ELCA's Disobedience to God Cause Harm to Children and Adults

2/23/2013

ELCA churches love to post on their church websites how “welcoming” they are. It's especially directed to people in the homosexual community. One ELCA church said it this way, “As a Christian community, we invite all people to join us as we work to better understand the meaning of grace for our lives. We welcome people of all sexual orientations and gender identities into the life and mission of our congregation.” (see here)

Another ELCA church says,

“We are all a part of God’s family and all are welcomed here:
Gay and straight, bisexual, transgendered, young and seasoned, out or not;
Single, married, committed, in love, widowed.

Our families take many forms:
Two moms, two dads, moms and dads together;
Single parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles
Childless, divorced and sharing child-rearing,
Whatever the form – Love Makes a Family” (see here)

Welcoming, rightly defined, is a good thing, but the ELCA errors in its definition. They've turned “welcoming” into “embracing” people's sinful homosexual ways. They invite people to live out their homosexual lifestyle with full approval of the church.

God's Word tells us homosexuality is sin, yet the ELCA says it is not. The ELCA will not proclaim God's power to free people from sin, and they will not talk about repentance or turning from sexual sins. People struggling with same-sex attraction are in bondage to their sin, and the ELCA “ministers of Christ” tell them to stop struggling and to embrace and indulge in it. The ELCA declares that what they are doing is “loving,” but the truth of the matter is that it is harmful and evil.

Not only does the ELCA harm those trapped in this sin, it also harms the faith of others in their congregations. The ELCA invites homosexual relationships to be on display in the church for all to see (including the children of the church). Paul would have given these churches a stern and heavy warning for permitting this, because it is clearly declared to be wrong in Scripture.

Would a church allow an alcoholic to drink a 12 pack of beer during the sermon? Would they allow the sex addict to view pornographic magazines while worshiping? No. And yet the ELCA allows and encourages the homosexual lifestyle to be celebrated.

Sinners are welcome in worship, if not, no one should be there, but blatant sinful behavior should not be. It's wrong, and subjecting children and all those in the congregation to a sinful lifestyle is in opposition to God.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.” - Mark 9:42

5 Comments

Didaskalos link

2/22/2013 10:21:52 pm

The ELCA desperately needs leaders like Rob Schwarzwalder (and Martin Luther!) who will stand against the denomination's headlong pursuit of heresy. Is there no faithful remnant among ELCA leaders? Is there no seminary professor, no pastor, no college professor, no bishop who will boldly speak Biblical truth in love to this apostate denomination?

Schwarzwalder, senior vice president of the Family Research Council, writes in "Hatred, Bigotry and Truth":

"The Bible’s teaching on human sexuality is clear: The only kind of sexual intimacy Scripture countenances exists between one man and one woman, within marriage. This teaching is restrictive, limiting, narrow. It also possesses the singular advantage of being accurate, in the sense of being a faithful representation of what the Bible says.
One need not agree with the Bible to acknowledge its clear teaching.

Regarding efforts to diminish the Bible’s teachings about homosexuality, specifically, former Benedictine monk Luke Timothy Johnson, now of Emory University, writes, “I have little patience with efforts to make Scripture say something other than what it says, through appeals to linguistic or cultural subtleties. The exegetical situation is straightforward: we know what the text says.”

The text says that heterosexual fornication and adultery, and homosexual intimacy, are sins against God and those who bear His image. Agree or disagree – you’re free to make that decision. But have the intellectual honesty not to engage in the almost comical expositional gymnastics required to make the Bible say something it doesn’t.

[. . . ]

Persons of biblical faith – who believe the Bible says what it means and look to it as the source of truth, not just comfort – have no alternative but to stand with Scripture. For this, we are accused of a lack of love. Nonsense: There can be nothing more unloving, or more cowardly, than ignoring a train as it is about to strike someone on its tracks. If we warn against the consequences of sexual sin, whether heterosexual or homosexual, we do so not with self-righteous condemnation but sincere concern for those wrestling with such sins.

