New Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Survey Shows Majority Are Pro-Choice, Pro-LGBTQ
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) is a confessional Lutheran denomination that is the second largest in the country, historically viewed as serving as the conservative foil to the apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Led by President Matthew Harrison, the denomination claimed 1.7M baptized congregants in 2023, with a reported weekly attendance of nearly 523k spread across 5.7k congregations. Notably, 45% of LCMS congregations have a weekly attendance of less than 50 people.
Pew Research, which previously published studies of the LCMS in 2007 and 2014, has released a massive new religious landscape survey on the denomination, with a sample size of 35,000 that includes 1200 Laity.
The results are dispiriting.
When it comes to homosexuality, 50% of respondents say it should be accepted, along with 50% who strongly favor/ favor same-sex marriage.
Likewise, 54% say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
When it comes to evolution, 81% believe that humans evolved over time, either with or without God.
Lastly, when it comes to demographics, the numbers are bleak, with only 5% of members under the age of 30, and nearly half of members are senior citizens.
At the rate they’re going, merging with the ELCA in 20 years remains a very real possibility.
h.t Evangelical Dark Web
Note: This article’s initial publishing used a feature photo originally published on the LCMS denominational website. Although we did not know nor publish the names of anyone in the photo, LCMS members in the photo recognized themselves and (fortunately) objected strongly to being linked in any way with the doctrinal drift demonstrated by the Pew survey discussed in this article. We apologize for this unintentional hurt. As we did not intend for any specific church member to be linked to the doctrinal drift discussed in our article, we have removed the picture and have to the best of our ability deleted any social media posts which use the picture.
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Lutheranism misunderstands all morality as nailed to the cross because it refuses to acknowledge that the law of Moses was two halves, ceremonial and moral, and that only the ceremonial was nailed to the cross. Its just antinomian trash.
No, it does not. That is a baseless claim.
It all pointed to Jesus Christ, including the ceremonial law. Understand, it wasn’t the blood of an unblemished lamb sacrificed by a priest in the temple through which God dispensed His grace. It was through the blood of Jesus Christ, stretching back through time. Jesus Christ is the purpose for the existence of the ceremonial law. It all pointed to Him.
This is what the Apostles are telling us in those scriptures. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached to Abraham. (Gal. 3:8). It is through the blood of Jesus that God in his divine forbearance, passed over former sins, to which the law bore witness. (Rom. 3:21-26).
So the ceremonial law still exists, as does all the law. But it has been completely and perfectly fulfilled. And it’s important to understand the difference. We don’t set aside any of it …
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. – Heb. 10:26-31
Apologies, Phillip. That post was intended to be under the one below, to give further explanation. I must’ve hit the wrong reply button.
When Jesus said no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), that means no one in the history of mankind, since the Creation of the world. When He says “no one,” He means “no one.”
This is what the Apostles are telling us. Even Abraham comes to the Father through Jesus. (as there is one judgement day, and it has not yet occurred)
Jesus did not abolish the ceremonial law, or any of the law. He fulfilled the ceremonial law, as the perfect sacrifice once and for all. The ceremonial law being how God dispensed His grace.
Justification has always been by faith. (Romans chapters 3 & 4, Galatians 3:1-9)
In James 2:14-26, scripture elaborates on what faith really means. It means to believe God, to submit to Him, and to do what He says to do, knowing that He will do what He has said that He will do. I.e., faith is action. Faith without works (righteousness) is dead – nonexistent because it betrays lack of belief, lack of submission, rebellion, and no concern for the fact that the Lord will judge just as He has said that He will judge.
So the apostles used Abraham as an example, I believe, to explain how the blood of Jesus is the total and complete fulfillment of all the law, including the once and for all sacrifice for sin and means by which God dispenses His grace, because Abraham lived before the law was given and written, before there was a temple. Though the law has always been and always will be, as God is perfect in all ways. Abraham was justified by faith.
So it’s important to understand that the ceremonial law has not been abolished, but rather has been fulfilled. As Jesus said …
“17“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” – Matt 5:17-20
The antinomian sorts should make careful note of verse 20 in particular.
The Protestia staff writer states: “Pew Research, which previously published studies of the LCMS in 2007 and 2014, has released a massive new religious landscape survey on the denomination, with a sample size of 35,000 that includes 1200 Laity.”
From what Pew Research webpage did those sample size and laity numbers come?
It is also worth noting that as Lyman Stone pointed out on X, Pew grossly exaggerated the size of the LCMS at around 3 million members. In an audio interview with Issues Etc, totally worth the listen, he pointed how difficult it is for Pew to accurately assess the respondents’ degree of fidelity and commitment to church life.