Doctor Waldo Werning will not confess that Jesus is God on the cross.
Werning will not agree that if Jesus is God, He must be all of God, not a
part of God. Yes, Jesus speaks to His Father from the cross; He also calls God
his Father numerous times in the Gospels. These statements show that Jesus is
both true God and true man.
Jesus is all of God based on the following statement by Luther: "Of
these Persons each one is the whole God, besides whom there is no other
God." Luther (J. T Muller "Christian Dogmatics" CPH page 148)
Politics has no religion. The following South Wisconsin District officials
lie to the Synod and slander God when they endorsed Werning's teaching about
the Trinity.
Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Meyer, South Wisconsin District President writes:
"In contrast to the inaccurate and hurtful statements and suggestions
made concerning Dr. Waldo Werning's Trinitarian theology, it is my duty and
privilege, hereby, to affirm the clearly stated, Lutheran position of Dr.
Werning on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as heard by my own ears when he
confessed to me his Athanasian understanding of the Trinity and as read by my
own eyes in Dr. Werning's writing."
Rev. Paul Borgman, South Wisconsin District Vice-President writes: "To
reiterate: it was clear to me that you [Waldo Werning] believe, teach, and
confess the Orthodox position concerning the Holy Trinity as the Church
Confesses it in the Scripture, the Ecumenical Creeds, and the Lutheran
Confessions."
Rev. Ronald Krug, South Wisconsin District Circuit Counselor writes:
"I have found him [Waldo Werning] to be solidly on the foundation of
Lutheran exegesis of the Scriptures. . . It is a sad day in our Lutheran
Church - Missouri Synod when a faithful witness to the Scriptures has his name
slandered through printed page and cyberspaces."
Recorded on tape Werning was asked: "When Christ died on the cross,
was it all of God or part of God?" and he replied "I'm not going to
answer: God."
During the meeting between Doctor Waldo Werning and myself, Werning refused
to explain who died on the cross because he claimed it is a philosophical
question.
Werning repeatedly stated that asking if Jesus is all or part of God on the
cross is a philosophical question.
Doctor Waldo Werning writes: "Cascione, employs another argument that
100% of God literally died on the Cross by quoting the Athanasian Creed out of
context, 'There is one Almighty, not three Almighties.'"
I reply, "How many Almighties does Werning have?"
We sing in in TLH hymn 154, verse 3, "When God the Mighty Maker
died" not "When part of God the Mighty Maker died!"
We read in Colossians 2:9 of Christ, "In Him dwelleth the fullness of
the Godhead bodily" not a part of the Godhead!
1 John 5:20 tells us, "This is the true God, and eternal life"
not a part of the true God.
John 14:9 tells us, "When you have seen me you have seen the
Father" not a part of God.
2 Corinthians 5:19 tells us, "To wit, that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself," not a part of God.
1 Tim. 3:16 tells us, "Without controversy, great is the mystery of
godliness, that God was manifest in the flesh" not a part of God manifest
in the flesh.
Acts 20:28 tells us, God's blood was given for the church, not part of
God's blood.
Werning's drift into Tritheism is evident in his claim that he experiences
the Trinity in nature. He writes about God as three revelations,
communications, levels of reality, experiences, and manners of being. Hence,
he can only think of Jesus Christ as less than all of God on the cross. But
the Bible tells us there is only one God, revelation, communication, and being
in God. God is not divided
"Modern Theologians [falsely] teach that a threefold divine operation,
which the Christian experiences, corresponds to the antemundane metaphysical
Trinitarian relation in God." (Pieper Vol. 1: 401)
There are a growing number of LCMS pastors, who like Werning, will not
confess that Jesus is God but that He is the Son of God. There is no question
that Jesus is the Son of God, which the Mormons, Christian Scientists, Jehovah
Witnesses, and Unitarians also confess. However, these other non-Christian
groups will not confess that Jesus is God because for them the "Son of
God" doesn't mean God. Even Arius would say that Jesus is the Son of God.