Norman Teigen has left a new comment on your post "Where Are the Works of Faith with UOJ?":
There is, sadly, a legacy of church toxicity present in all denominations. As one who was raised in the conservative Lutheran tradition (ELS) I have seen my share of sorrow in the Little Norqegian Synod.
Your post and a pastoral retirement this weekend brought the subject of religious toxicity back into my thoughts.
The retiring pastor is LC-MS. He is one of about 15 or 20 ELS guys who were forced out when they were young. Now these men, having faithfully served in the pastoral ministry for many years, are at retirement age.
I see it as a generation of pastors sacrificed for a hollow set of ideals.
I am not exaggerating when I say that the ELS is less of a synod with these lost men who have been replaced by men of mediocrity.
The ELS has particularly been adrift since the late 1980s when the Orvickean hierarchy kow-towed to the men of WELS. The WELSification of the ELS is noted by all and mourned by many.
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GJ - I still have the essay that the ELS leaders wrote against the leftward drift of the LCMS. I keep that as proof that clergy once had spines.
The leaders are not going to change what has feathered their nests, given them trips abroad, and left them unchallenged.
They all saw the Thrivent and Schwan money as a great blessing from heaven, but selling a billionaire an indulgence so he can marry his married, papist girlfriend? Could that be corrupting? Not for those who believe, teach, and confess UOJ.
