ELCA Synod Promoting Seminar Teaching Christ Did Not Rise From the Dead

4/14/2014

“False,” “dangerous” and “heretical” are words that describe the teachings of the Jesus Seminar. Those are also words that describe many of the teachings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. So it will come as no surprise to many of you to learn that the Northwestern Minnesota ELCA Synod is promoting a conference by the Jesus Seminar. (see here) The seminar will be hosted this month by the ELCA's Christus Rex Lutheran Campus Ministry Center at the University of North Dakota.

A writer from the Institute on Religion & Democracy attended a recent Jesus Seminar gathering and reports of the heretical utterings made by the seminar speaker:

"We don’t find evidence that his [Jesus’] body left the tomb, that Jesus considered himself messiah or that his death would be a sort of human sacrifice to atone for sin.”
“I don’t believe the dead body of Jesus got up and walked out of the tomb.”
“It is not devaluing the Bible to understand human processes by which it was written...The goal of the Jesus Seminar is to take the Bible seriously without taking in literally.”
“The life, message and teachings of the historical Jesus were not about me – about salvation...[Jesus] had almost nothing to say about personal salvation and a lot to say about taking care of other people.” (read what else was said here)

It should also be pointed out that there are at least two ELCA leaders who are part of the Jesus Seminar. Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary professor, Jarmo Tarkki (a speaker for the Jesus Seminar) and retired pastor Jon F. Dechow. (see here and here)

The Jesus Seminar is teaching “doctrines of demons” and the ELCA is accountable for encouraging people to sit under this teaching.

2 Comments

Didaskalos link

4/14/2014 10:45:19 pm

If the secular world approves of a cause, there’s an excellent chance you’ll find the ELCA firmly ensconced on the bandwagon. Jesus Seminar heresies, environmentalism, goddess worship, masculine pronoun eradication, abortion on demand, same-sex “marriage,” you name it: the world’s cause du jour is virtually certain to find enthusiastic support among the ELCA's leadership hierarchy.

But at what price does the ELCA’s trendy “relevance” come? Patrick Schatzline writes in “The Problem With Being Relevant”:

“. . .We are living in very serious, unprecedented times, where truth is considered hate speech and the Bible is considered out of date. We are living in a day where Christians are told to be quiet lest we offend someone and where “secular Christianity” is the new norm.

The apostle Paul warned Timothy of these days, saying, “Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people” (2 Tim. 3:1-5, MSG).

With all that’s happening, our only recourse is to reinvent how we do church, right? We must make ourselves more relevant, right?

Maybe the apostle Paul saw this day coming as well when he wrote, “Don’t fool yourself. Don’t think that you can be wise merely by being up-to-date with the times. Be God’s fool—that’s the path to true wisdom. What the world calls smart, God calls stupid. It’s written in Scripture, He exposes the chicanery of the chic. The Master sees through the smoke screens of the know-it-alls” (1 Cor. 3:18-20).

I remember what one spiritual father in my life told me about being relevant. He said, “Relevant means ‘connection with the subject at issue.’ If the subject at issue is the Great Commission, given by Jesus to His church, and the church is connected to that subject, then relevant is still in and will be until He returns. When the church loses the connection to that issue, then the church becomes irrelevant.” [end of article excerpt]

So what would the ELCA do if it foreswore “relevance” in pursuit of honoring the Lord of the Church and His Word? Schatzline concludes:

"I wonder what would happen if every congregational leader stood up one Sunday, bypassed the order of service and declared a holy call to repentance in the sight of God. The world is spinning out of control and needs a church that will bring it back to repentance. This generation desires the depth of God’s truth and not just the crumbs found under the table. God has not called us to shrink back! Will you respond to the call, church?”

4/18/2014 04:10:17 pm

Wow this is so bad the devil is having a field day in the elca, I thank the triune God every day I am a lcms lutheran. Ill pray for the people struggling with leaving the elca thanks for you web site.

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ELCA Synod Promoting Seminar Teaching Christ Did Not Rise From the Dead

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Dan Skogen

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