“Sorry, Jesus…”

A first among ELCA Lutherans is the action of the Delaware-Maryland Synod to rescind its membership in Reconciled in Christ and sever all affiliation with Lutherans Concerned, two gay advocacy organizations pushing the ELCA—with apparent effectiveness—to ordain active homosexuals and bless same-sex unions. The bishop emeritus of the synod, George P. Mocko, led off the debate. “There will be schism, and it will be large. Legal documents are in process, if not completed, by more than one group. The schism will be so large as to leave the ELCA crippled financially and administratively, occupied with budget and staff cuts. Ecumenically, we will have abandoned our position between the Roman and Orthodox churches on one side and Protestantism on the other, to take a great leap to the left, to join the United Church of Christ (UCC) in ordaining and blessing active homosexuals. I had hoped we could teach the UCC about biblical theology. Instead we will have learned from them how to brush Scripture aside when it gets in the way of an agenda. Learn that skill, and what is next?

“This question gets us into profound matters of faith. If those proposals are adopted, we will be removing what has been the cornerstone of our theology on sexuality for our entire history. That cornerstone has been the words of Jesus, ‘Have you not read, that He which made them at the beginning, made them male and female, and said, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? What therefore God has joined together, let no one put asunder.’ That has always summarized God’s intent in creating us as sexual beings—creating us for monogamous, heterosexual, lifelong relationships of commitment and love, and anything other than that is less than that, and part of a fallen creation.

“That cornerstone would be removed, and erected in its place would be a cornerstone that would now read, ‘God has made a variety of sexualities, all to be equally affirmed and celebrated.’ There is no biblical basis for such a theology. None. There is no way that anyone can read the books of our Scripture and conclude, ‘That is what is here taught.’ Efforts to make Scriptures say that have been going on for over a decade. There is no biblical basis for such a view. If Jesus is our Lord, his words must remain central. We cannot say to him, ‘Sorry, Jesus, but we find your words narrow and embarrassing. We must lay them aside. We have become much more enlightened in this blessed age of ours. So your words must pass away. We can no longer use them; they do not fit our new understandings. You must excuse me now, I have much work to do rewriting Sunday school material so that our children are sure to be as enlightened as we are.’ We cannot do that.”

If the gay agenda is successful, Mocko said, “it will mean the effective end of the ELCA, because it means that we will have exchanged our loyalty to our Lord and his words for another. Such a church would lose the loyalty of thousands, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of its people.” The ELCA is conducting a million dollar study on homosexuality in church doctrine and practice, and the governing assembly will be asked to make decisions in 2003.

Sources: ELCA and the gay agenda, Forum Letter, October 2002.