Narrow-minded Lutheran has left a new comment on your post "Bueller, Bueller. Anyone? Anyone?":
Sorry I poorly worded my point. ELCA is rotten, but the smugness of Missouri and WELS is nauseating. It would be like going on a date with a known prostitute vs. going out with a "nice" girl that tells you she is a part-time prostitute as you walk her to the door at the conclusion of the date. Once the "nice" girl is discovered to be not-so-nice, would you not run as fast as you could? Wouldn't you feel proud to take her home to Mom and Dad?
This was me five years ago in Missouri. Yes, we always pointed out the errors of ELCA, and rightly so. When I started considering sem, I began to study and look into things. The conclusion was that practice was not nearly as orthodox as the talk. I also concluded from this study that the vast majority of the laity are either ignorant, poorly catechized, or simply will never leave or make waves because their great-grandparents were LCMS-ers.
Missouri bad-mouths ELCA for their tolerance of homosexuality, and rightly so; but Missouri fails to discipline in the case of an openly-homosexual music director out West. Missouri bad-mouths ELCA for liberal Communion practice; but an LCMS seminary prof told me that it's the DP's job to enforce closed Communion when I asked him why the LCMS was not addressing the issue of closed Communion. Missouri bad-mouths female ordination in ELCA, yet LCMS females are allowed to assist in the distribution and readings.
I could go on for pages, so enough. My ultimate point is that LCMS is twenty-to-thirty years behind ELCA.
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GJ - WELS and Missouri are almost the same. The Little Sect on the Prairie objects to nothing in WELS and has its own Church and Change (Emerging Church) parish.
So ditto the ELS.
