ELCA votes 559-451 to allow gay pastors | StarTribune.com



Lutherans to allow sexually active gays as clergy - Yahoo! News

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Norm
IA PCA

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. Ephesians 1:4-5

Frankly I'm surprised it was that close...

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://inprincipiodeus.solideogloria.com
http://puritanwisdom.blogspot.com

"As God did not at first choose you because you were high, He will not now forsake you because you are low."
John Flavel in Keeping the Heart



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Don't ask, don't tell, who voted them in......

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Rich Koster
1689'er
Browns Mills NJ USA
Often Goofy Reformed Eccentric
Romans 7:14-25

It is such a shame to hear this. It is not surprising, but a shame none the less. I pray for all those member who are so trapped by Satan, Modernism, and Liberalism. I ask for prayers for those saints that may be in this organization. I will call ELCA and organization, because biblical it has ceased to be a church. May the light of the Truth guide them back to the Lord and may they see Him in His Glory exercising His Sovereignty. Again, I am not surprised, but heart-broken none the less.

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Jeff Wyman
Man Under Care
Little Farms Chapel OPC, Coopersville, MI
Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

"Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." - Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)

Sad day.

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Ben Castaneda
member of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA)
San Antonio, TX
MDiv student at WSC
Escondido, CA

"Not all prison bars are made from metal, And not all prisoners walk about in chains." -Lysander from Weatherby, Earl of Gloucester

I suspect there will be a new denomination forming soon.

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Robert K. "Kelly" Brumbelow
In Inquirer's class at Grace Presbyterian (PCA) Cedartown, GA
Cedartown, Georgia

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways;
Reclothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives Thy service find,
In deeper reverence, praise. - John Greenleaf Whittier 1807-1892

The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

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"I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness".-Unknown

Julio, Amaya
Clifton, NewJersey
Reformed Baptist Church of North Bergen

Or defection to the LCMS.

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Benjamin P. Glaser, M. Div, Licentiate, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Member Fairmount ARP Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Deo Vindice

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soli Deo gloria!
~Nicholas~ Ordained Pastor
Member, Fulton PCA; GPTS Student
Christians are like snow covered dung; it is the purity of the covering which the Father sees. -Luther-
There is nothing more ugly than a Christian orthodoxy without understanding or without compassion.
-Francis Schaeffer-

Yep. Here we go again.

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Nathan Tyler
Reformed Baptist
University of Toronto (Student: Hons. B.A. in Philosophy)
Ontario, Canada

1689'er

http://nathantyler.wordpress.com

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Dad
Christ Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church, RPCGA
Facebook - The Calvinist Vent
Board Rules - Signature Rules - Suggestion Box

It is God that multiplies our sorrows.... God, as a righteous Judge, does it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are, we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God, as a tender Father, does it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from the world by all our sorrows; and the good we get by them, with the comfort we have under them, will abundantly balance our sorrows, how greatly soever they are multiplied. - Matthew Henry

I'm with Carl Trueman and others on this one. The homosexual issue isn't the big one. There are, no doubt, many who might leave the ELCA over this issue, but why weren't these people willing to leave when the ELCA began to waver in the more important doctrines? Why is it never a big issue when Churches begin to teach that the Word of God isn't innerrant or totally inspired? Why are people willing to tolerate theological heresies, but will hit the road when the gay issue comes around? I'm not at all surprised by what transpired this week in the ELCA. They gave up the historic Christian faith a while ago; no wonder they're ordaining homosexuals.

-----Added 8/21/2009 at 09:48:01 EST-----

Those in the ELCA will never defect to the LCMS. The ELCA came out of the LCMS back in the 70's.

This wikipedia article (take it with a grain of salt, or more it is wikipedia after all) has some of the details:

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Steven J. Carr (Sven)
http://beholdingthebeauty.blogspot.com/
Eagan, MN
PCA
"Weak is the effort of my heart / And cold my warmest thought / But when I see thee as thou art / I'll praise thee as I ought."--John Newton
Trophy Wife/Arm Candy: Crystal Ann Children: Steven Jr. and Hannah Grace

Inerrancy is, like, so 80 years ago...

