"In its August assembly in Minneapolis, going by the definition set down in Augustana VII, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America effectively declared that it is no longer a church," so begins the rant of James Nestingen, retired seminary professor at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN.
For those uninitiated in the arcane world of Lutheran symbolics, "Augustana VII" refers to the seventh article of the Augsburg Confession, which states, "The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." (For a critique of Nestingen's interpretation of Augustana VII, see remarks here.)
Somehow, by allowing homosexual pastors in monogamous relationships to be pastors, the ELCA "has redefined the Word of God," says Nestingen. (That is, they have taken a position with which he disagrees.) This was brought on by the alleged "elitists"--generally, the leaders of the ELCA and the theologians--who are "superior, either intellectually or politically" and have used their intellectual wiles to hijack the Bible. Here he goes: