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| ELCA Bishop Official Photo |
One cannot defy "the laws of nature and of nature's God." That key phrase comes from the Declaration of Independence and many legal arguments and resources.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. The Declaration of Independence
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| Police Department - Official Photo of the ex-bishop. |
Lutherans use the term Natural Law, which means that God commands what is good for us. These concepts, with various names, mean that right and wrong are determined by God's Creation, not by man's design. That is the primary divide today, since so many use the court system to establish a new set of values opposed to Creation and the Declaration's key phrase.
Many times people argue around the perimeter issues when the basic one determines the outcome of all debates. Once Creation is surrendered, any set of humans can invent a new array of laws and punish the lawbreakers however they wish. There is no transcendent control.
Believe it or not, the LCA's Lutheran magazine backed this Natural Law concept around 1980, when a professor at the Philadelphia Seminary advocated the traditional position about homosexuality. In short, it was against nature. I was being interviewed there when a few people went up to him to express agreement with him. Today he would be strung up, not thanked, and dispatched with fury. But I imagine also that the same magazine, as an ELCA offering, would not print such heresy.
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| Robin taught at Philadelphia, after the profession I mentioned above, and now she is president of Luther Seminary, the largest one of all. |
I agree with those who predict the death of the established Lutherans sects, because they have all become a law unto themselves. The smoke and mirrors approach continues as they each continue to praise their brand above the others while working with ELCA. The only honest apostates are in ELCA. The rest are Me Too apostates. They agree with everything in ELCA, but they would do things a bit better.
If the lawsuits they have earned were settled in the next year or so, Missouri and WELS and the ELS would be smoldering ash-heaps, with their properties sold off at auction to pay the damages. Bethany - the Little Schoolhouse on the Prairie - would be a nursing home with splendid facilities. The Sausage Factory would be a museum on the corner of a ritzy housing development. The two Concordias would be Roman Catholic churches with classrooms abounding.
Because the leaders are a law unto themselves, they can break any law they choose. They can betray any confidence. They can scream Eighth Commandment!, knowing well that they are ones who undercut their own faithful clergy and laity.
I laughed when an ELCA bishop used the Eighth Commandment against Faith Lutheran Church in Moline, Illinois. He sounded just like Deputy Doug Engelbrecht, Paul Kelm, Frost Bivens, Paul McCain, and a host of others. In my archived Megatron I have a collection of Eighth Commandment letters from WELS.
Matthew 18 is also convenient. WELS has worn that down like Uncle Fritz' sofa on the front porch. One can seen the dents, cigarette burns, and beer stains all over it.
No one can breathe a word of criticism until he has made an appointment with the apostate, sat down with him, held his hand, and gently told him his sins. Anything short of that is a horrible sin, and punishment soon follows.
However, a group of clergy did that with Paul Kelm. Results - gar nichts. And his own group told him not to feature blatant false teachers at one of his conferences. Results - gar nichts.
Obviously, the Eighth Commandment and Matthew 18 are just excuses to identify those who dissent from false doctrine.
