You can read the full article at the Star Tribune.
Bishop Peter Strommen of NE Minnesota (Duluth) said:
"After many years of study and conversation, this church [the ELCA] does not have consensus regarding loving and committed same-gender relationships,"Have you tried reading the Bible on this subject Mr. Strommen? It is pretty clear. If you are unable to discern the clear teachings in scripture, how on earth are you going to lead people in your denomination? This from a BISHOP! If Martin Luther read that he'd probably puke then punch you in the throat. What exactly is it that you are studying for all these years?
Further down in the article:
People on both sides had hoped the report would endorse their position. Its neutrality left them feeling mutually frustrated. Mark Chavez, director of the World Alone Network, which opposes gay ordination, thinks the bishops will try to avoid taking a church-wide stand.
"They're preparing the way for a local option on blessing same-sex relationships and ordaining practicing homosexuals," he said.
But gay-rights supporters weren't happy with the language, either.
"This draft merely tolerates rather than celebrates the presence of same-gender families in the church," said Emily Eastwood, executive director of Lutherans Concerned/North America. "If the church wishes to hold persons in same-gender relationships to the same ethical standards as heterosexuals, then the church must offer the same standards of support and benefit."
Celebrate? Blow the dust off your Bible - GOD DOES NOT CELEBRATE SIN. Yikes!
Do we love the people who are GLBT? 100% - without question. We love them just like we love the guy cheating on his wife, or the rapist, or the drug addict, or the lady with the porn stash, or the person who is "just borrowing" money from their office. They are fully children of God, and they are as deserving of God's grace as I am. Is celebrating a sinful lifestyle loving? No! Not in the least. As we are gracious, we must also be truthful. They cannot be separated. God is loving, but he is also righteous.
The salt has lost it's saltiness in many places in the ELCA.
Technorati Tags:
ELCA, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Lutheran, Bible, Jesus, Star Tribune, Duluth, Bishop Strommen, Martin Luther, Luther, Homosexuality, Gay-rights, Emily Eastwood, Lutherans Concerned, Sin, GLBT, Mark Chavez, World Alone Network, Lutheran Synod,
4 comments:
It's a mess, true--which is why the ELCA needs good pastors to stand firm in a very challenging time. So here I am.
And that is why I haven't hounded my family to leave the church they are at. While I wouldn't call it conservative, it's not the moral mess we have here in Minnesota. South Dakota (as a whole) is far less impacted by this than many other regions. But when it pulls the ELCA down, it is going to do a number to these unfortunate bystander churches.
There are a few that are working pretty hard at speaking for the truth--the church I'm serving, Redeemer Lutheran in Fridley, for example--but you're right--they're not in the majority by far. I'm convinced (hopefully I'm also right) that the majority of church laity are relatively clueless about the mess the bishops and other leaders are making of the church, and would have a fit if they actually knew all of it. I hope that's accurate, anyway.
Oh, and your Technorati tag should be "WORD Alone," not "WORLD alone."
Pete
Post a Comment