Today I received the following letter here at Apprising Ministries from a student of CUW, which was sent to my other website Christian Research Net. I mentioned in my previous feature article Concordia University Wisconsin: A Lutheran Home for Rob Bell of the Emergent Church and Still So “Virgilicious”? that I have continued to receive harassing letters of a threatening nature from CUW students.

The information below has now been corroborated from multiple sources and I share this letter with the permission of its author:

Dear CRN:

I think there are a few other aspects to this virgilicious scandal. I am entirely sick of the LCMS (I left them because of their heresies, in accordance with Romans 16:17) and just want to be done with them. However, I feel that many people are being deceived and need to know the truth–that is why I write. It might give credibility to mention that I am a student at CUW.

“The virgilicious scandal here at Concordia has not surprised me. Many at CUW have repeatedly shown that they do not understand the seriousness of sin; they do not understand the Law. I would like to start with a quote from the Beacon (written by Tyler Williams),

‘The video is intrinsically harmless. While it is not exactly the kind of thing we would show our donors and perspective students, the video is an illustration of how students who are serious about worship can have fun.’

Yet, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints (Ephesians 5:3, ESV).’

And, ‘Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:4, ESV).

Nowhere does the Beacon’s article mention that the video contained numerous sexual innuendos. The phrase ‘cense me, cense me’ and the female students performing sexually suggestive dances (including clawing at ‘Virge’ while all are sprawled on the floor) make strong reference to sexual immorality.

This video was supposed to be a ‘joke.’ Yet, we just read how Paul tells us that this kind of joking is out of place for believers. Nor are we to give the appearance of sexual immorality. I have repeatedly pointed this out to students here, with no response.

Obviously, everyone now knows that the video was a parody of ‘Fergilicous.’ How can even making a parody of such a song (with its blatant sexual immorality) be reconciled with ‘For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret (Ephesians 5:12, ESV)?’

Again, this is not surprising. To some faculty, and many students, within the Theology department sex is something to joke about. Throughout my time here, I have been appalled at how many times certain Theology faculty members make sexual jokes—in class. It is also pretty clear that no one is telling the students that such talk is not fitting for God’s people (let alone future pastors) as this has been rampant among students.

Not only this, but some pre-sem students have what can only be classified as pornographic images hanging on the walls in their room (such as SI’s swimsuit calendars). One wonders why CUW would allow any of their on campus students to put such things on campus property. Walk through any of the men’s dorms on campus and you will see that anyone can see these abominations posted in numerous rooms.

I would like to make two final points. While the Beacon article admitted that the video was public before CRN got it, it makes it sound like this was a surprising phenomenon.

‘Wollenberg’s MySpace page is private, but the video on his page—which was linked from Facebook—still was, despite his intentions, publicly available.’

I don’t know how his MySpace page could be considered private. I received a link to the video on MySpace, and viewed it with no difficulty, from a friend. This friend is not a member of the LCMS. Nor is he a student at CUW. In fact, he does not even live in the state of Wisconsin. In light of that, I don’t think that page was really ‘private.’ The quote in the Beacon is deceptive at best, and I do not understand how any could be surprised that something posted online became public.

Finally, ‘Virge’ states in the Beacon, ‘I’m not quite sure that [they have] the authority to judge anyone…If Concordia will be judged, so will everyone else.’

‘Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright (Proverbs 20:11, ESV).’