Not for Everyone

Churches and moral authority

 

“As a public church, we are called to address significant social issues that affect the common good. We seek to bring God’s justice not only in the world but also in the church. The social statements of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are social policy documents, adopted by the churchwide assembly in accordance with our policies and procedures.” Evangelical Lutheran preamble to Social Statements

ABORTION:

We in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are united with all human beings and the whole creation because God has created us and all that exists ...

Induced abortion, the act of intentionally terminating a developing life in the womb, is one of the issues about which members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have serious differences. These differences are also found within society ...

A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born, nor does a pregnant woman have an absolute right to terminate a pregnancy. The concern for both the life of the woman and the developing life in her womb expresses a common commitment to life. This requires that we move beyond the usual "pro-life" versus "pro-choice" language in discussing abortion ...

Women, faced with unintended pregnancies, are called to be good stewards of life by making responsible decisions in light of these relationships ...

All of life is a mysterious, awesome gift of God ...

Human life in all phases of its development is God-given and, therefore, has intrinsic value, worth, and dignity ...

Sin is evident in the many ways human lives are not given equal respect or treated with high value, but are subject to abuse, violence, and neglect by individuals, groups, and entire societies. We are caught up in a web of sin in which we both sin and are sinned against ...

Our faith is to be active in love and our freedom used for the benefit of one another ...

… our love for neighbor embraces especially those who are most vulnerable, including both the pregnant woman and the life in her womb ...

Because we believe that God is the creator of life, the number of induced abortions is a source of deep concern to this church. We mourn the loss of life that God has created …

 

George Tiller, the late-term abortion provider who was shot and killed in church recently, was in attendance at an Evangelical Lutheran Church. Because of Tiller’s chosen profession and apparent sense of religion (I have no idea the state of his faith), an examination of what the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA) has to say about abortion seemed in order.

This is no attempt to vilify or implicate specifically the ECLA (not to be confused with the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, which is distinctly pro-life) in the doctor’s personal and professional choices and endeavors. Indeed, as a United Methodist pastor, I have issues with my own denomination’s stance on abortion (absolutely no, under certain circumstances; kinda sorta maybe under others). In a culture such as ours, however, and in light of the reality that more and more persons are moving away from church attendance and active participation in church life, it is interesting to read official church statements, especially those statements that attempt to take a stand but seem to work harder at including “something for everyone” without actually taking a stand, and then wonder why there seems to be so much confusion and falling away among the faithful. 

It is noteworthy, in a society such as ours in which it seems decreed by far too many churches that the value of human life is measured only by our willingness to support and defend that life, that children are gunning down children in the streets all across America with reckless abandon and with absolutely no respect for human life nor sensing any value of such life. These children kill as it suits their own selfish purposes just as we kill unborn children and feebly attempt to justify our decisions while condemning theirs. The message is just not consistent, and there is no firm belief to embrace. It’s a “kinda sorta” proposition that refuses to name an evil and call it what it is for fear of upsetting or offending, perhaps in an effort to prevent an exodus of members, only to discover that such efforts to appease everyone was ultimately in vain.

The ELCA [non]stand on abortion is not unique to the ELCA but is, instead, indicative of far too many “connectional” churches as well as many independent and non-denominational churches that celebrate “diversity” by diversifying essentials of the faith so as to be considered “inclusive” but actually being rendered “impotent”. Life itself as a “gift of God” is as essential and as basic as “essentials of faith” can be; Evangelical Lutherans and United Methodists (among many others) do their level best to avoid nasty confrontations by refusing to come down on one side or the other and do a great disservice to those who look for a faith and a God that will not shift according to cultural or political winds. To do so is to not only earn but also embrace the true meaning of “hypocrisy”. 

The Roman Catholic Church may take a lot of flak from a lot of folks, but the RCC can be counted on to stand firm in what it professes to be true. There is no “popular” vote with regard to Church doctrine, and some things are not open to secular discussion or debate. There is no vain attempt to be culturally relevant, and there is no feeble celebration of “cultural diversity” when it comes to sound doctrine. Those who insist that the Church needs to “get with the times” fail to understand that the Church’s refusal to negotiate is actually what was once known as “doctrinal integrity”. 

Refusing to be swayed by the prevailing secular humanist or relativist culture grants to the Church the necessary moral authority to speak to such matters. All other churches that seek to be “culturally relevant” to worldly standards and practices and vainly attempt to appease those who cannot or will not embrace such absolutes as the divine nature of life itself fail to understand or embrace the standards of the Kingdom of Heaven and our call to be relevant toward that Kingdom rather than to the worldly culture we live in. 

In the end, although the Christian faith is for anyone who is willing to enter into the New Covenant and walk the walk of Christ, the harsh truth is that it is not for everyone. There will always be those unwilling or even unable to enter into this life-changing and life-SUSTAINING Covenant. Sad, but true. And this includes entire churches that surrender their moral authority to the prevailing cultural authority.