The ELCA - The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

Introduction

Faith Divided

On the surface the ELCA (The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) appears to be just another denomination in the Christian pantheon. However, a closer investigation begs the question if the ELCA are even true Christians with the degree they have stepped away from traditional practices, beliefs, and their many deviances from biblical theology. Whoever crafted their website is a master of public relations, for a close scrutiny of the site will not reveal any heretical material. Their professed vision is; claimed by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we are a new creation through God’s living word by the power of the Holy Spirit; Gathered by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we will live among God’s faithful people, hear God’s word and share Christ’s supper; Sent by God’s grace for the sake of the world, we will proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, serve all people following the example of our Lord Jesus, and strive for justice and peace in all the world. (ELCA)

However, some who have found the faith to be heretical in the extreme have led expose campaigns to warn Christians about the duplicity in the core beliefs of the church. All criticisms of the church stem back to a general claim that the denomination has been “secularized” and is compromising real Christian values in order to draw in the people which enable a church to make money. And it is working. The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in America, with “As of December 31, 2014, there were 3,765,362 baptized members in the ELCA. There were 9,261 congregations organized in 65 synods in nine geographic regions” (ELCA). As a result of the “liberalizing” of the faith, the churchwide organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America had total operating revenue and support of $34.0 million for the six-month period ended July 31, 2015, $1.2 million higher than expenses of $32.7 million. Net revenue over expenses is favorable to the period budget by $4.6 million, and $1.3 million more than the six months ending July 31, 2014. (ELCA). This report is only for six months, and all, mind you. This popularizing of the doctrine of Christ was done removing many of the more difficult matters of theology.

Duplicitous Theological Practices

The core division of the ELCA is on the power of the Bible, and its place leading the church. As the Rev. Mark C. Chavez with Lutheran Core points out; the ELCA claims that it “accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.” (ELCA Constitution 2.03) However, much of the working theology in the ELCA runs completely counter to this confession and so do some of its official statements and policies. (Chavez).

In the ELCA treats the Bible as more of suggestions for the faithful, and they simply disregard any parts which are inconvenient. The biggest example of this disregard for the scripture which supposedly forms the foundation of their faith is the fact that the ELCA allows women and homosexuals to be clergy. This researcher is not saying there is anything empirically wrong with this practice, but it does go against the scripture which forms the basis of the faith, as shown in (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:26-28). If the ELCA wants to allow this they should do it without the need to affirm that they are Christian, which is duplicitous. As Matt Slick critiques, with such declarations, God’s biblical truth is softened and reshaped into more agreeable forms, and this leads to other liberal ideas including the support of homosexual clergy.  Why?  When you disregard the clear teaching of God’s Word in one area, it is that much easier to do it in others.  Any church anchored, even a little, in its own wisdom will always drift towards apostasy. (Slick)

The issue with this is that the ELCA is pretending it is not practicing apostasy, thereby tricking its millions of members into thinking they are fallowing the doctrine of Christ, getting all the feel good of the Christian religion without any of the difficulty. However, these members are allowing themselves to be tricked, and obviously desire just such a feel good doctrine. After all it is rather hard to accept the biblical Christian doctrine that one must follow the ways and words of Christ or burn in everlasting hellfire. It is much easier to accept the suggestion “relax, that’s outdated, things are cool now.”

Looking at the ELCA official website reveal the ELCA is systematically dumbing down the Christian doctrine, and avoiding hard issues most likely out of the desire for profit. Under the heading “Scripture, Creeds, Confessions” they write, a cradle that holds the infant Jesus. Baby blankets that clothe the newborn Christ. Lutherans often use these well-known metaphors from Martin Luther to describe the Christian Scriptures and their importance. These simple metaphors clearly and profoundly describe both what the Scriptures are and what is their purpose. (ELCA). These vapid platitudes on visions of adult ELCA attendees endlessly contented sucking their thumbs and listening to the placid tones of their pastor as they slide their wallet into the cradle of Christ. 

The further one investigates into the practices of the ELCA the more is appears that the organization is simply a free for all, no overarching mission or understanding, just whatever fees good for the moment. After all, around mother’s day why not refer to God in all female pronouns? Rather than using masculine language for God, “Instead God was called Mother and female pronouns were used for God. The service also included elements of pagan and goddess worship reflecting the practice of some of the congregations of the new ELCA pastors” (Exposing the ELCA).

