A horse named Justify… & Christianity? Not by LCMS theologians

[2019-05-14: added reference to McGrath book in red below]
      Last year there appeared a horse favored to win the Kentucky Derby that had an intriguing name: "Justify".  That name gave me a strong notion that it came from something entirely apart from the things of this world.  After the horse then went on to win the Kentucky Derby, I occasionally thought to do a blog post... but did not.  That thought kept coming back to me forcefully as that horse then went on to win not only the Kentucky Derby, but also the famed Triple Crown.  But each time, I let the opportunity to do a blog post fade away.  But then yesterday, after becoming tired of reading too much from today's LCMS theologians, that thought returned to me and so I did what most people do... I Googled the question:

"Why did they name that horse 'Justify'"?

The first one or two Google listings spoke nothing of what I wondered about.  But then Google presented the definitive answer to the question.  It surprisingly came from horseracingnation.com, a website that evidently is funded, at least in part, by the betting or gambling trade.  But O! my notion was confirmed... that name was no ordinary name.   Now I just want to reprint the exact text of the report by Jonathan Lintner:

horseracingnation.com June 18, 2018 (Archive)

“WinStar Farm does not take lightly the naming of young horses who could go on to become stallion prospects, as it's both a Kentucky-based racing and breeding operation.  – Single-word monikers are often "strong" and "stallion kind of names," said Elliott Walden (*), WinStar's president and CEO. From his farm, they're often rooted in Christian terms, too.  – That intersection resulted in Justify.  – Walden said after the horse completed his Triple Crown sweep that the name comes from the New Testament book of Romans, which "talks about being justified by faith."  – "It was a name that was available, and we looked for that as a great opportunity," Walden said. "Blessed that this horse has a great name."  –  Walden credited Amy Nave (*), his office manager and executive assistant, not just for coming up with Justify but also names such as Creator, the 2016 Belmont Stakes winner, Commissioner and Constitution.   –  "She does a remarkable job because we have 30 to name each year," Walden said.    –  Of course, there are many versions of scripture to consult. But here's one example of Romans, Chapter 10, Verses Rom. 10:9-10, from BibleGateway.com:   –   "9 If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."”

Hmmm.... a Bible lesson on horseracingnation.com???!!!   What hath God wrought!

Elliott Walden ——  Amy Nave:
Name comes from NT: "justified by faith"
(not Lutherans?)

Here are the two people responsible for the naming of the horse "Justify": ==== (from WinStar Farm) ====>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I want to give these two people prominence on this Lutheran blog.  Why?  Because it was Martin Luther who, at the 1541 Diet of Regensburg, relied totally on "justified by faith alone", to defend against the Roman Catholic falsification of this basic doctrine of all Christianity.  And so it was determined that there can never be fellowship as Christians with that church body.  But I suspect that Walden and Nave are not Lutherans!  Why so? Because the LCMS has starved its members and all Lutheranism from a pure understanding of the Lutheran Doctrine of Justification.  How so?  In the recent 2018 textbook Confessing the Gospel (by editor Samuel Nafzger to "update Pieper") for teaching its pastors, the LCMS failed to include a major heading for "Justification". There are 15 headings, e.g. "God", "Creation", "Work of Christ", etc., but no heading named "Justification".  It seems that this word is to be camouflaged from view.  This LCMS textbook (p. 481, 497, [2019-03-11 added links] etc.) would rather follow a non-Lutheran Alistair Mcgrath, who differs from Lutheran theology as reported by V.P. Daniel Preus (Logia 1996 here, p. 19):

“... McGrath, who believes that the doctrine of justification was not the leading principle of the Reformation and ‘that it is no longer possible to assert with any degree of certainty that the Reformation began as a consequence of Luther’s new insights into man’s justification’”. [2019-05-14: ref. McGrath, Iustitia Dei, vol. 2:1, 10]

Ah, but there is that name of the winner of the Triple Crown… 

“Justify”

and I want to rub it in the noses of the teachers of today's LCMS.

There is more to my story, but I will not take up more screen space – view it in "Read More" section below:

What adds interest for me and my wife to this story is that during a vacation trip to Lexington Kentucky in recent years, we were fortunately treated to a free bus tour of WinStar Farm because they granted the bus tour company a free tour pass (saved me $80) due to promotional filming of a story on WinStar for an upcoming Breeder's Cup race.  That filming was then aired on NBC's coverage of that event, but you won't see much of us as we were not much a part of the edited film clip.  — We recalled tour experience of WinStar as being rather pleasant with the impressive facilities and well-mannered staff.  But that impression has now faded from view ... but that name "JUSTIFY" lives on, from a horse that was owned and named by Lexington based WinStar Farm staff.