Cultural Revolution: The ELCA's attempt to bless same-sex marriages

Chronicles Magazine ^ | May 2004 | Aaron D. Worf

[Charles Henrickson]

I don't want to hijack this thread, which is about another subject, so I will just refer you to what I have written and documented at length concerning the "A Prayer for America" interfaith prayer service and how it does not fit with our biblical, confessional, historic position. And that would be my Yankee Stadium analysis, which I linked in post 7.

In the LCMS constitution it states that under unique events, exceptions are to be made.

Where in the LCMS constitution does it state that, BQ? I have read the constitution a number of times and never seen anything that states or even implies that a national tragedy gives our clergy the license to participate in leading a unionistic and syncretistic prayer service.

[Charles Henrickson]

Hey, it took a two-year study by the Missouri folks in the mid-fifties before they finally came to the conclusion that it was Okay to pray with other non-Missouri Lutherans as long as a disclaimer was attached that such folks were not in pulpit & altar fellowship w/other such Lutherans. Charles, I'd like your opinion on that.

I'm not familiar with the study you are referencing. Also, are you referring to a laymen leading a table prayer in his home, for example, or to an LCMS clergyman leading prayers in a service with official representatives of other church bodies (not to mention other religions)? There are distinctions to be made here.

[BJClinton]

It's something that has come up from time to time in my congregation. We have a woman as a pastor and the main argument is that not including women was a social custom of the time rather than religious doctrine.

[Charles Henrickson]

. . . the main argument is that not including women was a social custom of the time rather than religious doctrine.

That argument does not hold water. Jesus was not a slave to social custom, was he? And the passages that prohibit women from being pastors are not based on passing social custom but rather on God's order of creation.

[mrustow]

Despite all of the ELCA’s appeals for meaningful dialogue ..

Anytime I hear a call for "meaningful dialogue," I reach for my gun. "Meaningful dialogue" means the fix is in. Heck, there were redundant giveaways, since they also said they'd have "an open and fair process in which all views will be heard and respected.”

[MegaSilver]

BAM! That nails it completely. The so called "historical-critical" method of Bible study is just a fancy way of denying the authority of Scripture! It frames the Bible as just a bunch of stories written by man; it strips the awe of divinity away from God's Word. And it's this heinous lie which is really the root cause of almost all the macro-problems in today's church.

Actually, I would argue (and I think the author would, too) that seminarians adopted false "historical-critical methods of exegesis" IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY things like contraception, female “clergy,” abortion, and homosexuality as an “orientation.” I say this because when you read Scripture in a REAL historical-critical method of exegesis (i.e., in the context of Jewish and Christian tradition), none of their arguments really hold water for very long.

They're just counting on the general public taking their word for it as "intellectuals" and not digging any deeper.