Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
Posted on 09/26/2009 8:40:23 PM PDT by SmithL
FISHERS, IND. — Conservative members of the nation's largest Lutheran denomination voted Saturday to spend the next 12 months deciding whether to split from the church after it liberalized its stance on gay clergy.
About 1,200 people meeting in suburban Indianapolis approved a constitution for the conservative umbrella group Lutheran CORE and a resolution directing its steering committee to report back in a year on whether to stay within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, form their own denomination or join another.
Some members urged the assembly to more quickly sever ties with the 4.7-million member ELCA after the vote last month to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, dropping a requirement that gay clergy remain celibate.
"Some congregations already have voted to leave ELCA," CORE's chairman, the Rev. Paull Spring of State College, Pa., said at a news conference afterward. "Others have not voted or do not intend to leave ELCA."
Spring and other CORE leaders said their decision a year from now could lead to a reconfiguration of Lutheranism in the United States and Canada.
CORE's meeting this year drew much more interest than the one in 2008, when about 300 people attended. For this year's meeting. CORE had to move to a Roman Catholic church that could hold about 1,000 people, and the group cut off registrations at 1,200.
Participants said they believe the ELCA has reinterpreted Scripture to portray homosexuality more favorably.
"It's totally against what's in the Bible," said Jo Pruett, who said attendance at her ELCA congregation in Rockdale, Texas, has fallen off in recent years because of "waffling" by the denomination. "We're interpreting the Bible to suit society today."
The 71-year-old Spring,...received a standing ovation Friday night when he said the ELCA "has fallen into heresy."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I’m not sure I’m willing to endure the ELCA for another year.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
I think our Theological differences are still to deep, otherwise I would encourage you to swim the Tiber and come home to Rome. Until then, we’ll let you use our Churches for meetings.
We may not need to...we might be thrown out before then. LOL.
Wow. I wasn’t aware of this; glad I happened upon this on my view visits to “Religion” section.
ELCA is the liberal wing, so it doesn’t totally shock me about homos.
But good for these people for standing up. Just like the “Episcopal” conservatives.
I was in 2 ELCA churches, which I liked overall, but knew they could be weak-kneed. Now I am in Missouri Synod; more traditional (although you wouldn’t know it going to my little rented business-park church complete with “Contemporary” jamming) in theory.
My MO Synod bothers me by caving to idiots and changing words of the Nicene Creed. Such as “holy, apostolic and CHRISTIAN church”. Drives me insane that they’re so sensitive to silliness like that.
It’s not about ‘believing’ they reinterpreted what the bible says about homosexuality. It’s about THE FACT they did so.
Nonbelievers and secular humanists often color such hope as “pollyannish” or naive. For many, this is how they make it through the day ~ for some ~ through life.
Teaching on this issue is very clear. It is sinful.
For me, altering or adjusting such a “reality”, even by just a fraction, to suit my own need and desires cast every single word of the Bible into doubt.
All of it; the things that I love to hear ~ the comfort of our Redeemer, the promise of eternal life with our Creator, along with the directives on sin and admonitions ~ becomes one great fairytale.
I can't think of a sadder or more hopeless situation.
Rationalization is the second greatest human drive.
If what you folks want is essentially the ELCA as it was before the recent vote, wouldn’t one of the other branches of Lutheranism be appropriate? It seems that the last thing we need in these pagan times is even more sectarianism. In the old days the Episcopalians could have been an alternative, not so much these days. The Anglican breakaways might be an alternative, or even the Orthodox or Tiber swimming.
Good luck and God bless you all.
I couldn’t take it anymore in September of 2005. I left for the LCMS and haven’t regretted it except for wishing I had done it when the ELCA was formed in the 90s!
Things have certainly changed since the 16th century.
MANY ELCA congregations, families, and individuals cannot wait even a few months to leave the ELCA!!!!
If your congregation wants to leave, have your council organize a vote NOW, and follow all the accepted procedures for leaving the ELCA. Then join LCMC, and take your property with you. You may affiliate with CORE if you wish.
If you are a family or an individual in an ultraliberal or hyperliberal synod and in a congregation that matches your synod’s complexion, CORE will not and cannot rescue you—not now, not in a year, probably not in 10 years. Don’t despair—you are NOT stuck! Pray to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ about your situation. Then learn about what other comparable church bodies and congregations are in your area—Lutheran (LCMS, etc.), Anglican, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic. Read, visit parishes, read, learn, and pray!
I hope and pray that many of y’all will return to the Orthodox Church, founded by Christ and the Apostles, once the Church of both East and West. I did, in 2008. And I believe that many now affiliated with Lutheran CORE and with LCMC will be seeking reception into the Orthodox Church in the next several years.
So there is no need to wait a full year, thinking that you are “stuck” in the ELCA, while worse and worse heresies and ecclesiastical outrages pile up on you and your family.
I’m not sure I’m willing to endure the ELCA for another year.
I agree with you. However, two short months probably doesn’t allow Core churches to get their affairs in order to be able to withstand a split from the ELCA.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.