Lutheran church gay
What About Homosexuality?
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This pamphlet is intended to help Christians acknowledge some questions about homosexuality. The church recognizes this as both a significant challenge and, more importantly, as an opportunity to speak the truth in value, reaching out with the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What does God speak about homosexuality in His Pos, the Bible?
The Lord teaches us through His Word that homosexuality is a sinful distortion of His desire that one male and one woman live together in marriage as husband and wife. God categorically prohibits homosexuality. Our church, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, has declared that queer behavior is “intrinsically sinful.” Why does our church take this position?
We read in God’s Pos the following statements about homosexuality:
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. … Do not defile yourselves by any of these things” (Lev. , 24).
“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination…” (Lev. )
July At its convention, the Lutheran Church in America (LCA) releases the declaration “Marriage and Family,” its first on the subject, which contains no state of homosexuality. [1]
June-July The American Lutheran Church (ALC) releases its first declaration on sexuality at its biennial convention. [2]
June-July At the convention, the LCA produces a expression on “Sex, Marriage, and Family” is released that supersedes the previous utterance on these subjects. This statement contains the Church’s first mention of homosexuality, which is referred to as a sin, but also claims that homosexuals are “often the special and undeserving victims of prejudice and discrimination in law, law enforcement, cultural mores, and congregational life.” The statement concludes with a defense of “understanding and justice in church and community” of lesbian persons. [3]
March An article in the New York Times claims that the LCA is one of only two “national church denominations” that have released a statement in support of “homosexual rights” The other denomination is the Unitari
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
BACKGROUND
Of the three leading Lutheran organizations operating in the United States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is considered the most welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQ+ members. Formed in with the merger of three smaller Lutheran organizations, the ELCA is based in Chicago and encompasses nearly 10, congregations and more than million members across the country.
Churchwide Assemblies are held every three years, with elected representatives establishing policy and addressing the concerns of the larger church body. As stated on the denomination’s web site, the Churchwide Assembly “provides a time and place for growth and change while remaining rooted in Scripture, tradition, Lutheran confessions and the rich histories of our congregations and communities.”
LGBTQ+ EQUALITY
ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION & GENDER IDENTITY
In , the Churchwide Assembly passed a resolution stating that, "Gay and lesbian people, as individuals created by God, are welcome to participate fully in the animation
The Church and Homosexuality
[1] After attending a study team using the ELCA learn guide Journey Together Faithfully: The Church and Homosexuality at Advent Lutheran in Arlington, TX, I felt as Dennis Bielfeldt () did when he wrote:
&#;While I believe Journey Together does fairly describe the different voices and positions within the ELCA on this controversial issue, I find it neither particularly helps readers arrive at justifiable views, nor effectively aids the institution of the ELCA in coming to a responsible and defensible position.&#;
[2] I certainly had a viewpoint on all the topics addressed in Journey, and this contribution is an aim to express part of that viewpoint as a defensible position. I own assumed that statements by Jesus in the Gospels outweigh rules and opinions found elsewhere in the Old and New Testaments and that those rules and judgments must be evaluated in light of Jesus&#; moral principles as applied to 21st century western culture.
[3] Jesus&#; moral principles are simple, the application difficult: &#;love your neighbor as yourself&#; (Ma