Security! Security!"
Everyone is piling on the ELCA, suddenly discovering that the Lavender Mafia was running things.
ELCA teaches forgiveness without faith. So does Missouri, WELS, and the rest. The only difference is where they are on the Pietism time-line. ELCA is just a little more advanced and obvious, but they have not published a Party in the Fire Island Pines video. In that respect they are a little behind WELS.
Some of us doing research on UOJ wondered what happened to Knapp's theology. That is quite clear. He was a mainline theologian for America, thanks to the Woods double-justification translation. Tholuck dropped the second justification, SJ, and became an open Universalist. The mainline groups did the same thing. They all dropped justification by faith, so that Gospel means universal absolution for them.
The Syn Conference is on the Pietism apostasy train, just a little farther behind, as Sasse observed a long time ago. UOJ is another name for ELCA's Gospel reductionism. Everyone is forgiven, so there are no issues.
WELS can be ecumenical with any group because everyone is forgiven without faith. When challenged, they rail against faith the same way ELCA raves against anyone dissenting from their program.
In spite of all their yakking about which synod is better, they all work with ELCA through Thrivent and follow ELCA's agenda. The reason is that they agree about doctrine. They are all apostates together.
The synod leaders are united in being greedy for money, so the lowest common denominator rules. They are not offended that Thrivent (a Lutheran benevolence society) gives away millions to Habitat for Humanity. The idea of a mutual benevolence society is to return money to members (Lutherans) in exchange for tax benefits from the government. Thrivent has turned Lutheran money into a goldmine for Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army.
For all those reasons, the Lutheran sects are broke and failing. They rob the seminarians, sending them into debt prison for the lottery chance of winning a call. (Your chances are doubled if you do post-grad work at Fuller!) The so-called benevolence money goes toward synod attorneys, which are either defending legitimate lawsuits against them or suing congregations to steal their property.
I love you, Evangelical Covenant* Methodist Disciples-of-Christ Craig.
Say hello to Ski and Glende for me."
*The E. Convenant Church began in Lutheran Pietism.
