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| Crist - ironic? - is chair of the bishops of ELCA. She preached at PB Elizabeth Eaton's enthronement. |
Montana ELCA says "Good Riddance" to Churches Leaving the ELCA
by JD Hall | November 5, 2013
Jessica Crist, Bishop of the ELCA in Montana
Waiting for my seven year-old son to get out of surgery at my local hospital yesterday, I picked up the September issue of The Lutheran. The Lutheran is the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). I wasn't entirely surprised by the articles endorsing homosexuality and claiming that the Bible never addresses 'monogamous, committed' homosexual relationships and purporting that God 'made' homosexuals homosexual and therefore, they can't be blamed for whatever it is that's sinful because God said that what had had made "is good." Of course, this same logic can be applied to virtually any sin (including other sexual sins, lust, greed, or lying) to claim that a sinner's sin is innate (which it truly is in our depraved and fallen natures - but only after the Fall of Adam, absolving God of any complicit guilt), and sinners, therefore, cannot be rebuked for sin.
Catching my interest was a letter-to-the-editor that challenged the wording used by the Montana Bishop and current president of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Jessica Crist, when in a previous issue she seemed rather dismissive of having lost 20 of the 145 ELCA churches in Montana. Writing to the The Lutheran this morning, they were kind enough to send me a link to the subscription-only section of their website so that I could see the article (and warned me they wouldn't give me another free article, so out of respect I won't post that article here). It is entitled "Looking Back, Leaning Forward" and can be found August's issue.
"[The losses were] analogous to cleaning the rolls.We do not have the anger and hostility at synod assemblies that we had before." - Jessica Crist
One can see the reader's viewpoint in the letter-to-the-editor that Bishop Crist was insensitive or even nonchalant about having 20 longstanding churches leave the Montana ELCA because of their heretical liberalization and abuse of the Holy Scriptures. Crist's attitude seems to be, "at least we're not arguing any more."
Here are a few things I highly suspect.
1. I suspect that there was little anger from those in disagreement with the ELCA's perverse renderings of God's word, fervent march away from sound exegesis and historical precedent, and their outright and aggressive revolt against Biblical orthodoxy. Those who have remained in the ELCA this long - decades after the apostasy in the ELCA became evident - have exhibited great patience (albeit, perhaps to a fault). They surely have learned to be tolerant of opposing viewpoints (albeit, perhaps to a fault). But who can really accuse these ELCA exiles of being impulsive? Who can accuse them of uncontrolled anger, given their amazing self-control in lasting this long in an organization whose majority is neither evangelical, truly Lutheran, nor a church?
2. I suspect that what anger might have been present, was directed toward the bending or contorting of Scripture to deny Biblical truth in the name of Jesus. Those who love truth, by default, hate lies. There is a such thing as righteous anger, and unless the 20 churches that have left the Montana ELCA charged the convention with a whip or began to turn over tables, they are less guilty of well-directed anger than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
3. I suspect that Bishop Crist's statement exposed her true feelings; if these 20 churches are going to call for our repentance or direct us to the Bible, we would rather not have them around at all.
3. I suspect that Bishop Crist's statement exposed her true feelings; if these 20 churches are going to call for our repentance or direct us to the Bible, we would rather not have them around at all.
This is truly a sad situation. It is traumatizing for a church to leave their convention or denomination over issues of conviction and then be castigated after their departure as a bunch of angry troublemakers (and some of our Reformation Montana churches can attest to this). But where can these churches or church members find a home? Obviously, these churches didn't disappear, but merely disfellowshipped from the ELCA. We would pray that they will continue reform and be molded after the New Testament church and find abiding faithfulness in the Word of God. And if individuals find that the ELCA in Montana is not for them - and insult has been added to injury by the very clear message from the presiding Montana bishop that conservatives or Biblical inerrantists are not wanted in Montana - then we would encourage them to find a biblical church in their area to attend. Please contact Reformation Montana for a list of solid and biblical churches near you.
If you're a member of an ELCA church in Montana that has yet leave the denomination, we would ask that you compare the teachings of this organization to the Holy Scripture and find a church that will boldly side with truth.
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| Wonder why Lutherans are in a death spiral? No other denomination is so captive to a business. And the littles are subservient to Big ELCA. |
