http://www.lutherancore.org/pdf/newsrel-8-21-09.pdf
[Lutheran Coalition for Reform] 22 Aug 2009--Leaders of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Reform) expressed both great distress and firm resolve over the decision Friday, Aug. 21, by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to endorse gay marriage and to change its standards to allow pastors and other rostered
leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships.
Lutheran CORE leaders are calling on faithful Lutherans to meet in Indianapolis in September to begin an expanded ministry that draws faithful ELCA congregations and members together. They are also encouraging ELCA members and congregations to direct finances away from the ELCA churchwide organization to faithful ministries within and outside of the ELCA.
“Lutheran CORE is continuing in the Christian faith as it has been passed down to us by generations of Christians. The ELCA is the one that has departed from the teaching of the Bible as understood by Christians for 2,000 years,” said the Rev. Paull Spring of State College, Pa., chair of Lutheran CORE. “I am saddened that a Lutheran Church that was founded on a firm commitment to the Bible has come to the
point that the ELCA would vote to reject the Bible’s teaching on marriage and homosexual behavior. It breaks my heart.”
“The assembly has voted to remove the ELCA from the universal Christian consensus on marriage and homosexual behavior. Lutheran CORE intends to remain faithful to the clear teaching of Scripture and the consistent teaching of the Christian Church worldwide and throughout time,” said Ryan Schwarz of Washington, D.C., a member of the Lutheran CORE Steering Committee, who was a finalist in Friday’s election for ELCA Vice President.
“The ELCA Confession of Faith says that Scripture is ‘source and norm’ of the church’s faith and life, but this assembly has shown that the ELCA is willing to violate what it officially says it believes about the Bible,” Schwarz said. “It is appalling that ELCA leaders brought these proposals to a vote. The church should not be voting on whether or not to follow the teaching of the Bible.”
“Luther’s stand was on the Word of God and sound reason. He was not convinced then, and we are not convinced now. We just voted out the Word of God, sound reason and the good orders of creation,” said Jaynan Clark of Spokane, Wash., president of the WordAlone Network. The WordAlone Network is one of the renewal organizations that make up Lutheran CORE. “When God said, ‘I Am Who I Am,’ He meant it. It’s not I am who you want me to be or who you remake me to be. God and His Word are the authority over all of faith and life. It’s not up for a vote,” she added. “And He always gets the last word.”
10 comments:
Robin,
The times they are a changing. Maybe you need to think the scary thought -- that it might could be that this is where the Spirit is blowing. I watched parts of the Lutheran convention -- it was calm, prayerful and earnest in seeking the guidance of the Spirit.
FWIW
jimB
WWLD, What Would Luther Do?
I simply do not know. I know he believed that the Spirit could blow where it would and that prayers for guidance sincerely offered were heard.
Blessed Martin was a complex and intelligent person. He would have thought, prayed and written certainly but I think it would be presumptuoius to think we can say what he might have said.
FWIW
jimB
The bible itself is rife with contradictions. The root of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as our Savior, and his teachings. He taught us to love one another. Ultimately that is the most important thing any of us can do. I struggled with organized religion, largely due in part to the discrimination, injustice and ostracizing of anyone who doesn't fit the mold of a "good" Christian. The Lord knows that I am not perfect-- none of us are, yet many churches feel just in deciding who's perfect enough to be accepted into the fold.
Last week the ELCA had to make a choice between God's Love and Scripture. The council chose God's Love. You can't argue over that.
I went back to church today, after seven years away, with my faith renewed, a smile on my face and a prayer of Thanksgiving in my heart.
Jim, the only "spirit" blowing a church in the direction of sexual immorality is the spirit of deception.
Martin Luther upheld the Scriptures as the final word in matters of morality and doctrine. Anyone reading the Smalcald Articles and Luther's Catechism could conclude that Luther would not have approved such nonsense.
Jim,
If you study the Bible, you learn a lot about what the Holy Spirit does and does not do. What was at work at the ECLA Church-wide Assembly, based upon what is revealed in the Bible about how the Holy Spirit works, was not the Spirit of God but the spirit of the age. The Holy Spirit creates unity and not causes division. The Holy Spirit builds up the Church and not tears it down. The Holy Spirit promotes holiness and godliness and not unholiness and ungodliness.
As Article XXI draws to our attention, "...forasmuch as they be an assembly of men, whereof all be not governed with the Spirit and Word of God,) they may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God."
If you examine the history of the Church, you will discover that it is not uncommon for those wishing to introduce an innovation in doctrine or practice to claim the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Anabaptists certainly did at the time of the Reformation. They set aside the Bible and claimed direct guidance from God in the form of personal relevations. The response of the Anglican and the Continental Reformers was to insist that all such revelations should be tested and tried against the Bible.
The Bible does not sanction homosexual behavior. Indeed the Bible condemns it and equates it with rebellion against God. A minister who lives a homosexual life style has no place as a pastor-teacher of the church. His life contradicts what the Bible teaches. Neither does a minister who steals, commits adultery, slanders his fellow Christians, and the like. If the shepherd strays so will the sheep.
Robin,
There are alternate readings as you know. The 39 errors do not govern and the reaction to the anabaptists did not stop their ideas. Until recently, the "Soul Competency" of the Southern and other Baptist conventions continued their thoughts. In some Baptist conventions other than the SBC they still do.
FWIW
jimB
Jim,
Alternative readings or multiple misinterpretations?
Sixteenth century Anabaptism is alive and well in The Episcopal Church, not the Southern Baptism Convention. The sixteenth century Anabaptists and contemporary Baptists have only one thing in common--the practice of rebaptism.
As you know, I move in Baptist circles and are well acquainted with what they believe. I have yet to run into anyone who believes in personal revelations from the Holy Spirit that trump the Bible or Jesus was only a man or that we are saved by whatever faith that we embrace-views typically evidenced by the sixteenth century Anabaptists and encountered in today's Episcopal Church. Contemporary Baptists tend to be cessionists and Trinitarians and believe in justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Some Baptists are Reformed in their theology; others are Arminian.
Robin,
I don't think we teach that private inspiration "trumps scripture." You and others read some 6 or 8 verses in isolation as condemning all lesbian / gay conduct. I and others think that is a misreading. The fact that it is a traditional misreading does mean that we need to make the case, but I at least think we have.
I do not pray much in Baptist circles, with the exception of Primitive Baptists with whom I share a devotion to the Sacred Harp. I do sing and pray with them from time to time.
They and I share an amazed distance from the SBC which has in my view become a wholly owned subsidiary of the IRD. I don't want to over-state this but I think they and I agree that something is lost over there.
I find in the concept of soul competency not an ability to 'trump' but rather to read and seek interpretive guidance.
.
FWIW
jimB
FWIW
jimB
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