Emergent Church Going Gay Lib. Brian McLaren's Son Marries Same-Sex Partner.

Brian McLaren's Son Marries Same-Sex Partner:

By Audrey Barrick , Christian Post Reporter

September 25, 2012|5:17 pm

The son of author and speaker Brian McLaren, who is often identified as part of the controversial emergent church, married his same-sex partner this past weekend.

Trevor Douglas McLaren, 28, wed Owen Patrick Ryan on Saturday in Washington, according to The New York Times. The marriage ceremony was officiated by a Universal Life minister, and his father, Brian McLaren, led a commitment ceremony with "traditional Christian elements" afterward.

The elder McLaren recently recalled to NPR the time his son – one of four sons – came out to him.

It had just been a couple of years when McLaren shifted his thinking and abandoned the traditional view of homosexuality being a sin that he grew up with.

"I had gone through my change in this view before I ever guessed that any of my kids might be gay," he said on the radio program.

"I was a good kid, I believed what I'd been told. And as a pastor, I started having gay people come out to me and what became clearer and clearer to me is that their experience was not explained by the theology I inherited," he explained. "And that it would be unjust to continue to uphold what I'd been taught. Maybe I could say it like this: My call to love God and love my neighbor was in conflict with what I'd been taught the Bible required me to say and do."

Recalling the time his son came out to him, McLaren stated, "So I went through that shift in my own thinking. Couple of years after that, when I really in some ways come out myself as a person who no longer supported the traditional view and one of my sons came out to me, I just remember I cried and cried because my thought is 'Oh no, if my son has been going through the same kind of pain so many other people did and I didn't know it, I just couldn't live with that.'"

To his relief, he said, his son Trevor never worried about his parents accepting him.

McLaren is the author of A New Kind of Christianity and most recently Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road?. Decades ago, he and a number of pastors had started what was called the emerging church movement to reach young people. But that later became divided as some pastors, including Mark Driscoll, left over theological concerns.

Matthew Schmitz, deputy editor of First Things, summed up McLaren's journey in an article Tuesday: "Brian McLaren started out wanting to reach the unchurched end up performing a commitment ceremony that stood outside the church not only physically (at the Woodend Sanctuary of the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Md) but also doctrinally - in contravention of clearly delineated Christian teaching on the nature of sex and marriage. His desire for a more authentic and less abstracted faith took him away from the concrete body of Christ."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/brian-mclarens-son-marries-same-sex-partner-82209/#HO7DbmpfGRccBrp4.99 

'via Blog this'

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http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/09/brian_mclaren_l.html

Brian McLaren Leads Commitment Ceremony At Son's Same-Sex Wedding

McLaren family wedding ceremony included "traditional Christian elements."

Melissa Steffan

posted by Jeremy Weber | Comments (134)

Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christian and a prominent Christian speaker, led a non-traditional marriage commitment ceremonythis weekend, according to The New York Times. 

Held at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase, Maryland, this ceremony included "traditional Christian elements," but no bride. And the groom—one of them—was McLaren's son, Trevor McLaren. The Timesreports that Trevor McLaren wed Owen Ryan Saturday in Washington, D.C., followed by the afternoon commitment ceremony.

Brian McLaren, who formerly was chair of the board for Sojourners, is among a minority of evangelical progressives who advocate that the church should abandon heterosexism and move toward reconciliationwith homosexuals.

CT has previously covered Brian McLaren, including reviews of his book Everything Must Change and The Secret Message of Jesus, and the emergent church, with which McLaren has been associated.

Jack Cascione Dusts Off the Iron Maiden and Polishes the Thumb Screws

You are invited to discuss this issue on

www.Lutherquest.org

October 23, 2012

Pastor Suspended for False Doctrine by WELS but Honored in LCMS

In an era of declining Lutheranism we see a spark of vitality in the Wisconsin Synod suspending Pastor Paul Rydecki from its clergy roster for the nearly extinct charge of false doctrine.  While two-thirds of Lutherans in American are accepting homosexual clergy (ELCA) and Christian News publishes reports of open false doctrine in the LCMS in nearly every issue, suspension for false doctrine in the WELS has a medieval tone.  The WELS has not issued any official public charges but there has been a lot of writing on the subject.

