I Don't Know Whether to Laugh or Cry

This morning, I went to a seminar in which I had the opportunity to hear the well-known and well-respected, at least within the wider Christian community, scholar and Lutheran pastor Martin Marty. Dr. Marty has written over 5o books and is currently the emeritus professor at the University of Chicago. In the course of his lecture he promoted the ecumenical movement, homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle, the ordination of women, and open communion, just to name a few heresies. I shouldn't have been surprised. I have read some of what he has written. But, what truly surprised me this morning was his desire to still connect himself to the Lutheran Church. His "version" of the Lutheran Church is so far upstream from Historic Lutheranism that is hard to distinguish it from liberal Mainline Protestantism. At one point in the past, I truly thought that maybe there was some hope that there were some within the ELCA that still held to historic Lutheranism. After hearing Marty, I am convinced that there can be no discussion. We are of a "different spirit." Lord have mercy!