What would Luther Do?

What would Luther do?

He would ask "What would Jesus do?"

Matthew 5:26-28 (King James Version)
26Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

27Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

In John 8 (King James Version), Jesus dealt with the the scribes and Pharisees of a woman committed adultery. Jesus wrote on the ground.
9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Two-way relationship with God requires our submission, obedience and love to Him. The WORD is Jesus Christ. God's Word (the Bible) sometimes wounds us deeply and it is imperative because through the Bible, God speaks loudly. The Bible illumines the dark corners of heart and mind by exposing sin but reveals the way of rightousness. The Word of God (Bible) rebukes in order that we may see our faults. When it comes to "fornication" or other "gray area sins", this is where the conscience of unbelievers is insensitive to sin and carnal Christians are not sure. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). Can we trust the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, to reveal Christ, to open our minds to understand spiritual truth? When a Christian who is saved by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, this Christian is living in a new Creature with holy conscience rather than sinful conscience.

We are no longer sinners? Not true, we are still sinners but forgiven sinners when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. 1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. God is very holy and very powerful that I am a forgiven sinner. We are to worship God from our hearts because we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16), that God will search us and try us, and know our thoughts.(Psalm 139:23).

Regarding Church leaders, unconfessed sins to the elders or similar roles are an automatic disqualification. Pastors are to meet with the elders weekly or every other day for prayer, encouragement and discussing any temptations they are facing. Lack of accountability between Pastors and elders. Elders are our spiritual stewardship who are looking for members spiritual needs and to look at their lives spiritually in from God's perspective. I know there are ONLY few churches that have "accountability" ministry between elders and pastors. We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Pastors and Elders are sinners like we are however, they have to live in higher standards than regular Christians because they are our spiritual leaders. The first and most important step in initiating spiritual intimacy between pastors and elders.

They are to meet, confess, discuss, pray and edify one another. Elders/Bishops have oversight of the church (Acts 20:28; I Pet. 5:2-3) and are thus responsible to rule the congregation (I Tim. 3:5; 5:17; I Thes. 5:12; Heb. 13:7, 17, 24). They judge among the brothers (cf. I Cor. 6:5) and, in contrast to all the members, they do the rebuking (I Tim. 5:20) and the exercise of discipline (Matt. 18:17; I Cor. 5:1-5). I have learned to join a local church that have a STRONG eldership that will make sure the Church will stay pure.

A local ELCA Church that allows an "open" homosexual to serve is not a conservative Church. I would not even visit this Church.