Rydecki’s defenders tend to ignore the importance of correct doctrine and define love as permissiveness.  The medical profession would like to have surgical patients cut them as much slack as laity give pastors who are still coming to grips with doctrinal terms?

[GJ - Jack has a rich fantasy life. There is no relationship between the truth and the description above.]

Christian News Published the Story

The October 15 issue of Christian News reports Rydecki wrote: “only those who believe in Jesus are justified before God.”  This statement needs more explanation.  Rydecki leaves the door open for the false doctrine that faith causes salvation rather than divine grace.  Faith doesn’t cause salvation any more than soil around seed makes the rain fall.  “My faith looks up to Thee Thou lamb of Calvary” only takes place after conversion.

The Wisconsin Synod California-Arizona district president Jon Buchholz recently suspended Pastor Rydecki from the WELS clergy roster because he refuses to teach the doctrine of Objective Justification.  The average layperson has no idea what that is.  Rydecki could clear up the entire controversy by simply agreeing that the world is declared righteous in Christ.

[GJ - There you have it, the Walther-Pieper-Rambach-Webber absolution of the world. David Becker reported the story sympathetically, because many people think UOJ is hogwash.]

What is Objective Justification?

The layperson who doesn’t know what justification means has not been reading the Bible nor (sic) understands what happened at the Reformation.  The words justify, justification, and justified appear in the KJV New Testament 40 times.   Being justified means being declared righteous before God through faith by the merits of Christ on the cross.  Objective Justification means the world is justified by Christ’s payment on the cross for all its sins.  It does not mean the world has faith and everyone is going to heaven.  The term Subjective Justification applies to those who believe and trust that Christ paid for their sins.

[GJ - In other words, to justify means to be declared righteous, and that is never, ever applied to unbelievers. If you have Attention Deficit Disorder, the paragraph above makes sense.]

What Did Luther Say About This?

Without using the terms objective or subjective justification Luther describes the distinction between these two doctrines as follows:

“Even he who does not believe that he is free and his sins forgiven shall also learn, in due time, how assuredly his sins were forgiven, even though he did not believe it… He who does not accept what the keys give receives, of course, nothing.  But that is not the key’s fault.  Many do not believe the gospel, but this does not mean that the gospel is not true or effective.  A king gives you a castle.  If you do not accept it, then it is not the king’s fault, nor is he guilty of a lie.  But you have deceived yourself and the fault is yours.  The king certainly gave it.” (LW 40, 366ff)

Luther’s point here is that divine grace is resistible.  There are untold numbers of p eople going to eternal damnation because they reject God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.  On the other hand, no one has the power to make a decision to believe in Jesus Christ.  The question of why some are saved and not others, according to the Lutheran Confessions, cannot be answered and is only in God’s secret counsel.  The Gospel is God’s gracious offer of salvation through faith in Christ.
[GJ - UOJ Stormtroopers have a quia subscription to this Luther quotation about the objective truth of the atonement. He is not saying that unbelievers are forgiven. He explicitly denies that in countless places well known to any literate Lutheran (i.e.- not Cascione, not McCain, not Rolf Preus, not John Moldstad, not Jon Buchholz, not SP Mark Schroeder).They never quote the Large Catechism, where Luther clearly opposes their dogma.]

What Does the Bible Say?

Anyone who sees a contradiction between, “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29) and “by grace are you saved through faith” (Eph. 2:8) does not have a correct understanding of the Gospel.  The Bible says in numerous verses that God has forgiven the sins of the world:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  John 3:16

2 Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.  2Co5:19

1Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 

1John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

John 4:42, 2Peter 2:20, and 1John 4:14 all declared that Christ is the savior of the world.  Rydecki makes us doubt if Christ succeeded.  Rydecki places a wedge between God’s forgiveness, love, reconciliation, death in Christ, propitiation for the sins of the world and God declaring the world righteous in Christ.  How can the world be forgiven, reconciled, loved, and benefit from Christ’s propitiation for its sins, and not be justified by God?  Or does God only love the believers?

[GJ - Only Jack could take the Little Gospel, John 3:16, and turn it inside-out into UOJ. The rest of his special pleading is equally inane. Has he read the book that Rydecki translated? I doubt it.]

What do the Lutheran Confessions say?

