ELCA Exposed on Homosexuality
Apostasy in the Evangelical Church in America? (Video)
Mark Driscoll asks R.C. Sproul another theological question in this video: "Has the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America committed apostasy?"
Gay is O.K. According to Lutheran Vote
Today is the end of the Line for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s “Journey Together Faithfully.” They vote on the second of two big issues in human sexuality and the one that the media deems so important, gay clergy. You can expect headlines and pictures of people in tears. I don’t want to belittle anyone involved, but you need two things straight. This is not about sex, but about the Bible, and second, this process has eviscerated the ELCA. It is a sad morality play about religion and politics full of ironies. It is a tale of what happens to a body of Christians when they want to be nice to everyone. In the end they forget what they were formed for . . .
What the Evidence Really Says about Scripture and Homosexual
Practice: Five Issues by Prof. Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.
. . .There are many other arguments that one can cite as evidence of Jesus’ rejection of homosexual practice, including the fact that the Old Testament that Jesus accepted as Scripture was strongly opposed. . . (For those interested in Dr. Gagnon's book "The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics," you can find it here)
Open Letter from Carl Braaten to Herbert Chilstrom
Your Open Letter response (dated July 21, 2009) to the Lutheran CORE Open Letter on the ELCA Social Statement and Ministry Recommendations was forwarded to me. You invite a response to it, stating that you are “open to seeing things from a perspective that may not have occurred to me.” I feel I must accept your invitation, because it is I who was asked by LutheranCORE to assemble a small group of the ELCA’s brightest and best theologians to write a critique of the documents that will be debated and voted on at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August, 2009, in Minneapolis. Moreover, all of your criticisms of the CORE Letter are at the same time objections to doctrinal positions I have taught as a Lutheran theologian for over half a century. Your perspective and my perspective are so far apart that I am not sure it will be possible to reach any degree of mutual understanding. An outside critic reading what you wrote and what I am writing in this Open Letter might have a hard time believing that we belong to same church and affirm the same teachings of the Christian faith. . .
Bound Conscience or No Conscience?
In the ELCA’s refusal to acknowledge or accept the reality of the Christian conscience, the organization has institutionalized sociopathy into its very identity. Both polar opposite positions on sexuality cannot possibly be bound to God. One of them, and we all know which one, is bound to Satan. The ELCA’s failure to clearly distinguish right from wrong represents the rejection of conscience that is at the root of human rebellion against God. . .
Martin Luther on Homosexuality
Martin Luther correctly identifies homosexuality with the sin of Sodom. Commenting on Genesis 19:4-5 he writes:. . .
The E.L.C.A. Dilemma (video)
by Pastor Troy Dobbs, Grace Church, Eden Prairie, MN
. . . It is appalling and evil when an official denominational pronouncement condones and celebrates the very sins that keep people out of the kingdom of God. How is that good? How is that justice? How is the loving? How does that liberate anyone? This decision slanders God. It just misses God's word and promotes damnation in the place of salvation. . . it is better to be divided by the truth than united in error. . . Biblical heresy is not the rallying point for church unity, Biblical truth is. We rally around the word of God and the Son of God, that is where we find our unity. .
A Critique by Carl E. Braaten (this is a pdf file)
My critique of the first “Draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality” prepared by the
Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality, written and disseminated in April, 2008, of-
fered this conclusion: “This ‘Draft’ fails to take seriously distinctive Lutheran principles of theology and ethics regarding human sexuality. Either the Task Force is woefully ignorant of the Lutheran confessional tradition regarding theological ethics, or it willfully ignores it to reach some pre-conceived conclusions for ideological reasons.” My criticisms included the following assertions:. . .
Exodus Troubled by ELCA Vote to Affirm Same-Sex Relationships in Clergy
Exodus International, the world’s largest interdenominational ministry helping those conflicted by same-sex attraction to live a life that reflects the Christian faith, is troubled by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s vote today to allow congregations to hire clergy involved in same-sex relationships. Exodus says this is a clear move away from biblical teaching on sexuality and a disconcerting approach to this issue. . .
Tornado Hits Lutheran Convention Voting on Homosexuality -
In an ironic twist of fate, a tornado touched the convention center on Wednesday where delegates from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) gathered to debate and then vote on a statement that acknowledges there are "differing views on homosexuality."
Wednesday's debate was interrupted briefly in the afternoon when severe storms and a tornado passed through downtown Minneapolis, damaging the steeple of an ELCA church across the street from the convention center.
The weather event is being "spun" in both directions by liberal and conservative delegate. . .
