ELCA Exposed News on Universalism and Hell
Head ELCA Bishop Says There May Be a Hell But She Thinks It Is Empty. . .If you doubt that the ELCA teaches universalism, here is the ELCA's presiding bishop making it clear. If hell is empty, all people are saved. That is universalism. It is a dangerous heresy, a false teaching, which puts individuals' eternal destiny at risk. . .
Does the ELCA teach another Gospel?. . .The reality is that the ELCA is not the church the average Lutheran person in the pew thinks it is. For many, the church is what they see every Sunday and what they participate in during the week in church related activities. However, in giving dollars to the ELCA by way of benevolences is actually promoting a non-Lutheran and even a non-Christian understanding of salvation and the role of Christ’s church in this world. . .
ELCA Goes Universalist?. . .took a surprising turn as a newly-adopted inter-faith policy statement asserts there are “limits of our knowing” the way to God the Father. . .
Avoid broad road of doctrinal tolerance (PDF File) - Page 2 and 3In his final theological contribution to the ELCA, Bouman carefully removed the need for repentance and saving faith. Justification through faith has been the foundation of Christian theology for 2,000 years. Jesus understood man's greatest need when he came on the scene proclaiming, "Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15)
ELCA Presiding Bishop's letter to church about Universalism (here) and the church council's reply (here or here) - 2023Above is a letter from ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton to an ELCA church who is concerned about the Presiding Bishop's statement to the Chicago Sun Times when asked, "Is there a hell?" Bishop Eaton replied,
“There may be, but I think it’s empty.” Also linked above is the ELCA Church Council's reply to Bishop Eaton and her letter. ELCA Teaching that I'm Sure the Devil LovesNo need to believe in Jesus. Believe whatever you want! ELCA seminary professor, David J. Lull, says you are going to heaven no matter what. . .
Dr. Walter Bouman (Trinity Seminary) said: “Difficult as it is -- because I always think of it as unfair -- I’ve come to accept God’s universal salvation as the final consequence of Jesus’ resurrection” (The Lutheran, Nov. 2005, p. 24).
Major Lutheran (ELCA) Leader Says “Hell is Empty” (The Bishop of the Metropolitan New York Synod of the ELCA). . .With a fake smile and a motto of “this bishop loves you,” Egensteiner spreads the worst kind of hatred toward mankind that one can possibly muster up by withholding the truth about God from them.. . .
Does Faith in Jesus Matter?. . . their proposal simply shows that too many in prominent positions in the ELCA no longer believe that faith in Jesus matters (the motion passed with little or no expressed objection according to our sources). Or at least they don’t believe that it matters in the sense the Bible teaches, that there is “no other Name under heaven by which we must be saved.” . .
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Shake It Up or Shake It Off?
. . .Be it resolved that the New England Synod memorialize the ELCA Churchwide Assembly to initiate a process to amend the phrase “bring all people to faith in Christ” in C4.02b and its constitutional parallels in order to achieve greater consonance with both our understanding of Christian witness and sensitivity to our interfaith contexts. . .
From the Official ELCA Website on Salvation
"Because Jesus is the unique and universal Savior, there is a large hope for salvation, not only for me and others with the proper credentials of believing and belonging to the church, but for all people whenever or wherever they might have lived and no matter how religious or irreligious they may have proved to be themselves. It is clearly God’s announced will that all people shall be saved and come to the knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:4)."
The ELCA funded and produced Bible makes claim for universal salvation - The Augsburg Fortress Lutheran Study Bible (first printing)
Matt: 28:16-20
“The eleven disciples went to Galilee . . . Jesus now sends the disciples to make disciples of all nations. That does not mean make everyone disciples. Most people who are helped by Jesus and believe in him never become disciples. Jesus includes in salvation people who do not believe in him or ever know about him (5:3-10; 25:31-45).” page 1658.
Matt 5:3-12
“The Beatitudes create what they declare. Jesus makes the new world of God’s rule actual now in this broken world. Yet it also remains a promised future. Notice that they do not depend on faith or even on knowing Jesus. This is one way God creates salvation.”
Matt: 25:31-46
“The parable speaks of a surprising way the unbelieving nations have a relationship to Jesus. Jesus’ word is a promise that creates what it declares. Jesus makes these little ones, who suffer and are broken, the place of his presence in our world, even for those who do not believe in him or know about it. This is one way Jesus creates salvation for those who do not even know him.”