But yeah, it is kind of strange. "To reject the deity of Jesus is one thing, but letting the gays be pastors, now that's where I draw the line!"

Innerrancy is like so today. I wish it wasn't so, but unfortunately the issue hasn't been settled despite the scholarship that has been done. Think it ain't so? Then why all the books lately that have come out on the market regarding this issue?

Why do some now leave? Frankly because for some it is just plain old homophobia.

You may be on to something. Let me get my canopener out.

Yep, I'm with you guys. This is very bad, but it's only the latest symptom of a terminal disease.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
My Facebook/My Avatar

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

Perhaps a conservative resurgence is in their future; likely the distant future.

-----Added 8/21/2009 at 11:01:56 EST-----

No doubt you are on to something.

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"Gentle words, quiet words, are after all, the most powerful words. They are more convincing, more compelling, more prevailing." - Washington Gladden

Not true. The group that came out of the LCMS joined with two other, larger bodies to form the ELCA. The largest of these was the LCA (Lutheran Church in America), the denomination I grew up in back in the 50's and 60's. It never had ties to the LCMS as far as I know. (But I agree that it's unlikely that anyone from the ELCA will defect to the LCMS.)

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Mark Hettler
PCA
Central NJ

God answers prayers in one of two ways: "Yes," or "I have something better."

Tis truly another sad, sad day for the Remnant. As Lot bore with the wicked, so do the saints in that organization.

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Edwin Moore:
Bible Teacher, RCA
Arvada, CO amen:

No, homosexuality is not THE issue. However, it affords a presenting cause or focus for attention. For many, theological drift is like the frog in the kettle, too gradual to be noticed and acted upon soon enough. When there is something like this, it shocks people into realizing how far they have come.

Ironically, back in the 70s when my Sys Theo prof was publishing books promoting "women in ministry" with a hermeneutic that "Paul was wrong but that's OK," I got into my share of arguments with folks by saying that such an approach to the Bible would eventually lead to a justification of homosexuality.

This one has hit all of the seven mainline denoms quicker than I could have imagined back then!

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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Hardly surprising, but sad news nonetheless.

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Andrea
Presbyterian, attending Baptist church
Perugia, Italy
Owner: federiformata.it

"Quos et vocavit nos non solum ex Iudæis sed etiam ex gentibus" (Rom. 9.24)

Jewett?

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Ben Maas. . . . .Facebook
In college, attending First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), Ada, OH, and
Belle Center Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA), Belle Center, OH
When at home, attending Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC), Mansfield, OH

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.”
-Jonathan Edwards-

When you explain away or ignore a part of God's word to please people, it opens the floodgate to keep going on until "anything goes". The hard call is to tell when the line has been crossed that puts a group into the synagogue of Satan category. This symptom makes it obvious.

So tell me again, how important is it for people in denominations like the PCA to take their church constitution seriously? Even on the minor issues that enlightened people sneer at as being rigid and non spiritual?

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Tim Vaughan
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian, OPC,
Santa Maria
California

I've had close association with the ELCA back to when it was the LCA -- sadly, folks come out of seminary thoroughly convinced that man has evolved in his thinking -- we are at a higher plane today and can therefore think critically of anything that disagrees with modern sensibilities. God is love, period, and to say that he would ever .... fill in the blank, block women from being a pastor, make people uncomfortable about divorce ...

I'm not sure many thought through the logic of such a position, and that's why the vote was so close. The higher order of thinking was fine as long as it didn't interfere with my opinions, but hey, isn't this gay thing going too far?

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JWithnell
Member Bethel OPC
Virginia
http://learningyesican.blogspot.com/

This is very sad indeed. When I first came to Christ in April of 2000, we attended a little ELCA church down the street from us. One morning, they had made some proclamation of homosexuals in the pulpit, I dont quite remember the context but nonetheless, that morning I told my wife, we will not be back.

I didnt exactly know much, but I knew that was wrong, so we told the woman pastor we were leaving.

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Michael P Doyle
Waukesha WI
Member of http://www.cornerstone-pca.com/
Attending http://www.lampseminary.org/