Disregarding theological debate, and biblical evidence the ELCA advocates the universalists belief concerning salvation. In apology for this, meanwhile, there has been a trend toward universalist beliefs in several other denominations and traditions that have not historically taught universal salvation. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is one of the best examples of because Martin Luther himself never embraced Universalism, but the ELCA today is one of the major Lutheran denominations and some of its ministers openly teach the salvation of all. (Larson).

In this ELCA members are not required to fear for the souls of the or proselytize, which no one really likes to do anyway. ELCA members are effectively paying their church to tell them what they want to hear. One of the hallmarks of effective and authentic Christianity is employing the scriptures as a constant guide, but the ELCA and its members embrace an extremely lazy attitude towards this fundamental Christian practice. The bible is long, confusing, and often very difficult to reconcile. Some would say this is the labyrinth in which faith is tested, while others say that the multi-level meanings of the picture words of Hebrew and Aramaic should be understood. However, no Christians simply say take what you like and ignore the rest. To be a “Christian” is to follow the teachings of Christ. It is true that; gone are the times when we can just assume that when we speak of salvation that we all are saying that God saves those who believe in Jesus Christ alone. In 1 Thessalonians 5:21, we find Paul commanding Christians to “test everything”. Paul writes specifically to , which in our times is seen in the revealed word of God in Scripture, and in proper preaching. Paul commands us to examine the Scriptures every day to see what the leadership of the ELCA, or anyone else for that matter, is saying about Christ Jesus is true.  If it is not, it must be rejected. (Larson). The ELCA is turning what could be a vibrant and complex faith into the mushy sweetness they feed babies when they have yet to grow teeth. This creates a muddling and weakening of the mind which leads to docility and easy suggestion. Perhaps the suggestion that the more they tithe the more they will be blessed? 

Agree to Disagree?

Those few ELCA members who begin to realize they are supporting a heretical deviation of Christianity find it difficult to assert themselves. One case in point is the church split which occurred between “Amazing Grace” and “Grace Lutheran” once united under the ELCA banner. When a group of Grace Lutheran members found they wanted to practice Christianity as the Lutheran tradition had for a century they were forced to go to court to be granted the liberty and facility to do so. It took years of battling with the ELCA to break free. To smear the dissenters, the ELCA commented, the national organization approved gays and lesbians in their admission to church and the like and my understanding is that's what they were strongly opposed to and decided to go out on their own on that issue and make an issue of it which separated. (WQOW).

The subtext here is clear; “They must hate gays.” Ouch, but the members responded to this poke with the assertion that it is a theological distinction and not a sexual one. They commented, “We simply want to worship the way that we have for the last 100 years and 500 years if you think about Martin Luther…This new way of interpreting scripture is Jesus Christ as a symbol instead of the person of Jesus Christ” (WQOW). the court granted the separation, and the Amazing Grace church broke off from the ELCA to practice Christianity from a more fundamental perspective. 

Conclusion

The situation in the ELCA - The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America represents a crisis of faith which is going on all over America. At the root of this corruption of the doctrine of Christ is the desire for profit at whatever cost, a common American aliment. Unfortunately, duplicity is the means by which the ELCA achieves their success.

Works Cited

Chavez, Mark C. “Brief History of Scriptural Authority Crisis in the ELCA:

The Formation of Lutheran CORE and the North American Lutheran Church.” Lutheran Core, n.d.. Retrieved from: http://www.lutherancore.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/history-crisis-Lutheranism.pdf

ELCA. “ELCA Facts.” Elca.org, 2016. Retrieved from: https://www.elca.org/News-and-Events/ELCA-Facts

ELCA. “2015 Operating results summary for the six months ending July 31, 2015.” ELCA.org, 2015. Retrieved from http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/FiscalYear2015_Second_Quarter_Report.pdf

Slick, Matt. “The ELCA, homosexuality, and apostasy.” Carm.org, 2015. Retrieved from: http://carm.org/elca-and-homosexuality

Exposing the ELCA. “ELCA exposed on homosexuality.” Exposinghteelca.com, 2015. Retrieved from: http://www.exposingtheelca.com/on-homosexuality.html

Larson, Cary G. “Does the ELCA teach another gospel?” elcatoday.com, 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.elcatoday.com/does-the-elca-teach-another-gospel.html

WXOW. “Church members forced to hand over keys to members who left years ago.” WXOW.com, 2016. Retrieved from: http://www.wxow.com/story/22070083/2013/04/24/church-members-forced-to-hand-over-keys-to-members-who-left-years-ago