Thursday, October 28, 2010

How Does UOJ Differ from ELCA's Position?



Could this be why hundreds of ELCA congregations have left Holy Mother Ho and decided against joining the WELS, ELS, or LCMS? -
same universalism as ELCA.


Exposing the ELCA

Exposing the ELCA has documented that the ELCA’s official website supports and promotes Universal Salvation, the belief that “everyone will be saved.”  Within a section called “What We Believe,” on a page dealing with “Salvation” the denomination states:

"Because Jesus is the unique and universal Savior, there is a large hope for salvation, not only for me and others with the proper credentials of believing and belonging to the church, but for all people whenever or wherever they might have lived and no matter how religious or irreligious they may have proved to be themselves. It is clearly God’s announced will that all people shall be saved and come to the knowledge of truth (1 Timothy 2:4)."
(See here)


This is not the only mention of this false teaching on the ELCA website.  On “The Resurrection” page, is a subheading “Resurrection for all?”  The ELCA document, after first saying that most of the verses in the Bible say not everyone will be saved, goes on to say, 

"(B)ut ELCA members also look to New Testament texts that go beyond those parameters . . . Lutheran theologian Joseph Sittler coined the phrase ‘Cosmic Christ’ in his 1952 address to the New Delhi assembly of the World Council of Churches, saying, ‘It is now excruciatingly clear that Christ cannot be a light that lighteth everyone coming into the world, if he is not also the light that falls upon the world into which everyone comes.’"

A little later it states, “For ELCA members, the resurrection that completes the victory of Christ over sin and death is not intended for Christians alone.”

The article continues, 

"Beyond that,

  • our belief that Christ came into the world to redeem the world (John 3:17)
  • our belief in the proclamation that God has ‘a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth,’ (Ephesians 1:10) 
  • our trust in God’s righteousness 
causes us to bear witness that Christ, the principal of creation, is also the principal of the new life initiated by his resurrection for all creation. For St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:19, ‘in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.’

ELCA members believe that, being ‘entrusted’ with this message of reconciliation, we are to proclaim this salvation intended for all humankind, this redemption of the whole world, this resurrection to new life.” (see here

This is on the ELCA’s official website, and it is contained in a section called “What We Believe.”  Is there any doubt the ELCA is preaching Universal Salvation?

To read more evidence that the ELCA teaches and promotes Universal Salvation see here.  


---

Brett Meyer has left a new comment on your post "How Does UOJ Differ from ELCA's Position?":

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and School (W)ELS teaches this clearly:

Brett,
I now must say that you are splitting hairs. ALL MEN ARE SAVED (the guilt of their sins has been washed away), because Christ paid the price for ALL sins. Once again I would go to Romans 5: 12 – 19. Are all going to heaven (saved)?NO. Because not all believe in Jesus as their Savior. Just as the
analogy of the money in the bank asserts: If you don’t believe it is there for you the account will do you no good. Objective justification says that the forgiveness of sins has been completely earned by Christ’s merit, i.e. it is “objectively” there for faith to accept. The faith of the believer doesn’t add anything or complete justification.

That’s all I can say.

In His Service,
Stephan Rodmyre
Principal HTLS