Troubling...

I know is has been a while since I blogged, but time has slipped away lately. I do want to post something that was troubling from Sunday, 8 days ago. My family was all ill with a very bad cold (we are still on the tail end after 2 weeks), so I decided to go to the local LC-MS Church. The service was uneventful, and the sermon less Scripture and more pep talk. The part that was most disturbing came at the end. In the narthex, in full view of the main door was a listing of the Ten Commandments. They were, however, the reformed version (4 God centered and 6 worldly, with the change from "Thou shalt not murder." to "Thou shalt not kill."- a big difference). I brought up that this was not in keeping with Lutheran Confessions (what all LC-MS churches are supposed to follow), I got a weak, noncomittal reply from the senior paster. The response was, paraphrasing, that a member had given it "in love" and, well, they just didn't have the "guts" to let this member know that it wasn't right! He willingly and knowingly let incorrect teaching exist because he, as he claimed, didn't "have the guts"! This is appalling. This is also why I drive an hour one way every Sunday- to ensure my family are properly taught good Doctrine.

I am troubled that Pastors are allowed this lee-way and who allow poor doctrine to invade the church. I think this is a fundamental problem within the LC-MS church- a lack of discipline within the church. No amount of "Ablaze" or Church Growth Movement will stem the flow of dissatisfied church goers who simply wanted the Word or are enticed by shiny "worship" baubles pandered by other, larger churches. If the LC-MS doesn't enforce some discipline among the Pastoral office, she is in for a rough future.