Key quote from the end of the article:
I do not know the reasons for this silence. I am not surprised, though, that a church body whose health plan pays both for contraceptives and also for a range of procedures including those for miscarriage and abortion up to the 20th week of pregnancy has not stood with church bodies that for theological and moral reasons refuse to pay for contraception. I would hope, however, that our church, recognizing the larger issue at stake, would be vigilant and vocal when questions arise about federal regulatory agencies defining religious organizations in ways that limit religious freedom.
Stumme is puzzled by the ELCA's reticence on this issue, although this silence probably should not surprise anyone. The history of the ELCA since its formation and its growing abandonment of the Christian faith has been painfully clear, although many (such as myself) lived in denial for many years. To the extent the ELCA's leadership still believes in a god or gods, it is a god of extremist secular political activism they have created in their own image. In the ELCA's secular progressive mindset, Catholics who still adhere to their denomination's position against contraception are nothing more than ignorant, knuckle-dragging barbarians who live only to oppress women (or Muslims, or homosexuals, or minorities, or whichever group happens to be the focus of the hot political topic of the day).
Why should the ELCA support religious freedom when their new god demands absolute obedience to the gospel of modern progressive thinking? They would sooner pluck out their own eye then be caught doing anything that could be even remotely considered "conservative".
10 comments:
The silence of the leadership of the ELCA speaks volumnes. They continue to worship the self over our Lord and Savior. If it were the Muslim faith that our President and the liberal elite were attacking, I'm certain that they would stand up. Excellent post.
Agreed. Thank you for sharing.
Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time writing about the ELCA. For one thing, it is easy to get upset about what they have done, and that is not good. For another, there is a lot of "inside baseball" that I write about which is meaningful to people who have attended an ELCA congregation, but is undoubtedly boring to other Christians. Finally, if the leadership of the ELCA repents, it will be the work of the Holy Spirit and not my writings.
The blog Common Sense for a Senseless World does a far better job writing about the ELCA than I ever did. I wish I could write that well about spiritual matters.
True, but the ELCA is not unlike so much of the rest of the Body of Christ in it's unwillingness to take a bold stand for much of anything. So keep writing. We all need a wake up call!
Agreed with Robin - it's important to reach out, even if you feel your words aren't having any effect or they fall on deaf ears.
All the Lord asks of us is the courage to plant the seed (which is what you do through your blog). He'll take care of the rest.
:)
I tried to find a way to drop a note to you privately, but did not find a contact link.
My husband and I have had our own experience with the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. We were in the Episcopal Church when it started falling apart. We were in the ELCA before that and left because of false doctrine the pastor was 'preaching'.
We wound up in a Southern Baptist church--one where the pastor still preaches the Bible regardless of how politically incorrect it might be to others.
Tried to find a link to contact you by email but had no luck in doing that.
My husband and I are former ELCA and Episcopalian. We have called ourselves recovering Lutheran or recovering Episcopalian on occasion.
We were in the Episcopal church when it first began to fall apart. We were in the ELCA prior to that and discovered our pastor had a Universalist Unitarian theology.
Now we are in a Southern Baptist church and quite happy there. As long as denominations keep going soft on the Gospel, preferring to be politically correct, we will keep moving to other churches and if they all were to go soft, then I guess we'll just hold prayer meetings at home!
I don't want to be bigoted and hateful, but I will stand on what God's Word says, as will my husband.
Sorry about the lack of contact information. I am on my third Yahoo email account, as the first two became overrun with spam. That is why I don't have an email account posted on my blog.
Thank you for sharing your story. After leaving the ELCA my wife and I ended up in a Southern Baptist church for about a year. At the present time we are Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
I understand your frustrations Recovering Lutheran and fotoshirl. I was Methodist, in my youth, then left at 19 to be a 'non-denom' Christians. Then married a Catholic, entered the CC, left that for 26 years and came BACK to Rome in 1004 at 49. What a long, winding road! Fotoshirl, it wouldn't be wise to just 'stay home' and pray. We are told in God's Word to "not forsake the assembly of others" as a community. Jesus built "One" Church. I have lived 58 years and have come to realize the past 8 years that He did build the CC. I also know that that doesn't sit well with many. That's ok. He was despised, rejected, hated, mocked, maligned, calumniated by the world. It makes sense then that His Church would still be standing today, and being as hated as He was/is. The CC is *not* just another denomination. She is HIS Church, HIS Bride and she has prevailed for these 2000 years. Immutable as her founder. God be praised and Come Home...to Rome Sweet Home! (great book, btw, by Scott Hahn and his wife, Kimberly.) I recommend it to everyone here. God bless you. Viva il Papa! :)
Thank you for reading my website Joyful! Viva il Papa!
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