ELCA Pastor Response

This ELCA pastor has overdosed on the Koolaid. 

Unwitting Pawns was also published as a Guest Opinion piece in the West Bend Daily News on February 11th, 2023. Pastor Schoob's critique of the article says it all. The ELCA is awash in heresy and cares little about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world in order to bring the lost to Him. Please pray for Schoob and especially for his congregation. If his sermons mirror his stated beliefs, his flock is not being fed the bread of life.

GUEST OPINION

Tolerance more than just a phrase

Can’t paint Christians with wide brush

By David Schoob

I am responding to Don Kriefall’s article “Unwitting Pawns,” printed in your paper. To paraphrase words from Luke Skywalker in a recent “Star Wars” film, “Almost every word in that article is wrong.” The only sentiment of his that I can agree with is that we should have a more tolerant society. Yet the article itself seems to be the poster child for intolerance and misinformation.

Where is it wrong?

The idea of accepted social norms varies depending on perspective. I and many others find the author’s idea of social norms narrow, abusive, and founded on a desire to keep the white, heterosexual male as the ideal.

He is wrong that there is a common understanding among Christians of what constitutes sexual deviance. My church is open and receiving of those in the LGBTQIA+ communities.

He is wrong that all Christians hold a common understanding of biblical material. There are many passages that Christians understand in different ways. Many Christians understand certain passages as being grounded in a different culture and time period. New understandings of our humanity lead us to examine passages in a different light of those understandings. You cannot use one interpretive approach as normative and call it “Christian.”

Most of the society does not hold that people must be defined by the binary male and female. Most also are open to recognition of gay and lesbian committed relationships. A majority of Americans embrace an idea of acceptance toward the LGBTQIA+ community. Almost all the experts on human behavior recognize a fluidity to gender identity.

LGBTQIA+ identity is not in any way connected with the lack of a mother or father.

LGBTQIA+ identities are not developed because of a secret plot by educators. Educators instead teach information to help young people understand themselves and others.

The understanding of systemic racism does not arise from a left-wing plot. The understanding of systemic racism arises out of a careful study of history and a sensitivity to the cries of communities of color. Parents are always free to remove a student from a history class if they do not accept the information and move their child to another school that is less rigorous in its analysis.

In the same vein, Black Lives Matter does not stand in opposition to the idea of All Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter affirms that all lives matter, but is honest about the mistreatment of blacks and speaks for those whose voices are not heard. The members of Black Lives Matter remind us all that black lives do matter as much as white lives. If we are all of one race as asserted in the article then there should be justice offered equally to all. Race is a social construct, (another correct assertion in the article) and continues to be used to promote injustice by a white-dominated society each and every day. The idea of Christian nationalism that the article espouses is not consistent with the constitutional understanding of the nation or the understanding of Jesus. Jesus refused a crown and called his followers to the law of love before any law or nation.

Finally, the article says that the left is always using the tactics of bullying, manipulation, and misinformation to try to drive people to their point of view. I would ask the author to follow his own advice: “We need to look at ourselves in the mirror and recognize who we really are.”

(David Schoob is pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church. He lives in West Bend.)

 

Unwitting Pawns

Everyone should practice tolerance, inclusion, acceptance and welcoming in their daily lives. Sharing those values within our community allows society to thrive. Problem is, these ideals have been corrupted by those that wish to foment distrust and division in this nation. Many who fall prey to this perversion of wholesome principals believe that past perceived injustices merit the abandonment of accepted societal norms in order to “make things right.”  Unfortunately, appeasing the loudest voices and acquiescing to radical ideology, allows an unfettered rush to a fundamental transformation of this great nation.

Deviant sexuality has prospered in this nation due to the mistaken belief that acceptance is the appropriate response to properly love your neighbor. This only promotes further attacks on the moral fiber of society. Like the school yard bully, inaction only increases the bully’s resolve. Without moral clarity, humankind’s innate selfishness takes the reins. We need to look at the reflection in the mirror and recognize who we really are. When traditional values are rejected and replaced with “new things” that disregard moral decency, one cannot easily justify those behaviors.

God created each of us with intrinsic differences, with different skills and talents. The gifts afforded to each of us vary. It is our differences that enable us to fulfill various roles that benefit all. Men and women are created to fulfill specific, yet equal roles, when raising children. Eliminate either from the equation and you stifle the child’s development. Both are necessary to guide and nurture the child. Both are necessary to instill values, morals, and faith. Both are necessary to impart the unique skillsets they possess to teach their children to become productive members of society. Without a mother or father, the child will seek to fill that void elsewhere.

Woke educators attempt to usurp parental rights by mainstreaming and encouraging experimentation with LGTBQ lifestyles, promoting transgenderism, and indoctrinating our youth with Critical Race Theory, at the expense of core education. Children are particularly impressionable and vulnerable to suggestion as they develop and learn. Trusting that curriculum will follow accepted societal norms is no longer acceptable. Without parental involvement in the education of their children, children will be at risk of the dominant woke culture that seeks to discard traditional values and replace them with leftist ideology.

Black lives matter, but no more than any other life. With God as our father, we are all brothers and sisters, no matter how we look on the outside. Race is a social construct. We are all members of one race; the human race. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, yet leftists are relentless in their attacks on Christianity. Forgiving others and turning the other cheek must be too foreign for leftists to understand. Revenge does nothing to right any perceived wrongs. Retribution does nothing to lift the spirit. Reparations do nothing but punish those who have committed no crime and reward those who have not suffered loss.

Those that agree with the path that the current administration is leading the country need to wake up. For those who acquiesce to the insanity that has overtaken this nation, hear this; You will have no place in this new world order, you are advocating for your own demise. The fundamental transformation of this nation is being abetted by those who put tolerance, acceptance, and inclusion above common sense. Leftists mean to tear down traditional society and replace it with socialism. Socialist elites will then make decisions for their benefit, while everyone else will be mired in mediocrity.

Look around. Are you satisfied with the current trajectory of our nation? Can you rationalize the criminality occurring on our city streets daily? Will you willingly choose to turn your life over to a ruling elite? The “leaders” of the World Economic Forum would like that. They have openly stated such. They know what is best for us underlings. If we sit back and allow it, it will happen and your worst nightmare will be realized.

It’s time that we turn back to the Judeo-Christian beliefs that made this nation great. It’s time that we are able to share differing opinions without being maligned. Leftists silence dissent. Leftists accuse their detractors of racism, homophobia, and transphobia. Leftists want you to be willing sheep to be led to slaughter. This is our future if we fail to uphold our Republic, founded as a more perfect union for all. And fall it will, if we sit back and do nothing.