I'm thankful our ELCA encourages every member to study the Bible as we
seek to rightly understand God's word on the blessing of same-sex
marriages as well as on the ordination of gays and lesbians in
committed relationships. I'm convinced that at the heart of both these
issues is the desire to show God's love and mercy to all people. This
is good. As an ELCA pastor, I'm thankful that our Lutheran churches
want to be servants that extend God's grace to everyone. However, as
Lutherans we still hold the conviction that the Scriptures are the
authority and norm for all matters of faith and life. Christian
Batalden Scharen's article (March, page 22) raised more questions than
gave answers for me. His encouragement to be open to blessing same-sex
relationships wasn't based on Scripture. Let's be sure our practice is
in accordance with the Scriptures.
Phil Tukua
Fallbrook, Calif.
Your
recent articles on same-sex marriage in the church trouble me greatly.
The continued debate was one reason I left the ELCA in the late 1990s.
Spiritual issues cannot be solved by intellectual debate.
Jonathan Buerger
Columbus Grove, Ohio
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