The Good, the Bad, and the Ironic...

The Synod voted today to recognize that the Japan Lutheran [sic] Church [sic] has broken fellowship with the LCMS by approving the ‘ordination’ of women as ‘pastors’ and as female ‘deacons.’

The Atlantic District

The Good

944 delegates, 94.49%, voted to approve the resolution. This does present a solid consensus on this matter, way better than in some other church bodies: with some of whom we share fellowship, and some we do not. In this day and age when a good number of Americans cannot even define what a woman is - including a seated Supreme Court Justice - we should consider that a “good.”

The Bad

55 delegates, 5.51% voted against the resolution. While the number is low, it still represents more than one in twenty. If that is a representative number in our synod, it is indicative of a lot of cancer cells. If 5% of the cells in the human body were malignant, that would call for some aggressive treatment lest it metastasize.

The Ironic

The Synod voted to confirm broken fellowship with some folks thousands of miles away. But in that very room, more than five percent seem to hold the same views that were just anathematized. There seems to be more tolerance for pro-women’s “ordination” views among our own delegates and actual members of Synod than for foreign ecclesiastical bodies. And in fact, the Synod included its own anathematizees to participate in the vote. Does this mean the Synod just voted to break fellowship with itself?

And isn’t it ironic, don’t you think?

At Nicaea, Arius’s two delegates who refused to endorse the Nicene Creed were excommunicated and exiled. By contrast, those who stand contra scriptura at the Council of Milwaukee will continue to be asked to vote, and will have their expenses comped.

A little too ironic, and yeah, I really do think.

Note: I deliberately chose the Alanis Morissette pic to represent the irony, knowing full well that some LCMS Rain Man (or Men) will send a long, exasperated, outraged comment, challenging the ironic nature of the incidents cited in the pop song (here it is for the sake of a nineties ear-worm). And when I get that dissertation from you about it, I will know that you didn’t read to the end. You might even get an honorable mention in a future post.

And who would’ve thought? It figures.