Radio Silence

The Wall Street Journal ^ | March 28, 2008 | Mollie Ziegler Hemingway

[The Shrew]

Usually radio hosts have to offend sacred moral sensibilities to be thrown off the air. Opie and Anthony were fired after they encouraged a couple to have sex in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Don Imus lost his job after using racist and sexist epithets against the Rutgers University women's basketball team.

But when the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod canceled its popular, nationally syndicated radio program "Issues, Etc.," listeners were baffled. Billed as "talk radio for the thinking Christian," the show was known for its lively discussions analyzing cultural influences on the American church. It seemed like precisely the thing that the Missouri Synod, a 2.4-million-member denomination whose system of belief is firmly grounded in Scripture and an intellectually rigorous theology, would enthusiastically support.

[The Shrew]

Lutheran Ping!

[The Shrew]

Thought you should see this. Please hit the Lutheran Ping List.

Regards,

TS

[huskerjim]

They must have said something that did follow the Kieschnick line. The current LCMS presidents seems to only be concerned about his own power and interests.

[iowamark]

Liberals strike again:

The Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, the synod's current president, has pushed church marketing over the Lutherans' historic confession of faith by repeatedly telling the laity, "This is not your grandfather's church."...

While "Issues, Etc." never criticized Mr. Kieschnick or his colleagues, its attacks against shallow church marketing included mention of some approaches embraced by the current leadership. It opposed, for instance, the emergent church -- an attempt to accommodate postmodern culture by blending philosophies and practices from throughout the church's history -- and the Purpose Driven Church movement, which reorients the church's message toward self-help and self-improvement.

[The Shrew]

They must have said something that did follow the Kieschnick line. The current LCMS presidents seems to only be concerned about his own power and interests.

It's more difficult to spell his name than it is to figure out his agenda.

TS

[Philo-Junius]

First they came for the Missouri Synod, but I was Wisconsin Synod...

[hsalaw]

First they came for the Missouri Synod, but I was Wisconsin Synod...

Then they can for the Wisconsin Synod, but I was ELCA. . . .

[Boagenes]

If the LCMS gets any further toward the liberal cliff, I’m joining the Catholic Church. It’ll be the only conservative, orthodox, confessional, liturgical denomination left.

[teletech]

Speaking as an LCMS member, it is frightening how liberal LCMS has become.

[lightman]

Lutheran Ping!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

[Boagenes]

So if the LCMS falls to the liberals, where does an LCMS member go? There's no viable Protestant denominations left. ELCA is already firmly in the hands of the liberals and about to allow homosexuals into the priesthood. The Episcopalians have already taken the leap over the apostasy cliff. The Wisconsin Synod is too small, and you can't find any churches.

Where does this leave a conservative Protestant who seeks a liturgical, confessional, orthodox church? So far as I can tell, only the Greek Orthodox or Catholics are viable options. I see the ELCA as being only about 10 years ahead of the LCMS. I see women pastors, same-sex "blessings", and the whole ELCA mess coming to the LCMS just a few years down the road.

Oh well, I like this Pope...

[lightman]

There are two very lively discussions on this matter taking place on the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau forum:

www.alpb.org/forum/index.php?topic=1312.0

and

www.alpb.org/forum/index.php?topic=1312.0

[lightman]

Second link should be http://www.alpb.org/forum/index.php?topic=1329.0

[jackibutterfly]

"So if the LCMS falls to the liberals, where does an LCMS member go? "

Welcome to Catholicism! The first AND original Christian "denomination".

[lightman]

Oh well, I like this Pope...

So do I: His Introduction to Christianity contains many statements on faith as God's gift which could just as well have been written by Luther or Melancthon.

[Zetman]

If the LCMS gets any further toward the liberal cliff, I’m joining the Catholic Church. It’ll be the only conservative, orthodox, confessional, liturgical denomination left.

We have biggum problems with liberals in the Catholic Church too. Beware of any Parish which says that it follows "the Spirit of Vatican II"!! That phrase is used by liberal Catholics to redefine Catholicism to be whatever they want it to be. A few years back, I finally found a more orthodox Catholic Parish, and now I make the trek there every Sunday. They do what is known most commonly as "the Old Latin Mass". I found that in the Catholic Church, Latin=Conservative, and strongly opposed to Latin=liberal (generally speaking). There are, of course, Conservative parishes which do the newer English language Mass, but one must be careful, and sometimes one must search long and hard to find them!!

Good luck !!

[Philo-Junius]

Then they came for the ELCA, and there was no one left to bake a hotdish for me!

[Terriergal]

ping! The cockroaches are trying VERY hard not to scatter from the lights being shone on their little party.

[Terriergal]

The current prez Kieschnick is purpose driven. That very morning he did a vision casting segment on KFUO that sounded like so many purpose driven takeover sermons I’ve heard.

[Terriergal]

Then they can for the Wisconsin Synod, but I was ELCA. . . .

WAIT a minute -- ELCA has been off the map for a LONG time....