#freedom is healthy #christianity not #cult #edmonds #edmondspres #pcusa

What’s the difference between healthy religion and a cult? Freedom of conscience. It was a major part of my ordination. Never let religion remove your freedom of conscience in your belief or your vote.

[Sebman]

I strongly agree. The ELCA's official position on sexuality for example is called bound conscience where the church takes 4 official positions that can be taken from a variety of faithful interpretations on the scriptures ranging from "love the sinner, hate the sin" to "all monogamous relationships built on trust are fine and here is why..." and while this can lead to much disagreement within a congregation, at least we are invited to use our brains on scripture so long as we all believe in the essentials of the Creeds and the teachings of the confessions that guide the norm. This is healthy. The ELCA has a very healthy faith environment and while some congregations may abuse this freedom like the known "her church" of San Fransisco, they're few and far between and the exception to the norm (though I think there could be better consensus on the essentials in the Sierra Pacific Synod as there is in the others).