Past a rift, a now-unified church marks 165th anniversary

Amid the cornfields and pastures here stand two nearly identical churches just 100 yards or so apart, a tangible reminder of a long ago feud.

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165 year anniversary? Must not be the church of the Bible. The Bible church is somewhere around 1976 years old. Matthew 16:17-18, Acts 2:47, Romans 16:16, I Timothy 3:14-15, etc.

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Of course the controversy is the well documented Gnadenwohnstreif, of Election Controversy. The congregations must be members of the ELCA, or the old American Lutheran Church (ALC) or Norwegian Synod, since the other churches of the Synodical Conference allowed only one doctrine to stand. The two statements in the article reflect the view of Calvin and almost that of Luther. Luther's teaching let the two Bible statements stand side by side, namely that God wants all to be saved and that God chose some to be saved. In saying this, Luther would not allow an election to condemnation. The answer to the seeming conflict is found in the opposite teachings of law and gospel. If people are saved, it is 100 percent God's doing. If people are condemned, it is 100 percent their own doing. The rules of logic do not apply to the Bible. The rules of faith do.