"That through Christ the human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God, who, by His faultless obedience, suffering, and death, has merited for us the righteousness which avails before God, and eternal life." FC, SD, Election. Par. 15, Tappert 619

“Our righteousness rests n either upon his [Christ’s] divine nature nor upon his human nature but upon the entire person of Christ, who as God and man in his sole, total, as perfect obedience is our righteousness.” FC, SD, Righteousness, Par. 549, Tappert 549

If Christ is not the righteousness of unbelievers, it is not possible to become a believer.

Evidence against Rydecki

Consider some of the evidence that Pastor Rydecki is confused on the doctrine of justific ation.

1. “The Confessions do not speak of a sense in which all sinners have already been justified before God whether they believe in Christ or not, nor do I believe the Scriptures to teach such a thing, yet such is commonly heralded among Lutherans today as the ‘central teaching of the Bible.’” (Rev. Paul Rydecki, "Do We Want To Be Dresden Lutherans?" P.10)

2. From "The Biblical Doctrine of Justification on One Page:" by Paul Rydecki

“God credits the righteousness of Christ only to those who believe in Jesus, and thus justifies only those w ho believe in Jesus. (John 3:16-18, 36; Luke 18:14; Acts 13:39; Rom. 3:26; 4:5; 10:10; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:8-9)”

3. Pastor Rydecki preached a sermon titled: "Faith is the difference between those who are justified and those who are not."

4. The Wisconsin California Arizona District President asked Pastor Rydecki to answer two questions and Rydecki refused to give direct answers.

1) “Did God forgive the sins of the world when Jesus died on the cross?”

Rydecki’s Answer: Yes. "He forgave to all people the sin, which no one could avoid." AP, IV, 103

2) “Has God justified all sinners for the sake of Christ?”

Rydecki’s Answer: Yes. "The human race is truly redeemed and reconciled with God through Christ." FC, SD, Election, 15

5. Pastor Rydecki is the translator (from the original Latin) of a 16^th century, recently published book available from Amazon: “Theses Opposed to Huberianism: A Defense of the Luther an Doctrine of Justification” [Paperback] Aegidius Hunnius (Author).  In this translation Rydecki shows that Hunnius, a follower of Luther, rejected the teachings of objective justification. However, in the opinion of many, including this author, Rydecki has misrepresented Hunnius’ position.

[GJ - Cascione does not understand the Scriptures, the Means of Grace, the efficacy of the Word, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the Book of Concord, or the post-Concord era. QED, he is equally expert on Hunnius and Huber.]

Ryd ecki Courted by LCMS Sacerdotalists

Rydecki, an exceptional parish scholar, wants to be a Dresden Lutheran.  This is his term for the Lutherans who migrated from Dresden Germany to the United States beginning in the late 1830’s.  The Dresden Lutherans were also practicing extreme Sacerdotalism, meaning that if the pastor didn’t have the sacrament of ordination, the Gospel, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper would not be effective.  LCMS sacerdotalists (also known as Hyper-Euro-Lutherans who want to revive pre-Walther European Sacerdotalism) publish Gottesdienst.  They recently honored Rydecki with “The Saber of Boldness” for his stance against the Church Growth Movement.  Depending on which LCMS or WELS church one visits today, the pastor may appear in a polo shirt and conduct the service like a YMCA camp counselor with a backup praise band and/or vocalist.  Rydecki’s bold stand against church growth has drawn him to the LCMS sacerdotal movement that views the clergy as the 4^th means of grace.  Martin Stephan used to call himself the chief mediator of the means of grace.  The LCMS sacerdotalists’ mantra is “Where the bishop is, there the church is also.”

[GJ - Papal promoter Paul McCain was a frequent posted on LQ until recently. He was also on Tim Gende's Emergent Church blog. Pope Paul Without a Call gets around, and gets banned.]

The LCMS Went Through This in 1981

Christ's words from the cross, “Father forgive them” mean Jesus prayed that God forgive the whole world.  However, I once heard Walter Maier II, back in January of 1981, tell an audience that “Father forgive them” means only those who have faith, such as the one thief on the cross and the centurion.  Rydeki has placed himself in the same corner.  Either Rydecki is going to agree that when God forgives people they are also justified or that when Jesus spoke the words “Father forgiven them” He was only speaking about the thief on the cross and the centurion.

