In our rural Missouri Synod chruch, i think women finally were allowed to vote in meetings within the last 10 years. Don't think we will ever have women elders for a while. The church has been pretty consistent with how it was run in the last 125 years. I admit i actually like it that way. The fact that a lutheran division would allow gay or lesbian pastors is crazy to me and goes against a lot of things lutheran's stand for. But hey, everyone is entitled to their belief. I'm sure my grandparents would have something to say if they were still alive...
I respect your position man, because I was raised in that culture and I consider many of those people to be fundamentally "good" people.....but there isn't one single thing about the Lutheran faith that has anything to do with homosexuality, one way or the other. Nothing.
Dude, I have read Luther's small catechism, studied and contrasted Lutheranism with other Protestants and all other religions....It's NOT in there man. NO WHERE.
Now, YOUR particular congregation may have that slant to it, and that is completely their choice, but it's not a part of the Lutheran faith...or most main-stream non-evangelical protestant faiths (e.g. Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian).
I was actually proud when I heard the ELCA was going to do that....even though I wasn't raised in an ELCA congregation...just by loose relationship.....doesn't really matter too much to me though, I'm not a Lutheran anymore.
It's been a good 8 years since i went to a Lutheran school (1-8) so i won't act like I know the ins and outs of these things. And it seems your have looked at this issue more thoroughly than I have. I guess its all in YOUR(not you, Pete, specific) personal beliefs, not necessarily your church. I like to think of the church as the company you keep, which most reflects your views. Are there things about LCMS i think are wrong and should be changed?? Hell yes. It was a big issue in our church about using individual cups,not one cup for communion. I mean come on, what the frack is the big deal about that? It's still the same Blood. Our society has just changed faster than the church.
I know SOMEWHERE in the Bible they address homosexuality, which is treated as a sin. But it is no different than any other sin a Pastor could commit, I realize this. It's just the, for the lack of a better word, fact of it that they allow them to lead others to God's word. Like i said earlier, it's a personal issue, even a congregational issue like you said. I just don't think the ELCA should decide on such a big issue, for everyone.
(this is hard for me to type out clearly, would rather talk about it. sorry if none of that makes sense)
