Atlantic District News

"A Sad Week for Lutherans"

- by District President Herbert Mueller


September 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM


          “Lutherans OK Gay Clergy” was the crawl across the bottom of the screen on the airport monitor as I waited to fly to Nebraska for a short vacation.  Two things about that headline were to be expected.  First, we have seen the signs coming for a long time, so it should surprise no one that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) took the position last week that homosexual activity is not sinful and that pastors of the ELCA are allowed to live in “committed, same-sex relationships” if they choose to do so.  Secondly, I was not surprised that the news media made no real distinction among Lutherans.  Since the ELCA is the largest Lutheran group, uninformed news-types were sure to post the quick headline, seeming to include all Lutherans.

         What is our response?  Do we in the LCMS tell the world we are Lutheran, but we are not THOSE Lutherans?  We’re a more conservative group.  We actually believe the Bible.  That does need to be part of our message, but we must be careful not to sound like the Pharisee:  “God, I thank you that I am not like…”  Whatever else we do say, there is one temptation we must avoid – giving the impression we are somehow better than they, somehow immune to such things.

         What then should we say?  By now you have probably seen our Synod President’s response which began the day after the ELCA Churchwide Assembly adopted the resolutions in question.  He emphasizes that the Missouri Synod has repeatedly affirmed the Biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is “intrinsically sinful,”  that this action of the ELCA deepens the divide between our church bodies and that this decision of the ELCA to ignore biblical teaching on sexuality reinforces the conclusion of the 2001 LCMS Convention that we no longer consider the ELCA an orthodox Lutheran body.  He also points out that the ELCA’s decision stems from a method of Biblical interpretation that treats the Bible as any other book, rather than the written Word of God.  I believe these statements make a great beginning for our response (if you have not seen them, you can find President Gerald Kieschnick’s statements on the LCMS web site at http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15620).

         As we talk about this with our people, we must do so with humility and a sadness of heart that people with whom we once were in fellowship (e.g. the old American Lutheran Church, now part of the ELCA) have fallen so far from the Word of God that they now officially justify what God calls sin.  We must humbly, but clearly, explain that this action not only departs from 2000 years of Christian moral teaching, but it ignores and overthrows the clear Word of God on this matter.  Any honest reading of Scripture makes clear that homosexual behavior is sinful and breaks the commandments of God (and by the same token, there is no way sexual intercourse between men and women outside of marriage can ever be justified under God’s Word either – sin is sin is sin).  What God in His Word calls sin cannot be changed. We do no one any favors trying to excuse sin of any nature in the name of cultural inclusiveness.

         At the same time, our churches need to be welcoming places for all sinners.  We turn no one away, but we call all to repentance, whatever the sin.  Jesus Christ forgave sinners with the words, “Neither do I condemn you.  Go and sin no more!”  (John 8:11).  The message we are given is to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all the world (Luke 24:47).  By way of contrast, some may consider the action of the ELCA loving and inclusive, but actually, in a cruel sort of way, it’s exactly the opposite.  The ELCA now gives certain sinners – even pastors! – permission just to go on sinning.  You don’t have to confess this sin, because we no longer consider it sin.  What is the end result?  The sin remains, unforgiven, and the sinner continues in his or her sin.  “Be not deceived.  God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).  Unrepented sin puts one in danger of eternal destruction in hell.

         Yet, even as we thus warn our people, we must also recognize and repent of the same tendency in ourselves, to minimize and to excuse sin.  We members of the LCMS are not immune to the pressures of 21st Century culture.  We are just as susceptible as the next person to the tempter’s ploy, as old as the Garden of Eden, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1).

         Indeed, members of the church have always been tempted to explain Scripture in ways that somehow take the edge off God’s Word.  In our modern times it has become fashionable in many quarters to use methods of Biblical interpretation that place human reason above Scripture.  Instead of being students of the Word, those who employ the “historical-critical method,” for instance, become critics of the Bible, deciding for themselves what “makes sense” for our modern times and what does not.  It was this method that led some churches to agree to ordain women to the pastoral office.  And the ordination of practicing homosexuals to the pastoral office is another sign post just a bit farther down the same road to apostasy.

         How then do we proceed?  1)  We talk about this with our people, not in a Pharisaic manner giving the impression that we are better than they, but humbly examining what the Scriptures say (Leviticus 18:22-24; 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-20; 1 Timothy 1:9-10 and Romans 1:24-32), remembering this is the very Word of God, as the Lord speaks through His prophet, Isaiah, “This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2).

         2)  We pray for those in the ELCA who desire to be faithful to the Word of God, and pray for the repentance of the majority who adopted these measures.  Yet we also recognize this action further deepens the divide between our church bodies, a fact that must grieve us all.  3)  We examine our own hearts and minds, our own attitudes toward what God in His Word calls sin.  We also live only by repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins for the sake of Christ.  4)  We allow this example to drive us deeper into the Word of God and the confessions of our church, for these are God’s tools to keep us faithful, both in what we profess and in how we live.

         5)  Finally, we continue to be open to all sinners, calling all to repentance, seeking to live out this Word of God:  “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, emphasis added).

         There is much more to say, but this is all we have room for now.  Every one of us lives only by the forgiveness of sin, for the sake of Christ.  Now go get busy, telling that story wherever and whenever you can.  God’s peace be with you!

 
Rev. Herbert C. Mueller, Jr.
President, Southern Illinois District
The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
2408 Lebanon Avenue
Belleville, IL 62221
618-234-4767