You know, I have a tendency for being rather blunt at times. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (who wanted to be an ELCA pastor until he went to seminary and found they are no longer Christian) brought along a friend of his. She was pro gay, pro infanticide, and pretty much as liberal as they come. Oh, and she wants to be a pastoress.
Well, she said that in front of my other redneck Lutheran friend, and he pretty much verbally tore into her. Starting with the book of Romans (if I got the story right) and working back to the early church he read her the riot act on just what being a Christian means in regards to morality, the Trinity, and the Incarnation.
To make a long story short she called him a “hater”. Which made him laugh and say “You should have said this to Red! He is less polite then I am”.
No Kolo, these people aren’t serious. But the damage they do to other’s souls is serious. Some day that disturbed little girl is going to stand up in front a congregation and tell them abortion and gay sex is just fine and dandy with God. And some day she and those she led astray will stand before Him and hear the truth. That is the serious part.
Yep, she'll say that Mamagod will just enfold us in her consoling breasts. Can't call those behaviors sin, or require redemption, because making the child of Mamagod suffer would be "divine child abuse".
Yes, the most radical elements of the ELCA Full Communion partner United Church of Christ have used that exact phrase.
I believe they are deadly serious. They really do believe, teach, and confess that God the Father, Allah, Shiva, and Ba'al are identical/interchangeable; that all sexual behaviors that are mutually pleasurable are part of this "god's" order of creation; and that the only sins are "intolerence" and "judgementalism."
They fully infected the United Church of Christ a quarter century ago and now that Full Communion has been declard the Lutheran Confessions have crumbled as a wall against heresy.
Heck, in some ELCA Seminaries one can take and pass a course ont he Lutheran Confessions without acually being required to read the Book of Concord!!!