Comments on: Minnesota pastor quits over ELCA decision to allow gay clergy

By: S. Jerome Elness

S. Jerome Elness — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:50:07 +0000

Pastor Bjorge is obviously a man of integrity and prayer. That is the kind of pastor Christian congregtions need and members pray for. Thomas Jefferson (Google Jefferson Bible) formed his own New Testament by cutting out what he didn’t like and pasting together the verses he liked. Jesus never rose from he dead in his Bible but wss left in the tomb. You know who Jefferson’s god and authority for faith and life was – Jefferson. The ELCA has cut out Leviticus 18:22; 20:31; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and Ephesians 5:3-12. They have left the Lutheran principle of interpretation, “What does the plain text say?” Read the above 30 verses and it is obvious to any reader, as it is to Pastor Bjorgi, that the church has chosen to be apostate. How much dog poop does a thinking person permit in their brownies before the brownies are unacceptable?

By: Carter

Carter — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:56:12 +0000

Marlin,
To love one another is to love the person. We are not to judge the moral character of someone as only God can do so. This is a completely seperate issue than having homosexual clergy leading the flock and teaching The Word to our children. How can you judge the pastor’s actions, yet not the actions of the homosexual clergy? Clearly one is in sin, one is not. We conservatives certainly accept and wish for the the gays to attend church and find their way to the word like we do the straight people. We just differ on the need for unabashed sinners to lead us.

By: John Faber

John Faber — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:44:48 +0000

Pastor Bjorge did the only thing consistent with his ordination oath. Good for him. The apostasy of the ELCA is very sad.

By: Marieta

Marieta — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:41:20 +0000

I challenge you all to just go and read Romans 1 again. Be honest with yourself when you read it. Hard words indeed. Too much for so many people to bear and so they turn from the word of God and do their own thing, having all sorts of arguments to justify their actions. How can the ELCA leadership claim to be leaders of a church of Jesus Christ when they put certain verses of the Bible up for popular vote? Such disobedience is just plain shocking. My heart goes out to this pastor. I cry for this congregation and pray that mine would do the right thing.

By: Oscar Stratten

Oscar Stratten — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:56:43 +0000

People miss the issue here. Christians are all sinners. We are all forgiven, but we have to recognize right and wrong. We have clergy who are adulterers, theives, liars, etc. But they admit that they are sinners and repent.

Gay clergy deny that homosexuality is a sin, even though it is clearly defined in the Bible as such. (under both the old and the new covenants)

For the church to allow gay clergy is the same as if they allowed a pastor to continue to be a prostitute on Saturday and preach on Sunday.

By: Marlin

Marlin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:16:03 +0000

Although not overly religious, I was brought up as a Lutheran, and am glad to see that the church accepts gays into the fold. The reason I don’t go to church anymore is that people on both the right and left preach one thing, but once church is over, go back to being hypocrits.
Jesus said, “Love one another”–he didn’t make exceptions or qualifications about it, so why should we?
The New Testament was supposed to be an addendum which would succeed the Old, and yet, conservatives ignore it for the same tired anti-everything verses which protect them from the need for thought.
God gave us brains and hearts so that we could identify and sympathise with others, and think for ourselves, not be robots obeying the words of men who only seek power over others in the name of religion.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:14:08 +0000

I LOVE worshiping at the altar of radical liberalism. It’s so…radical. Often for the Christian Right, those who disagree are accused of hating Christianity. I applaud this minister for leaving and getting out of the way of a church that obviously wants to stay in communion with their fellow Christians and get some work done.

By: Todd

Todd — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:11:07 +0000

Rev. Bjorge is clearly a man of principle. It must have been difficult for him, but he did what he had to do. His congregation is clearly a lost cause. They follow the ELCA in their contempt for Christian values, and now worship at the altar of radical liberalism.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:58:43 +0000

Seems like a reasonable solution. The members voted to stay with the ELCA. The minister wasn’t happy with that so he resigned to go somewhere else. It wasn’t long ago that the big issues were ordaining women and Biblical literalism. There were a number of congregations who voted to leave, some voted to stay and had individuals leave. Same process will happen with this issue.

If church members didn’t have this to fight about, they’d find something else. Church politics make South Carolina politics seem polite.

By: Bill

Bill — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:13:28 +0000

Who cares? The church is better off WITHOUT a bigot as its spiritual leader.

Imagine what a better world this would be if EVERY nimrod followed his cue.