Monthly News Roundup (06.03.21)

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Plain Bible Teaching Podcast

We missed the last episode for the month of May, so we’re doing our monthly news roundup here. In this episode, we’ll be talking about a denomination’s first transgender bishop, assisted suicide, and the number of people who prefer either a print or digital version of the Bible.

Also, last week, instead of releasing a podcast episode, I posted the audio lessons from my recent Gospel Meeting at the Mountain View church of Christ in Sevierville, TN. You can listen to those lessons by visiting the link.

STORY #1 – Protestant Denomination Elects First Transgender Bishop

“Over the weekend, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America became the first mainline Protestant denomination to elect a transgender bishop.

“The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, who was born female but now identifies as male, using the pronouns ‘he’ and ‘they,’ was elected Saturday, May 8, to serve as bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA.”

[…]

“The transgender pastor, currently leading Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in San Francisco, will be installed as bishop Sept. 11 at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Walnut Creek, California.

“Rohrer has made news before. In 2018, the minister was featured in Cosmopolitan. Rohrer, who identified solely as ‘they’ at the time, said, ‘I haven’t really figured out how I want to have my body in the rest of my life.’”

[…]

“This shift within the ELCA toward an increasingly progressive view of sexuality should not come as a surprise. While the denomination claims to have a reverent view of Scripture, the ELCA does not see the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.

“James Thorson, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, an ELCA congregation, said in 2018 he was drawn to the denomination in part because many within it reject biblical inerrancy.

“‘I was reclaiming the view that the Bible isn’t an inerrant oracle dropped from heaven but more like a messy, earthen vessel holding the treasure of the saving Gospel message,’ he told Living Lutheran. ‘That’s what most ELCA professors and pastors teach, and I realized that was where I belonged.’” (Faithwire)

Related material:

STORY #2 – Doctors Have Euthanized 24,000 Patients Since Canada Legalized Assisted Suicide

“The April 2021 euthanasia and assisted suicide (MAiD) data for Ontario indicates that even though the Province has been under a strict COVID-19 ‘lock-down,’ in the month of April, Ontario experienced the highest number of euthanasia deaths – 241 – since legalization in June 2016.

“The Ontario data indicates that in just the first four months of 2021, there were 853 reported assisted deaths.” (Life News)

Related material:

STORY #3 – 59 Percent of Bible Readers Still Prefer a Print Copy, But There’s a Generation Gap

“Americans who read the Bible still prefer to read a print copy over a digital version – but attitudes are quickly changing. That’s according to a new survey by the American Bible Society and Barna that found 59 percent of Bible users in the United States prefer a print version over various digital versions or an audio Bible. […] Although a majority still favor a physical copy, that’s down from 65 percent in 2020 and 72 percent in 2019. In 2016, 81 percent preferred a print copy.”

“The survey found a major generation gap in preferences. Print copies are favored by a majority of elders (84 percent), baby boomers (72 percent) and Generation X members (56 percent). They are less popular among Millennials (47 percent) and those in Generation Z (44 percent). A majority of Millennials and those in Generation Z prefer either a Bible app, a website/computer program, or an audio Bible.” (Christian Headlines)

Related material:

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