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Therefore, what about homosexuality? Forde was a strong defender of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He opposed the gay agenda on the basis of the harm it does to the social order, the family, and the need of children for a mother and a father. He used reason and the wisdom of the Bible and tradition in his arguments, but he never claimed that the issue is settled by the Bible. He never claimed that Ten Commandments give us “divine law” or that moral law found in the New Testament is “God’s answer.”

In contrast, his Lutheran Quarterly editors regard the issue of homosexuality as settled by divine law which they have access to in the Bible.

A detailed comparison of the two contrasting positions is available in a tabular format here.

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The Lutheran understanding of two kingdoms is intrinsic to Lutheran theology. The two kingdoms are simply another way of stating what we mean by law and gospel. Below are excerpts from Forde on the doctrine of two kingdoms, showing its fundamental contours:

1. The two kingdoms
2. The status of the Christian as simultaneously totus justus et totus peccator
3. The gospel limits and humanizes the law
4. The hiddenness of the Christian life

In contrast, Forde’s Lutheran Quarterly editors fail to properly distinguish law and gospel and thus fail to
present Forde accurately on the two kingdoms, as the tables linked here show.

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Forde: “Precisely the proper distinction between law and gospel limits and humanizes the law.”

See Forde below on 1) Christian freedom.
See Forde below on 2) Reason.

Please click here for the full PDF document, including tables.

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Big news from Canada: There will be no members, attenders, or givers in the Anglican Church of Canada by approximately 2040. The Anglican Church of Canada is declining faster than any other Anglican Province other than The Episcopal Church, which has an even greater rate of decline.

The decline of these churches matters for ELCA Lutherans because the ELCA voted in 1999 to change its constitution to require the threefold sacramental priesthood of The Episcopal Church. The process of building an Episcopal priesthood within the ELCA is not yet complete, although it continues apace.

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Dr. PJ Johnston, a religion professor at St. Olaf College, has written to request that we correct a March 2018 post we wrote about her and what her hiring says about St. Olaf College.

We apologize for getting her name wrong: She is PJ not PT, as was posted on the St. Olaf faculty webpage at the time. PJ, who identifies as transgender, also asked us also to use male pronouns for her.

We respectfully decline her request. While there may be personal situations in which such a request might be honored, there are good reasons not to comply. After all, she is asking us to deny science and interject lies into our language.

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