The homosexual left [abetted by the Bible-abandoning churches like the ELCA] insists that everyone endorse same-sex relationships as morally and legally valid. We will not. They want to redefine marriage. We refuse. The want homosexuality to be affirmed universally as morally good or at least morally neutral. We cannot. They want full and affirming integration into every social institution, whether it be the military or the Boy scouts or, for that matter, churches of all kinds. We cannot support it.

This is not hate. It’s moral conviction. It will not change.

Here we stand. We can do no other. God help us. Amen."

Anonymous

2/23/2013 01:35:20 am

Harm. From God's point of view -- I will guess -- harm is the reason for the Biblical injunctions against homosexuality. There are people I have known since childhood who consider themselves homosexual, and who are now entering old age. (I love them very much and I am not passing a "judgment" on them.) I can see they are not happy. Some of them are taking medications for depression. This past Christmas I saw them at holiday parties. Their lives are sterile, even though they have many possessions and accomplishments. Even though society completely accepts them, in an unguarded moment, they express shame.

Harm. How very sad.

Chuck Braun

2/25/2013 09:28:34 am

Well, it seems that "Jesus has left the Building" on Higgins Road! In my 14 years exiled in the ELCA due to marriage, I have heard my pastor glowingly speak of the Jesus Seminar, the claim made that "Jesus saves through all world religions", the Lord's Prayer beginning with "Our Father and Mother" (One or two Supreme Beings?), denial of the Substitutionary Blood Atonement of Christ, downplaying any mention of Hell in Scripture, claims that Jesus didn't heal anybody and the quote "Christ has risen - we're not sure...) from the pulpit.

The ELCA missionaries stopped witnessing just after I joined, the magazine "The Lutheran" praises interfaith worship of Christians with pagans, and the ELCA website used to all but deny the Virgin Birth of Christ.

It's ironic- Wrigley field stands on the site where the present-day ELCA seminary in Chicago, CLTS (Want cults? all they need is U!) once stood. The Cubs were apparently cursed by a goat; or maybe some other being. The ELCA is a CULT! Touch ye not the unclean thing and depart from her abominations!

I pray that if there are ten faithful preachers of the Word left in the ELCA, and that they stand up for Jesus. If they get the boot, it would be an honor worth infinitely more than their salaries.

kathy

2/26/2013 01:59:27 am

I have so many things to pray about. The ELCA is leading it's followers to hell! There are 23 ELCA churches within 15 miles of my home. I am amazed. This is so sad. I called my neighbor (who is a member of one local church) but rarely attends. She said she was sent a paper to vote on the new ways of the church but didn't. She had no clue what her church was doing. We have to continue to speak the truth no matter what - because if we don't who will? Who are these leaders that embrace false doctrine? What Bible are they reading? What has happened to their conscience?

2/26/2013 10:43:12 pm

In my previous post, I failed to convey that at this very moment, hundreds of ELCA congregations are working through the tedious process of voting to disaffilliate from the denomination. Many ELCA pastors are being chastized by their superiors as well. I need the Holy Spirit's guidance to prevent my righteous anger at ELCA leadership's failure to uphold the Scriptures and Creeds from turning to hateful spite. May God forgive me. Many of our loved ones and other brothers and sisters in Christ are still in the ELCA. May we continue to pray for them, and pray that Bishop Hanson and his like-minded leaders would repent of their false teachings. The Lord will judge the leaders of His Church more severely than her laity, so we need to pray for these straying brothers and sisters and stand up to them lovingly and humbly. But for Jesus, we'd all be in the same boat which they seem to be aboard, headed full steam towards a grim destination. The LCMS went through her own battle for the Bible, and the Lord brought them back on course. The Southern Baptist Church also was turned around in the 1970's from an errant course. Pray that this would happen in the ELCA as well...

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ELCA's Disobedience to God Cause Harm to Children and Adults

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Dan Skogen

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