'Ears to hear'? - by Mark C. Chavez
An ELCA pastor informed the churchwide assembly in a discussion of the ELCA’s HIV and AIDS strategy that his congregation hands out condoms “to anyone who asks for them, young or old.” He had emailed his bishop and asked if he could pass out condoms, and the bishop responded, “Jesus would be passing out condoms.” Churches that pass out condoms are all but saying to their members, “When you have sex outside marriage, make sure you use a condom.” Do ELCA leaders really hear Jesus saying that he would pass out condoms in a church or anywhere to people who are having sex outside marriage? . . .
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Succumbs to Heresy
. . .The contemporary re-emergence of ancient paganism, even within some Christian communities, is not the path to freedom and flourishing but to misery. It must be exposed, opposed and rejected. . .
The Tornado, the Lutherans, and Homosexuality
I saw the fast-moving, misshapen, unusually-wide funnel over downtown Minneapolis from Seven Corners. I said to Kevin Dau, “That looks serious.”
It was. Serious in more ways than one. A friend who drove down to see the damage wrote, On a day when no severe weather was predicted or expected...a tornado forms, baffling the weather experts—most saying they’ve never seen anything like it. It happens right in the city. The city: Minneapolis.
The tornado happens on a Wednesday...during the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America's national convention in the Minneapolis Convention Center. The convention is using Central Lutheran across the street as its church. The church has set up tents around it’s building for this purpose. . .
Pastor Matt Harrison reacts to ELCA’s decisions.
A radio/MP3 interview with Rev. Matthew Harrison, Executive Director of LCMS World Relief and Human Care.
Dissident Lutherans: Bullying over gays But the splits within the ELCA, which is more than twice the Episcopal Church's size, are getting ugly in their own way. Pastors taking their churches out of the ELCA are making charges of "unethical, immoral and in some cases, illegal" acts by bishops and other officials, Mr. Kallestad said. "I'm talking to some pastors and leaders from many states around the nation, whose [ELCA] bishops are becoming very hostile," Mr. Kallestad said. . .
Lutheranism & homosexuality
. . .The ELCA’s public written confessions state that the Bible contains the Word of God. There is a big difference between saying the Bible is the Word of God verses saying it contains the Word of God. If the Bible only contains the Word of God, that means portions of the Bible are God’s Word, but other portions are not. Thus, if there is a portion of the Bible you don’t like, you toss it out claiming “That’s not really what God would say, but only what Paul (or Moses or Peter or Matthew) said.” Theology becomes nebulous. It can shift with any opinion poll or the morals of the day. But if the Bible is the Word of God, and if God is serious when he says, “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6), then there is something odd about a theology that changes from generation to generation. . .(link to all 5 articles in this series)
Was God In the Whirlwind?
My home state of Minnesota has lots of lakes, bitter cold, and Lutherans. Over 150 years ago, Scandinavians targeted this state and its climate, perhaps because it resembled their homeland. Ironically, the fathers and grandfathers of today's Lutherans left Sweden back then because they saw corruption and bad doctrine within Lutheranism in Scandinavia. But these Lutheran immagrants built Bible-believing churches for future generations. No doubt they would be crushed at such a culmination of apostasy in recent years. . .
Robert Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary presents Biblical grounds against the practice of homosexuality. (mp3)
The ELCA Homosexual Deception
. . .The ELCA had an well planned out agenda. To come up with a "passable" defense against the Bible's clear teaching on homosexuality. To declare homosexuality is not a sin. To allow homosexuals to teach, lead, and preach. To encourage homosexuals to live out their (God declared sinful) behavior. And to get their membership to believe
it! . .
it! . .
John Piper - Repentance Everyday, All Day Long: Tornadoes, Lutherans and Homosexuality
Tales from the Darkside
. . .Only the naive believe that the assurances that nobody will be forced to act contrary to their "bound consciences" with regard to gay pastors or gay "marriage" are worth the paper they're printed on. The entire logic of the homosexualist position is that rejection of active homosexuality on moral grounds constitutes "discrimination" against gays. . .
Lutherans Endorse Homosexuality God Sends Tornado!
. . . The ELCA voted to separate itself from biblical Christianity by accommodating and endorsing unrepentant homosexual relations on Wednesday August 19, 2009. At precisely 2 PM - the deadline for the "Social Statement on Human Sexuality" - the Lord sent a tornado, defying conventional wisdom, directly to the Minneapolis convention center and Central Lutheran Church area. So intentional and directed was this action that it sheered the cross clean off of the historic steeple while leaving the roof and building intact. In his mercy no one was harmed. A true historic miracle in the old testament vein, God in His infinite mercy has sent a clear warning. Lutherans are your hearts so hard that you cannot see God reaching out? Repent and return to sound doctrine - uphold the word of God.