Posted by Ricky
on August 21, 2009, 10:57 am
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Pastor Blames Tornado On Church's Vote On Gays Reporting
Liz Collin MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ¯
Much of the damage may be gone but there's a lot of blame left behind after a tornado touchdown in downtown Minneapolis.
The storm struck the cross at Central Lutheran Church. Crews spent Thursday removing it from the steeple. Some bloggers say what happened to the church is a reaction from God to what's going on across the street.
John Piper the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, wrote in a blog: "the tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin."
Nearly 2,000 Lutherans from across the country have spent the week at the Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis. They expected a storm this week inside, but didn't see the one getting attention now outside.
Twyla Mundy was inside when the storm hit.
"Bishop Hanson got up and said 'We have a tornado warning, and please don't leave the building,'" Mundy said.
The storm blew through the same afternoon a vote was scheduled to relax the rules on gay couples in the church. Now, some groups are trying to tie the two together.
Piper wouldn't go on camera but said he'll stick to what he wrote in print.
Phil Soucy is one of the convention participants.
"He probably didn't mention that after the storm passed, and the vote was taken the sun came out. I think both of those are just weather," Soucy said.
Bernard Brady chairs the Theology Department at St. Thomas.
"That idea is that in some parts of the Old Testament to say, 'Well God's punishing us for this' is not unusual," Brady said.
Brady said in the wake of disasters people try to explain the unexplainable. He pointed out it wasn't just the church that was hit and help to clean up came from all over.
"You can see the spirit of God in these kinds of acts without saying that God caused that to punish people,'" Brady said.
Wednesday's vote approved a new social statement which acknowledges monogamous same-sex relationships. On Friday, the ELCA is expected to vote on whether under certain circumstances gays and lesbians can lead Lutheran churches.
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