The Trojan Horse of Niceness
“‘Take away theology and give us some nice religion’ has been a popular slogan for so long that we are likely to accept it, without inquiring whether religion without theology has any meaning. And however unpopular I may make myself, I shall and will affirm that the reason is not that they are too bigoted about theology, but that we have run away from theology.”
My congregation received an unsolicited newsletter from Lutheran World Relief. It features stories and glossy photographs of good works being done by members of this 75 year old organization. Of course, there is also an envelope soliciting donations. I called their headquarters at 800-597-5972 and asked to be removed from their mailing list
Why? There was a column from a smiling lady that began “Dear partner in ministry.” In six paragraphs, she never mentions Jesus. Beneath her signature, her name is given as “Rev. Lisa Kipp.” She is “Senior Manager of Congregations.” Ms. Kipp’s congregation is a member of Reconciling Works: “Lutherans for Full Participation has advocated for the full welcome, inclusion, and equity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church, congregations, and community.”
Clearly, Lutheran World Relief is not a synodical entity. Not that being part of synod is the issue in and of itself. But rather, Lutheran World Relief has clearly come down on the side of female “ordination” - a subset of the larger question of sex and gender - which is to say, LWR has come down against the Scriptures.
One of the advantages in dealing with a synodical alternative - such as LCMS World Relief and Human Care - is that we know that it isn’t a Trojan Horse for things like women’s “ordination.” While we may at times quibble or even criticize the synod and its various offices, we can expect not to be exposed to things that are now commonplace in the ELCA, such as female clergy, sexual deviancy treated as “normal,” the denial of the infallibility and reliability of the Scriptures, and the confession that our fellowship extends to church bodies that deny the Real Presence and baptismal regeneration - not to mention the accepted use of modified baptismal formulas that imply the one given to us by our Lord is “sexist.”
Some may argue that in matters of doing good works, we can cooperate with heterodox churches and even heretical ones - for the sake of loving our neighbors. I do not disagree entirely. But this does call for careful discernment. It is one thing to march with Secular Pro Life in opposition to abortion. It is entirely something else to yoke ourselves with, say, the Satanic Temple to provide malaria nets to poor countries (that’s a hypothetical, by the way). It is one thing to team up with the Wisconsin Synod for mercy work, something entirely different in yoking ourselves to the ELCA, which has been radicalized for quite some time, for the same kind of diakonia. We need to be especially careful when organizations make use of the name “Lutheran.”
One thing needs to be said: participation with organizations that oppose the Holy Scriptures in matters as basic to our faith and life (as who may serve in the ministry and whom may a man or woman can marry) do serve as a Trojan Horse to normalize such topsy-turvy Luciferian doctrine and practice, and to confuse members of our churches that such novel, radical doctrine and practice that departs from the Bible and catholic practice can be reconciled with being Lutheran. Indeed, our binding confession includes: “Nothing has been received on our part against Scripture or the Church Catholic. For it is manifest that we have taken most diligent care that no new and ungodly doctrine should creep into our churches.”
As St. Paul warns us: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”
Especially in this day and age of relentless pressure for Christians to conform to the world’s increasingly radical and normalized ideas of gender and sexuality, we must boldly make a good and unequivocal confession. We must guard against the temptation articulated more than seventy years ago by the lay theologian and writer Dorothy Sayers to minimize theological doctrine in exchange for a religion of niceness, to “run away from theology,” as she put it. The use of the word “Lutheran” in LWF’s name implies an adherence to the Lutheran Confessions and the Scriptures that is just not there. It would be an act of dishonesty and infidelity to overlook this - even for the sake of niceness and civil good works.
We should not have to choose between working with other Christians to do acts of love and mercy, and upholding our commitment to the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions. Nor should we confuse our parishioners by implying that women’s “ordination” is an ontological possibility that is in accordance with our Biblical, catholic faith.
And we don’t have to. Let us both be merciful and “guard the good deposit entrusted” to us.