Lutheranism is dead, or at least soon will be and it wants to take the Catholic Church with it.
Herbert W. Chilstrom is former presiding bishop of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Chilstrom has written an open letter to the Bishops of Minnesota asking them to accept gay ‘marriage’ becuase gays are like blacks or something.
May I share a word with all of you who now lead the Roman Catholic community of faith in Minnesota?
First, I would go to the wall to defend your right to work for the adoption of the so-called marriage protection amendment. Having said that, I must tell you that I believe you are making a significant mistake.
Over my 35 years as an active and retired bishop I have come to know hundreds of gay and lesbian persons. I have yet to meet even one who is opposed to the marriage of one man and one woman. After all, they are the daughters and sons of such unions.
What they cannot understand is why church leaders would oppose their fundamental desire and right to be in partnership with someone they love and respect who happens to be of the same gender and sexual orientation. They don’t understand why they should not enjoy all the rights and privileges their straight counterparts take for granted.
More than a half century ago Father Francis Gilligan spoke out for equality for African American citizens of Minnesota. Though many argued on the basis of the Bible that these neighbors were inferior to others, Gilligan fought tirelessly for justice for these brothers and sisters.
In our generation homosexual persons are subject to the same discrimination. Their detractors often use the Bible and tradition as weapons of choice.
What strikes me about this letter is how utterly juvenile it is in its thinking and how insulting it is to the Catholic position.
Chilstrom challenges the Bishops to “Let me put out a challenge to each of you brothers. Invite 15 gay and lesbian persons from your respective areas, one at a time, to spend two hours with you.”
In Chilstrom’s mind, the problem is that we don’t know and therefore don’t like gay people. If we just got to know them, then all these problems would go away. How utterly juvenile. We know them, we love them, that is why we can never support this behavior becuase it destroys them body and soul.
It is no wonder that Lutheranism is dying a milquetoast death.
December 11, 2011 at 1:10 am
This Lutheran pastor needs to meet some of the holy men and women of Courage, a Roman Catholic organization of same sex attracted individuals trying to live life chastely, as God has called each non-married person to do. Homosexuality may be a difficult cross to bear, but it is also a thorn in the flesh that can lead to holiness. God bless Courage!
December 11, 2011 at 5:33 pm
This is the same -and only – Lutheran body in full communion with the Episcopal church … and racing down the same demographic rabbit hole.
++Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church spouts the same nonsense whenever she can be drawn away from new law suits against fleeing conservative Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic Episcopalians. The shriller the rhetoric about 'inclusion' becomes, the nastier these types treat their opponents. Spiritual B.S. in my book.
December 12, 2011 at 3:37 am
Thanks to Martin Luther, we have churches like this…….."herchurch"…..just google it for yourself and see the insanity.
December 12, 2011 at 4:46 am
Methinks: "They know not what they do", although one would THINK they would understand it… Ahem. 🙂
December 12, 2011 at 6:22 am
Just this week, there was a meeting at a seminary next to Augustana College in Sioux Falls to present the new Lutheran organization for those who are abandoning the apostate ELCA.
December 12, 2011 at 8:20 pm
I especially like the "some of my best friends are …" argument.
December 13, 2011 at 2:04 pm
"In Chilstrom's mind, the problem is that we don't know and therefore don't like gay people. If we just got to know them, then all these problems would go away. How utterly juvenile. We know them, we love them, that is why we can never support this behavior becuase it destroys them body and soul."
Clearly you haven't met any LGBT people outside of the narrow confines of your repressive belief system because none of the ones I know are "destroyed" body and soul. LGBT people are happy and productive members of society and the vast majority of them are happy living as we were made, we have no interesting in self-hate or shame. If you actually took Herbert W. Chilstrom's advice and met some people from outside your narrow worldview you would see that to most LGBT people their sexuality is not an issue for them, they just want to live their lives just like everyone else.
December 13, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Because of this sort of business, my husband and I are leaving our ELCA church for the NALC, which was formed largely in response to the ELCA careening off the rails. I do wish that my husband would consider Catholicism, but he's not there yet. Baby steps.
And for those folks outside the ELCA, which I suspect is most of you reading this–it's worse than you even know. Trust me.
December 14, 2011 at 4:48 am
The LCMS does not believe in gay marriage.However I know Catholics who do. They also perform weddings by being online ordainded thru the universal life church yet they still consider themselves Catholic and take communion at mass.Go figure.It is not what the Bible teaches.
December 14, 2011 at 2:19 pm
Third to last anonymous, the psychiatric and disease statistics for homosexuals do, in fact, paint a very different picture from your claims. Between their suicide, depression, and alcoholism rates, and the (often fatal) diseases they have a ridiculously high incidence of, homosexuals are, in fact, "destroyed body and soul".
Speaking of narrow worldviews, yours appears bound wholly by your personal experiences. Apparently you are not even aware that "generalization from the self" is a logical fallacy?
Also, if most LGBT people's sexuality is not an issue to them, then why do they define their entire existence by their "orientation"? Heterosexual people don't define themselves as heterosexuals, but merely as people; I hate to break it to you but the very structure of reality is heteronormative. To quote Confucius' commentary on the Yi Jing, "One yin, one yang, this is called the way."
December 14, 2011 at 4:06 pm
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December 14, 2011 at 4:08 pm
From Anonymous: "The LCMS does not believe in gay marriage.However I know Catholics who do. They also perform weddings by being online ordainded thru the universal life church yet they still consider themselves Catholic and take communion at mass.Go figure.It is not what the Bible teaches."
Certainly. There are Catholics who are faithful and there are those who are not. This may reflect on our catechesis or the character of our members, but it does not change the faith or its moral authority. We can only hope, pray, teach… that those who are schismatic within return to the truth.
I am sure it's no different in any other faith community.
December 15, 2011 at 3:04 am
I am sure it is no different in any other faith community,too.As Christian we must hold to the truth of the Bible.Love the sinner hate the sin.The whole Christian community can not teach a watered down message and change with society. The Bible never changes.
December 19, 2011 at 10:45 am
Chilstrom's argument is wholly political, and does not define the word "love." If by love he means sex, he need say so but does not because it would weaken his clever little posture.
When sex acts define the word "love" as the 60s generation and those after would have us accept, then "God's love" becomes sullied too. This was the aim of the cultural Marxists of the old Frankfurt School, and suceeding generations who wished to gain rank in the hierarchy of organizations to press their political aims.
My wife and I work in the entertainment industry, and know many homosexuals. Therefore Chilstrom's silly challenge has already been passed by us. Nevertheless we both see the folly of equating same-sex marriage with civil rights issues. Marriage is meant to bind a family together, children to parents. While the statistically small samples of gay adoptive parents is a second issue, the large issue is that marriage merely as an approval of sex acts is a heinous and small-minded argument.
As to the issue of the small percentage of homosexuals — who already are a small percentage of the population — it is the gay lobby which strenuously opposes continuing studies of the health of such adoptive children over a decades' long study. Why? Because as we already know, role modeling is a function of human relationships, with poor choices in role models ending up being poor choices in life and society itself.
Chilstrom's church logo includes the phrase, "God's work. Our hands." It might as well read, "God's genatalia. Our hands," because they are focused on sex acts, as a political stance against others, which includes the Catholic Church.
Chilstrom is at best against the Catholic Church, and most evidently a cultural Marxist, though he would complain loudly at being "outed."