(The following was written a number of weeks ago by Rev. Tom Brock of pastorsstudy.org. You can follow Pastor Brock on Facebook - here and twitter - here.)
Tonight I attended a worship service at a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Sadly, this congregation uses the ELCA's newest hymnal which changes hymns and Scripture in order to eliminate masculine pronouns for God. Some in church leadership believe that using exclusively masculine language for God is sexist and oppressive. So all the Psalms in the ELCA hymnal have been changed to get rid of "He" for God. Tonight we sang a wonderful hymn, but I stumbled as I tried to sing it. The hymn is "Earth and all stars" which originally read "He has done marvelous things, I too shall praise Him with a new song." Can't have that. It was desexed to "GOD has done marvelous things, I too will PRAISE GOD with a new song." The ELCA has also changed the Apostle's Creed. The pronoun police changed Jesus being "His only Son" to "God's only Son." And Jesus "descending into Hell" has been changed to "descending to the dead." So, getting rid of the mention of Hell, getting rid of the Bible's language for God made for an unsettling worship service. May we unashamedly continue to worship God the way Jesus has revealed Him to us: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In Him, Pastor Tom Brock pastorsstudy.org
2 Comments
Didaskalos
10/7/2016 01:39:03 pm
This hymn will probably top the charts in the ELCA Hymnal. Wait, "Hym"? Masculine Pronoun Pogrom alert. Let's make that ELCA Womynal.
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Arnie
10/8/2016 01:08:31 pm
The English language already has a gender-neutral personal pronoun: the word is "he." Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) defines "he" as "that one whose sex is unknown or immaterial." There is absolutely nothing wrong in saying, "Someone left HIS book on the table." The statement does NOT imply that the book's owner is male. And referring to God as "he" does not imply that God is literally a man. But ELCA leaders prefer to adapt the liturgy to accommodate the misguided notions of illiterates.
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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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