“The eleven disciples went to Galilee . . . Jesus now sends the disciples to make disciples of all nations. That does not mean make everyone disciples. Most people who are helped by Jesus and believe in him never become disciples. Jesus includes in salvation people who do not believe in him or ever know about him (5:3-10; 25:31-45).” page 1658.
Matt 5:3-12
“The Beatitudes create what they declare. Jesus makes the new world of God’s rule actual now in this broken world. Yet it also remains a promised future. Notice that they do not depend on faith or even on knowing Jesus. This is one way God creates salvation.”
Matt: 25:31-46
“The parable speaks of a surprising way the unbelieving nations have a relationship to Jesus. Jesus’ word is a promise that creates what it declares. Jesus makes these little ones, who suffer and are broken, the place of his presence in our world, even for those who do not believe in him or know about it. This is one way Jesus creates salvation for those who do not even know him.”
Pastor Harrison's Convention Report
. . .The complications brought about by the recent decision on homosexuality are only the most recent high-water mark of what has been a rising tide of pain, sorrow, and frustration in dealing with ELCA leadership, whom I have personally heard confess that there is salvation outside of faith in Christ. . .
The History of Universalism (document made by the Christian Universalist Association)
. . .The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is one of the best examples of this, because Martin Luther himself never embraced Universalism, but the ELCA today is one of the major Lutheran denominations and some of its ministers openly teach the salvation of all. . .
Official ELCA website explicitly endorses the universalist heresy
The ELCA has publicly embraced the ancient heresy of universalism, willfully ignoring the fact that both the writings of Paul and the sayings of Jesus which universalists cherry-pick in support of their position elsewhere categorically exclude it. . .
Drifting Toward Universalism? (on p.23 of this pdf)
I recently read an article that — more than any other I’ve ever read — confirmed my suspicion that many mainline Protestant denominations might be drifting toward universalism. The article — entitled “Who Gets Saved” — was Pastor Peter Marty’s regular column in the March 2014 issue of The Lutheran, the monthly magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). . .
It's Raining Grace
. . .But, there are scholars within the ELCA that promote a very different understanding of salvation. Though not taught as official doctrine of this wayward Lutheran denomination, the concept of universalism is gaining steam and is being taught in ELCA churches and seminaries. . .
Evangelical Lutheran Worship and Universalism (article is near the bottom of the webpage)
. . .So the ELW version turns “You Are the Way” into a universalistic hymn. Universalism holds there are many ways to be saved – so that everyone will be saved. It insists that faith in Christ Jesus, the only Son of God, isn’t the only way of salvation. But why would Lutherans want their new worship book to be universalistic? The Bible condemns universalism. . .
The Race and the Not-So-Swift
. . .The ELCA, like other "mainline" denominations, is effectively Universalist today. Universalists, after all, get invited to the nice parties and are almost never made fun of in movies. The ELCA still talks about the Cross, for the benefit of the rubes who actually sit in the pews and pay the bills, but the people in the upstairs offices mostly agree that there's really no such place as Hell. . .
Dangerous Deletions
. . .And the chopping up seems to be done, as happens often with the lectionary, in service to an agenda other than the proclamation of God's truth...Universalism is un-Christian and un-Lutheran. Yet it rears its head in many ways in mainline churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America of which I'm a part.
The ELCA’s “Declaration of Inter-Religious Commitment”
. . .Zachary Johnson, Lay-Delegate to the ELCA’s 2019 Churchwide Assembly. . .
"All are saved" false teaching by ELCA pastor
. . ."All are saved and that’s really good news #universalsalvation #evangelismdoesntsaveanyone". . .
ELCA Presiding ‘Bishop’ Claims: ‘There May Be a Hell, But I Think It’s Empty’
The presiding “bishop” of the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) opined in an interview this week with the Chicago Sun-Times that Hell is empty because God doesn’t give up on those who reject Him. . .
ELCA Pastor Jeff Fitzkappes on Hell
ELCA Rev. Jeff Fitzkappes says we should "give up, or soften, our belief in Hell."
Lutheran Bishops and an Empty Hell?
. . .Mainline Protestants have identified exclusion as the ultimate problem, and, Harmon observed, “nothing is as exclusive as Hell.”. .
More Articles and Evidence on Universalism and the ELCA
Additional information on Hell and the ELCA
Quotes on ELCA and Universalism:
"When an ELCA seminarian (not especially conservative by my standards) told me that he was one of a very small minority in his class who were not universalists, it was no news to me." - Lars Walker