The struggle for full inclusion of LGBT individuals in my church, the ELCA, continues to move onward. This is ordination reported by 365gay.com (http://www.365gay.com/Newscon07/11/111907luth.htm) is one more encouraging step in the right direction. Here are some story highlights followed by my comments to the homophobes and hypocrites still within the ELCA: (Chicago, Illinois) Jen Rude has become the first lesbian pastor to be ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since the denomination voted last year to temporarily leave it up to individual bishops whether to maintain the ban on clergy in same-sex relationships. The measure - the product of three years' work by a special church task force - was meant as a compromise that will satisfy both those who support gay clergy and those who regard gay sex as sinful. A final decision will be made in 2009.
Nevertheless most Lutheran bishops require gay and lesbian pastors to make make a vow of celibacy before they can be ordained. Heterosexual ministers are not required to make a similar vow. Rude, who said she is not in a relationship, refused to make the vow because she considers it discriminatory and her suburban Chicago church, Resurrection Lutheran Church in Lakeview, stood behind her.
Miller's predecessor, Rev. Paul Landahl, did attended the ceremony. Landahl, who now is acting director of candidacy for Chicago's Lutheran School of Theology, told the Tribune that the seminary's board recently approved an unprecedented welcoming statement affirming inclusion. Rude's father and grandfather, both Lutheran ministers, also attended the ceremony.
Like all the anti-gay "Christians," those in the ELCA who oppose full inclusion of gays insist they are being true to the literal wording of the Bible, citing the standard few passages about same sex activities. Like all true hypocrites, they conveniently forget some of theses Bible passages:
Malachi 2:14-16: You ask, "Why?" It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. 15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. [e] So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, . .
Matthew 19:9:9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
Mark 10:11:11 -12 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
Luke 16:18: Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Leviticus 19:19: Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
The list of ignored passages constantly is almost endless. Only the anti-gay passages get a literal interpretation. As I have said numerous times before, if one claims to take the Bible literally, it is an all or nothing proposition, not an ala carte menu. None the less, the "Christian" evangelicals who are the most gay-hating have the highest divorce rate. Go figure. I truly do not suffer hypocrites well.
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