LCMS President J. A. O. Preus published his opposition to Maier’s teaching in the “Lutheran Witness Reporter” which led to the election of Ralph Bohlmann as LCMS President instead of Maier.  The LCMS Council of District Presiden ts has long since decided to avoid doctrinal issues and turn LCMS congregations into hymnbook free zones and entertainment venues.

In general, church bodies today who indulge in doctrinal discipline are viewed as arcane anachronists, hardly the stuff of praise bands and hootenanny worship.  In other words, doctrinal discipline is bad for business.  But then, what about truth?  Ten of the Apostles were executed.  If a church body is called to pick up its cross and follow after Christ, defense of the doctrine of justification is the highest ground they can walk.

[GJ - The UOJ always forces their argument through false paradoxes. Either they must agree with Jack or they are obvious heretics. Jack earned an A in talking point repetition for this little essay, an F in Biblical exegesis, and a LOL for logic.]

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A. Berean has left a new comment on your post "Jack Cascione Dusts Off the Iron Maiden and Polish...":

Under what Luther says: Luther's Works American Edition, Vol. 25, Lectures on Romans - "God imputes to none but the believer."

So, that's something to consider... 

Indeed.

Otten and McCain - Stop Promoting Roman Catholicism During Reformation. Resume Your Pandering Afterwards

I wrote to Pastor Herman Otten, to ask why he was selling a bigoted anti-Luther book during Reformation, and including it in his Reformation promotion on the back page.

http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2012/10/pastor-herman-otten-joins-forces-with.html

He did not answer. 

Here is the book, where the "facts" are all stories made up during the Reformation by an extremely unbalanced papalist by the name of Cochlaeus.

Why sell this disgusting piece of Roman Catholic propaganda in the name of the Reformation?

The Catholic Encyclopedia:

James is without doubt the Bishop of Jerusalem (Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18; Galatians 1:19; 2:9-12) and the author of the first Catholic Epistle. His identity with James the Less (Mark 15:40) and theApostle James, the son of Alpheus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18), although contested by manyProtestant critics, may also be considered as certain. There is no reasonable doubt that in Galatians 1:19: "But other of the apostles [besides Cephas] I saw none, saving James the brother of the Lord",St. Paul represents James as a member of the Apostolic college. 


Paul McCain:

James is without doubt the Bishop of Jerusalem (Acts 12:17, 15:13, 21:18; Galatians 1:19; 2:9-12) and the author of the first Catholic Epistle. His identity with James the Less (Mark 15:40) and the Apostle James, the son of Alpheus (Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18), although contested by many Protestant critics, may also be considered as certain. 

Paul actually cited the Catholic Encyclopedia this time, but why quote the pope? Why be so lazy? 

The rest of the papal article [omitted by Paul Without a Call] argues for typical Marian doctrines, using rationalism to prove what they already contend to be true.

This is just another attempt to promote Roman Catholic sources.

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Here is Paul McCain's epic fail - the total recall of The Book of Concord.

Rethinking Some SynCon Condemnations: Justification by Faith Is the Gospel

Bad grammar - everyone...has been,
but that is the UOJ Hive, always buzzing, never parsing.

Someone on the faculty suggested that I visit his college, so Mrs. Ichabod and I drove around rural Arkansas a bit today. The scenery was perfect as we wound around country roads, past farms and through small villages.

We happened to meet the college president, so we talked while he waited for an appointment that ended up a no-show. I was sure this former missionary would not accept the strange statement above, which I mccained from LutherQuest (sic).

Today I am more convinced than ever that UOJ fanatics are Gospel-starved. They may have heard the Gospel as children, but the clergy have it drummed out of them so thoroughly that they no longer believe.

UOJ explains the nastiness and dishonesty of their Hive. They cannot wait to pounce on a victim, beat him like a rented mule, and rejoice over the results. Either he breaks down and becomes another UOJ zombie (Hurray!) or he is extended the Left Foot of Fellowship (Hurray!). Sometimes the Left Foot of Fellowship will induce the zombie state, so the overlords get a double-thrill out of their double-justification.

I imagine the SynCons have escaped to Pentecostal, Methodist, and Babtist conferences because they hear the Gospel and meet believers. The Northern Baptists are no better than other liberal groups.

The UOJ synods--ELCA, ELS, WELS, LCMS--are collapsing because they have no Gospel to teach. They teach anti-faith and anti-Gospel. The Evangelicals may criticize Luther, but the nominal Lutherans loathe Luther, especially his doctrine.

