ECLCA Churchwide Assembly votes fall short of full victory for orthodox Lutherans

Commentary by Robin G. Jordan

By 503 votes to 490 orthodox Lutherans defeated an attempt to sanction the ordination and rostering of sexually active gays and lesbians . The ECLA Churchwide Assembly, however, left standing a vaguely worded 1993 policy statement on “pastoral care and welcome” to gays and lesbians, that has been interpreted by some ECLA pastors and churches as permitting the blessing of same sex unions. How blessing what God does not bless can be construed as pastoral care – spiritual guidance and care – is beyond me. The Scriptures tell us that those who do not warn a sinner and the sinner perishes in his sin, then the blood of the sinner will be required of them. Our Lord reminds us that while temptation will come, woe to the one through whom temptation comes. Better to be cast into the sea with a stone millstone tied around one’s neck than to cause another to sin. The Scriptures also tell us that preachers and teachers will be held to a stricter accounting on the Day of Judgment than others. We are not free to treat the sins of others as of no consequence to ourselves. We can cause them to sin by our failure to draw to their attention the sinful nature of their relationships, to call them to repentance, and to treat sin as sin. The ECLA pastor and the ECLA church that blesses the unions of gays and lesbians puts temptation in their path – the temptation to believe that what is detestable to God is acceptable to Him and even blessed by Him. This hardly meets the standards of good pastoral care. Let us not forget that the human heart is extremely wicked and deceitful. Only God alone is able to search the human hearts and know our darkest secrets, even those that we hide from ourselves. What some would have us believe is caring for gays and lesbians is disobedience and rebellion. The apostles warn us against such false teachers and prophets as does our Lord.

Orthodox Lutherans must stand firm for the teaching of the Bible. At the next Churchwide Assembly in 2009 those who seek to normalize homosexuality in the ELCA will again seek the sanctioning of the ordination and rostering of non-celibate gays and lesbians and the blessing of same sex unions by that body.