels himself competent should be given an opportunity to impart, out of the charity of his heart, his wisdom to others. But this should surely be done in a more appropriate place and time than in the Church and at the expense of the Gospel.

The first objection here is that it is a violation of the pastor's commission. The pastor's chief function is to administer the Means of Grace. The commission laid upon him by His Lord is to "preach the Gospel," to "preach the Word"; and nothing can take the place of that. St. Paul is a good example of this when he says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." He made Jesus Christ and His redemption central.

This can not be done in the Open Forum, where ques tions of all kinds are presented for discussion. The Open Forum pastor may say that he is simply applying the principles of Jesus Christ in the solution of these questions, and is therefore preaching Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ is not a new Lawgiver; and to neglect the great objective facts of redemption through His blood in order to solve civil, social, philosophical, and ethical questions, is not a preaching of the Gospel of salvation to sinners. The pastor who does so has no clear conception of his mission, and his action cannot be interpreted otherwise than as a lack of appreciation of the precious Gospel, which alone is "the power of God unto salvation."

The substitution of the Open Forum for the sermon is derogatory to the pastor himself and is against his own best interests. He sets himself up as a superior person, ready to answer any and all questions that may be put to him. In the nature of the case he cannot answer all questions satisfactorily to the persons who put them; and to the extent in which he does not do so he suffers in their esteem. He is no longer in their estimation the wise man that they took him to be. The position in which he places himself, as one who can direct people rightly in all sorts of things and situations, tends to develop in him a papistic sense of infallibility and to make him "wise in his own conceit." It thus has a bad effect upon his character, and to an extent bars the cultivation of the spirit of humility, which should characterize the true pastor and endear him to his people.

The Open Forum in place of the sermon also has a bad effect upon the congregation. If the congregation likes it, they will insist upon more and more of such substitutions. It satisfies their curiosity. Human nature remains much the same, and people today are always ready "to hear some new thing." Many also would be pleased to think that this "new thing" is just as good as the Gospel. Besides, it puts some on edge to display their sharpness and to match their wits against that of the pastor. And they are apt to send the pastor, especially since they are not required to sign their names to their questions, such interrogations as are calculated to "stump" him. Whether he passes over these questions in silence or confesses his ignorance in the matter, it puts the pastor in a bad light with them and tends to lessen the confidence of the congregation in him. The congregation must suffer spiritually whenever anything is substituted for the preaching of the Gospel.

The Open Forum is a dangerous innovation. It should never be substituted for the preaching of the Gospel.

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