The ELCA article “Who Gets Saved?” is written by pastor Peter W. Marty and he writes:
- “No religion possesses the whole truth on God.”
- "But Jesus is universal Lord and Savior, not just my personal Lord and Savior. He saves the whole world, and this doesn’t happen through tribal membership."
- “We ought to think of the work of Jesus Christ as cosmic in scope. He is the light of the world, not merely the light of the Christian community. He refuses to be co-opted by any culture or possessed by any religion. He disassembles every category that followers want to erect for believing he is exclusive to their claims. In short, Jesus shuns domestication, giving no right for one group to say to another: 'My God is better than your God.'”
- “'And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,' says Jesus of his pending death and resurrection, 'will draw all people to myself' (John 12:32). Not some people. Not Christian people. All people.”
- “I happen to have been born in Chicago into a Christian family. I didn’t ask to be born into this family that practiced the Christian faith; I just was. Someone else was born in Delhi, India, on the same day I was born, but into a Hindu family. That kid didn’t ask to be born into his Hindu-practicing family; he just was. Surely we cannot claim that God privileges certain ones of us with an eternal home because of our birthplace or cultural background. Nor would we want to argue that we receive a club access card because we uttered a theological formula about Jesus.” (read article here)
Lutheran Pastor Tom Brock responded to The Lutheran article on Facebook saying, “If anyone doubts that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pushes the heresy of universalism--the teaching that all people will be saved whether they believe in Jesus or not--see the article...from The Lutheran, the ELCA's official magazine. Tragic what the writer does with John 14:6, turning the teaching of Jesus on its ear. The author's point is that you don't really need faith in Christ to be saved. John 14:6, Acts 4:12 and 16:31 teach otherwise. No wonder the number of missionaries the ELCA sends out has gone down. If everyone is saved, no need to send missionaries.”
The other day a came across another ELCA pastor publicly proclaiming universalism. ELCA pastor Scot Ruffatto in Mukwonago, Wisconsin (former missionary of the ELCA to the Central African Republic) writes this on his church's blog:
- “I interpret that the God revealed through Jesus Christ is saving EVERYONE no matter what.”
- “Is it too radical to say that all people are saved through Christ whether they believe in him or not? Why should we care anyway? Wouldn’t it be great if the church proclaimed that everyone is going to heaven so stop worrying about it?” (read here)
- “The only difference between 'us' and 'them' is that we are really fortunate to have taken the red pill and now we know the truth. The truth that all are loved, forgiven, empowered to endure this sometimes crummy world. Our job, then, is simply to tell everyone that they too can have that peace and everlasting life in Jesus. And if they don’t believe in Jesus it’s not that they go to hell, it’s simply that they are going to miss out on the fulness of life now.” (read here)
People will be going to hell for eternity because the ELCA has embraced the teaching of universalism and as a result are not proclaiming the Truth of God's Word which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” - John 3:16-18
See more documentation of the ELCA teaching universalism. (here and here)