Lutheran Woman Today, a publication of Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, published an article in their June 2011 magazine called “Holden Together.” In the article we are told about a retreat and Bible study where ELCA pastor, Matt Larson, taught on Genesis 1, 2 and 3. The pastor did not teach the traditional historical understanding that Moses wrote these chapters, instead it was “Yahwists” and priests. The take-away message of this Bible study on creation and Adam and Eve was, “(j)ust because it’s not real doesn’t mean it’s not true.” (link to the article)
The article earlier stated, “(w)hen asked to describe the creation story, members of our group offered similar words: allegory, symbolic, myth, parable.” Here is an ELCA affiliated magazine promoting the denial of the words of the Bible and make no mistake, it is also teaching their readers that they can not trust that what the Bible says is true. In the same article about the retreat, a Methodist preacher spoke to the group, the author tells us “he excoriated America for ‘raining down fire’ on the Middle East and called for forgiveness and reconciliation in our foreign relations.” This is so typical, many leaders in the ELCA and the mainline denominations that it is full communion with, blame America, hate on Jews and deny Scripture.
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In the 2011 issue of The Lutheran we learn this interesting fact.
“In 2005, the Dover, Pa., school board went to federal court over a conflict about their order to teach ‘intelligent design’ in biology classrooms. Members of the seminary (ELCA’s Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg) faculty were engaged in the controversy, opposing the curriculum.” (see here) So ELCA faculty members, who teach future pastors the Bible, actively oppose a “theory” of God’s involvement in the forming of this world from being taught in high schools? People who teach in ELCA seminaries should listen to the words of Jesus, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” John 18:16 Exposing the ELCA asked its readers this question:
Is it concerning that over 1500 ELCA leaders signed a letter saying they did not believe the Bible's account of creation, Adam and Eve, and Noah and the Ark? The results were: 88.01% (257 votes) said “Yes” 11.99% (35 votes) said “No” Total Votes: 292 Read about those 1500+ evolution believing, creation and Bible denying ELCA leaders here. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America claims they believe the Bible is true, yet they continually deny factual accounts of Scripture and traditional church doctrine. See articles about: - 1500+ ELCA leaders who deny creation, Adam and Eve and Noah and the Ark - ELCA support of Universal Salvation - ELCA on Homosexuality - ELCA on Hell - ELCA and the Virgin Birth ------------- Cartoon by Matthew The ELCA’s official website tells us the denomination's position on the topics of creation/evolution/origin of life (it also reveals the ELCA's stance on Scripture.) Their website says,
"What is the ELCA official position concerning the origin of life and evolution? The ELCA has not officially taken a position about evolution. The ELCA teaches that the scriptures witness that all of life is a gift of God. However, the scriptures do not say, for example, how God's creating word, "Let there be...," brings creatures into being. Lutheran tradition has respected the work of the natural sciences in investigating phenomena in the natural world and explaining how they work and how they originated." (read here) Why doesn't the ELCA take an official position on the origin of life? Scripture clearly says that God created everything in a 6 day, 24 hour period. And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day. Genesis 1:3-5 Are these verses true or not? It says, "There was evening, and there was morning - the first day." Is God lying to us about that? The ELCA must think so if the denomination cannot agree with this clear statement. Or maybe the ELCA doesn't believe the Bible is from God, but just man’s writings. Either option is unacceptable. If we look in the New Testament, Jesus statements back up the Genesis/Creation account.
If the ELCA believed in the actual, factual truth of the Scripture . . . if the ELCA believed that God did inspire and have His hand on the writing of all the books of the Bible, they would take an official position and say the Genesis account is in fact true. That is what the Bible clearly says, but as we've seen elsewhere, the ELCA likes to deny whatever parts of Scripture that do not fit their world view. One author describes the ELCA's view this way, "The ELCA allows for the view that God used evolution to create things. This means that the account in Genesis 1 and 2 do not have to be true for the member of the ELCA. The ELCA teaches the historical critical method of interpretation of Scripture, which discounts the accounts as history and treats them more as poetry." (read here) The ELCA likes to say they adhere to Scripture, but anyone who looks at the teachings, beliefs and policies of the ELCA can see they deny statements of fact in the Bible, place their own view over what Scripture says, and do not believe God had His hand in and inspired all of its writings. This is just another example of a church made and run by man, following their own desires and paying lip service to the Creator of the Universe. ------------------------------ Read more about creation and evolution at the links below: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2012 http://www.icr.org/article/5669 http://www.icr.org/article/creation-evolution https://evolutionnews.org/ http://www.trueauthority.com/cvse/faq2.htm Read more about evolution’s claim to be scientific at: http://scienceagainstevolution.info/topics.htm Check out this article written by Pastor Jonathan Hein. (read here)
The WELS pastor writes, in part 4 of the this series, about the ELCA's view of scripture, homosexuality, abortion, creation and Jesus' physical resurrection. |
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Dan Skogen
Former ELCA seminary student and former ELCA member who is fed up with the ELCA's consistent mockery of God's Word. If you have been helped and blessed by Exposing the ELCA's ministry, please help us continue to proclaim the truth of God's Word to ELCA members who need to hear it.
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Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. - Ephesians 5:11
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