Lutheran (EL
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
It is too late for any to tilt at the windmill of "reforming" the ELCA.
It is time now to find those fellow refugees from the shipwrecks of the ELCA and Episcopal Church and move forward into building a confessional and catholic community--not, as with the flawed formation of the ELCA-a "new church" but one established in the great Tradition, rooted in the Word and nourished by the holy Sacraments.
* as of August 19, AD 2009, a liberal protestant SECT, not part of the holy, catholic and apostolic CHURCH.
When it’s over, it’s over.
Ichabod - the glory has departed. Let ELCA sink, as another hopeless reprobate apostate church.
......Out of this human confusion, however, God may be raising up something new: a realignment in American Protestantism, bringing together those of catholic and orthodox tendency in all the liberal Protestant North American demonimations and uniting them with evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox....
The only way to be united with the Orthodox is to become Orthodox. That’s what Metropolitan Jonah told the Anglicans. That is also what Patriarch Jeremias told the Tuebingen Lutheran reformers in the 16th century. This is not because of some sort of Orthodox triumphalism, but for sound ecclesiological and theological reasons. The Orthodox Church is our long-lost home.
Faithful ELCA Lutherans who are “trapped in synods and congregations captured by the religious Left” (as I was) should not wait to be rescued by some sort of “new alignment”. If you’re in an ultraliberal synod, NO RESCUE is coming from that source. (I know from personal experience.) But the Holy Spirit has provided means to rescue you and yours right now. You’re not really trapped at all.
Start attending an English-language Orthodox parish as an inquirer now, and do everything you need to do to learn about Orthodoxy. Ask God for discernment as to the right path for you. Learn and learn, grow and grow!
If you are keeping your children home from school on Tuesday to avoid Dear Leader’s indoctrination speech, why not find an English-language Orthodox parish that will be serving Divine Liturgy Tuesday morning? Tuesday is the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos (the Virgin Mary’s birthday, which prepared the way for our salvation in Christ). It is one of the Twelve Great Feasts. Later that day, write a note to your child’s teacher that you gave him/her a REAL educational (and spiritual) experience!!!!
Beyond the nascent schism in the Lutheran church, this is the reason Christians and Jews of all stripe must oppose the specter of state-sanctioned homosexuality. The question of sexual conduct goes to the heart of the Judeo-Christian ethos, and a victory for homosexuality comes only at the expense of a meaningful religion.
The formation of the ELCA is what nudged Fr. Richard John Neuhaus into the Catholic Church. At the time, he said that the merger was not based on theological principle or belief, but was merely a material merger for material reasons—like a merger of Wal-Mart and K-Mart.
Neuhaus said he had always viewed the Lutheran “Church” as the Lutheran “Movement” within the universal Church. After the formation of the ELCA, he could not maintain that view—of Lutheranism as a principle-based movement within the Church.
Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the only Lutheran place to be. Either that or find a true Bible teaching church. My brother found one. We also have LCMS churches around here although not very many compared to the corrupted ELCA churches.
The ELCA is not a Christian church. It’s a church the same way that Tiller The Killer’s church was not a Christian church. It’s a place to meet and pretend you’re in a Christian church. Convienient for weddings, and other occassions, and so the secular types can “do” Christmas and other “fun” stuff they like.
The ELCA is evil. They state that abortion is an acceptable family planning practice right on www.elca.org. I confirmed it with an ELCA pastor face to face and also emailed the ELCA website and was told to “re-read” the webpage. They would not give me a simple yes or no. Too cowardly. The pastor though, did admit the ELCA is pro-death.
How sad. All those lost souls who attend. Very sad indeed.
Ping — very insightful comments on this thread.