I call out the Rev. Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for false teaching. A respected colleague in the ELCA made me aware of the latest evidence of this fact by pointing me to Bishop Hanson’s December 6 videotaped, virtual “Town Hall” meeting, which you may view here. Another colleague provided me a portion of the transcript:

Question: Ron Huber, Akeny, Iowa: Where is there anything other than rejection of homosexual behavior in the Bible? Where is there specific acceptance of this behavior in the Bible?

Hanson: “My fear is that the we are missing a marvelous moment we have to bear witness to one another and others are watching, expecting division, because this is how these things are being defined. We have a moment to say, “Let us tell you how we understand the Word of God.” It is God’s address first incarnate in Jesus, as Gospel, Law/Gospel, and the Word recorded in Scripture. How then do we read the Scriptures? Are we falling into a differentiation of ‘some love it and some don’t love the Scripture.’

“The question is not do some love the Scripture or not, but how do we read the Scripture? We read them evangelically as Lutherans, we read it open to the Spirit bringing us to saving faith in Christ. We understand Scripture through Jesus.

“When we come to the question of how we read the Bible, in response to homo or place of gay/lesbian in life and ministry. Let’s bring the question to the text, but to the text others turn to, that leads them to say, ‘The questions of homosexual orientation that I hear asked and the understanding we have of homosexuality that we have today does not seem to be reflected at all in the context of the Biblical writers, so let us bring our understanding of sexual orientation that has been opened up to humankind over the years to this conversation.’

“My plea is that we not move into conversation with like minded people. Let’s not let this moment be a moment when Bible divides us, but an invitation to conversation with one another. To bear witness to what it means to hear Word as Law and Gospel. God is still speaking to us, and through us.”

Bishop Hanson gives evidence of his Law-Gospel reductionism. Lutheranism, for Him, does not find the proper distinction of Law and Gospel to be the interpretive key of Scripture, but the Gospel only. But Jesus Christ is the God of the Gospel and the God of the Law. In short, Hanson’s Gospel not only fulfills and supplants the Law, it destroys it.

Hanson’s response regarding homosexuality is carefully nuanced. He is correct in asserting that the Bible writers knew nothing of what we call “homosexuality,” because that is a relatively new sociological invention based on how one “feels” about sex. The word “homosexual” is only about 200 years old. Bible writers were certainly familiar with same-sex activity, however, as were the ancients. And, of course, the Bible in every instance condemns same-sex behavior without reservation. Why? Because same-sex behavior militates against God’s creation of male and female and His desire to enlarge His human family.

What Hanson is suggesting, and what this summer’s ELCA General Assembly confirmed, is that contemporary human sexuality, sociology, psychology, and the gay rights movement are the authorities to which Bishop Hanson and the ELCA submit when it comes to this sin, for which Christ also died and now freely offers His rich forgiveness through the waters of Holy Baptism.

Notable Puritans. Source: Wiki Commons; public domain.

As this April 4 The New York Times article shows, advocates for same-sex marriage, such as Lambda Legal, are making headway in New England.

Ironically, you can thank the Puritans, advocates of individualism and intellectualism, for some of the success.

The problem with current discourse in Lutheran circles regarding sexuality is, well, the word sexuality. You can’t find sexuality in the Bible (oh, sure, there are male and female, marriage, sex, more sex, approved sex, prohibited sex, and so on), but not sexuality. You can’t find sexuality in the Lutheran Confessions (yeah, there are marriage, procreation, moral prophylaxis, celibacy, and so on). But no sexuality.

Sexuality as a word came into use about 1800 AD. Which means that, until about two hundred years ago, we didn’t talk this way about male and female, the purpose of marriage, and so on.

Which makes me wonder: when it comes to Lutheran ethics within the household of faith, Why do we use it at all? It is loaded with a lot of freight. Sure, the term is popularly used in our culture, especially by sociologists, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and so on. And we should rightly familiarize ourselves with the term and all that it implies in the public square.

But in the Church? Shouldn’t we be speaking (and writing) in the language of Scripture?

Interestingly enough, the ELCA’s Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust uses the word “sexuality” 123 times. “Bible” is mentioned 3 times, “Scripture” 20 times, and “Confessions” 13 times. “Marriage” is mentioned 60 times, and “children” 45 times. Although “sin” is mentioned 34 times, specific sexual sins (which we might expect in a document on sexuality), are not mentioned. “Fornication” is mentioned once, “civil unions” beats “heterosexual” 3 to 2, and the sexual virtues of “continence”, “chastity”, “purity”, and “holiness” are down for the count at zero.

Which makes me wonder: If sexuality were not in our Lutheran Church vocabulary, would there be a “human sexuality” document at all?

 

While ESCR offers many promises to those suffering from a variety of debilitating diseases and conditions, it also raises the troubling specter of destroying human life at its most fragile beginnings. As Christians, when we need sure guidance and wisdom to help us navigate complex and confusing issues, such as those arising from science or medicine, we go to God’s authoritative and inerrant Word.

While Scripture does not specifically mention the phrase “embryonic stem cell research,” it does guide us to see all children—from conception to birth and beyond—as God’s gift. And, through its teachings about original sin, Christ’s incarnation, and God’s will that we speak up for the weak and helpless, we come to see that ESCR is incompatible with the Bible and thus the Christian faith. Nevertheless, in Christian love for our suffering loved ones and neighbors, we can affirm ASCR that does not require the destruction of developing human life, but rather utilizes donated cord blood, discarded placentas, or adult human cells.

You can download the study here. Make as many copies as you like for you and your Bible study group.

What Lutherans believe, teach, and confess is not true simply because they say so. Sixty million Lutherans saying something doesn’t make it true. We must demonstrate that what we assert is true on the basis of Holy Scripture in continuity with the classical creeds and confessions which the ELCA accepts in its Constitution.

You can read Braaten’s March 3 Lutheran Forum article here.

the statement avoids making normative judgments about homosexual conduct by neglecting the testimony of the Bible and the Christian moral tradition on that issue. In doing so it departs from the moral consensus that the church has held for millennia… 

 You can read Benne’s entire March 4 Lutheran Forum article here.