So Lutherans cast longing, covetous eyes upon the Evangelicals, wondering how they can be like that. Therefore, they live with a contradiction. The UOJ Lutherans condemn faith while aping those who teach faith in Christ. I realize many of the mods, the Emergent gay libbers like Andy Stanley, are nowhere near the kingdom, but the impression remains. The grass is greener over the septic tank.

Walther and Pieper warn against synergism, which means that man cooperates in his salvation. God has done so much, but man must complete the transaction, make a decision, and commit his life to Christ.

Nominal Lutherans are quick to condemn every form of the Christian faith, but which is worse:

1. To teach people a sad, sick, cowardly form of Universalism? or
2. To teach people the Gospel and the importance of faith in Christ?

Face It - Synodicals - Your Own Founders Were Not UOJ Fanatics

His Biblical Christology is quite good.

John Schaller in his Biblical Christology (Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1981) said: 

Reconciliation: This is the proper rendering of καταλλάσσων (2 Cor 5:18f; Ro 5:10f; Col 1:20), [GJ - reconciling] since the “change” is a change into another state of mind, the change from a God deeply offended by our sin to a God at peace with the world. The propitiatory work of Christ effects the permanent reconciliation of God. Announcing this fact, the gospel is the word of reconciliation. To preach this gospel is the ministry of reconciliation enjoined upon the church. The message proclaims “the peace of God which passeth all understanding” (Php 4:7; Ro 5:1), not the feeling of restful peace in the hearts of men, but the peace prevailing in the heart of God. If we find that the idea of reconciliation bears a close resemblance to those of propitiation and satisfaction, so that we slip from the one into the other almost without noticing it, we need not be disturbed; for we are not called upon to establish a regular logical sequence of these terms, but to accept each one at its full value without cavil.

….If, however, μὴ λογιζόμενος [GJ - not counting, not imputing] denotes an action which is not identical with reconciliation nor is presupposed by it, then Luther is correctly interpreting when he inserts an “and,” which Paul did not have. “AND did not impute their trespasses unto them.” (emphasis Schaller’s). … it is obvious that therewith not a presupposition but a consequence of reconciliation is to be expressed…Thus the giving or establishing of this Word (of reconciliation) is a consequence of the reconciliation and therefore at the same time includes the knowledge of the justification of the sinner, which indeed is involved in the reconciliation, but is not identical with it. – 
John Schaller, Biblical Christology, Milwaukee: Northwestern Publishing House, 1981.

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GJ - I found this on the Net somewhere and mccained it, so people would say, "Oh, look at all the research you do! Now it is crystal clear. Please may I be your Facebook friend?" I copied those comments from the precious few McCain and Kilcrease let through on their own blogs.

The Synodical Conference Enthusiasts love to glory in their past, as long as that past is selectively viewed through the filter of the Great Kidnapper, C.F. W. Walther.

This is one more example of an early SynCon writer not adopting the UOJ dogma. Gausewitz is another example, and he was president of the entire Synodical Conference, a measure of the esteem he enjoyed among all the participants.

This is the equivalent of the motion to adopt unanimously. If any person votes no on that motion, the question fails, because it is not unanimous. As far as I know, that is the only situation in Roberts Rules where one person can defeat an entire assembly.

The UOJ Hive would like people to imagine that all their SynCon writers taught world absolution, double-justification, and the Easter surprise - "Y'all forgiven, whether y'all believe or not, especially if not."

If only one esteemed writer can be found dissenting from the Walther party line, the opinion is no longer unanimous. Not only that, many pastors in the LCMS and WELS teach justification by faith instead of UOJ. The percentage is much higher in Missouri, because pastors are allowed to think in that group, although many do not avail themselves of the privilege. Even in WELS, where critical thinking is as rare as a July frost, about 20% of the pastors believe and teach justification by faith alone - not UOJ.

According to these Schaller quotations from WELS, District Pope Jon Buchholz would have marched uninvited to Wauwatosa with his hand-picked finger puppets (aka the district officers) and expelled Schaller from the seminary, condemning him as a false teacher.

A Luther statue on the campus does not mean Luther is taught there.
The statues are more of a rabbit's foot,
a lucky charm to be pulled out when handy.