More violence from the crazy right, today. Who cares if he was excommunicated; he was murdered in the church he attended. Last count, there are some 34,000 different sects of the Christian churche in the world.

I doubt that his creator is going to condemn him to hell for saving a woman’s life or saving her the trauma of delivering a full-term brain-dead baby.

Sherry, This line of discussion raises serious questions, and not only about Dr. Tiller. For example, the whole question of church discipline, how it is applied, and what it’s purpose is, is a very serious question. Placing it in the middle of the pro-life/pro-choice argument significantly over simplifies it.

By placing it here, it also significantly oversimplifies the moral argument about medically indicated late term abortions. I’m sure, that to some (Sherry included?) there is no such thing as a medically indicated abortion. To me (and many others) the exceptions are very real, and need to be seen as very real and difficult choices. Before we condemn Dr. Tiller, I’d really be interested in knowing just how many of these difficult cases he did deal with?

Back to church discipline: It is NOT, EVER, as far as I’m concerned, a matter of public record or public conversation whether a particular person has been (or deserves to be) disciplined by a particular church. On the larger question: if Dr. Tiller WAS kicked out of the Missouri Synod Lutherans, and went elsewhere to receive fellowship, then why shouldn’t he be welcomed? After all, the Church is full of sinners, and one more makes no difference, does it? Maybe the church he joined actually was willing to engage in dialogue with him, and struggled with him about what he was doing? Maybe they actually moved past sound bites and placard waving to truly understand what he was dealing with here.

I don’t know. What I do know is that “I” am not qualified to pass judgment on him. In the eyes of God, he is no worse a sinner than I, and is just as deserving of God’s grace, which is to say that neither of us deserves it at all.

How ironic to compare this article to “the hard gospels”. Let’s forget for a moment that saving the lives of women would not seem to be a sin, this article seems to imply that the “wrong” sinners are not welcome in a denomination Tyree does not even belong to.

Perhaps her time would be better spent kicking all the sinners out of her own denomination. I forget: which of these “sins” should a catholic consider themselves excommunicated for:
participating in any way in an abortion
use of an IUD
use of birth control pills
use of a condom
use of surgical sterilization
raping children
cover-ups of rapes of children
filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying damages to those who were raped
divorce and remarriage

Simian

Since Dr. Tiller was no longer attending the Missouri Synod church he excommunicated that church to attend another. Now, since he has died, that side of the story will never be told. I think his human story would have been more interesting than a stuffy LCMS church law explanation will be - if it is ever issued.

hs,
I suppose everything you wrote, including the church discipline part, its publication, and judging and all, would apply to “pedophile” Roman Catholic priests as well?

Since when does Sherry T care about the Lutheran church? Oh wait..more abortion rhetoric.

Sherry–you need to get down on your knees and pray for forgiveness in your “blame the victim” mentality that is resonating throughout this blog post.

Lee,

Those are crimes of secular law, and what is Ceasar’s must be rendered to Ceasar.

The laws of the church are not the laws of the land. (Another debate)

This article made my day, being a former Catholic who for 10 years has been a member of a LCMS congregation. My pastors would lovingly confront Tiller if he had been or became a member of our church. They would try to work with him and get him to see the sinfulness of his actions and give him time to repent. If he remained recalcitrant, he would be denied the Lord’s Supper and privately asked to leave the congregation. Hs, you try to be the voice of moderation and I appreciate that. But - sorry - I view the argument about “medically indicated” as a red herring. I know there are women who experience crisis pregnancies, but Tiller’s supporters want to make seem as if he only performed abortions on women who would have died otherwise. There was never sufficient oversight of Tiller’s operation to indicate what percent of unborn babies he disposed of would have been viable because the “rule of law” says “it’s her body and her choice and that’s it.” I can only say I have a little extra spring in my step today knowing my denomination stood its ground and following the Biblical prescription for dealing with a fallen Christian.

…a spring in your step at the loss of a soul?

Consider grief or anguish in the presence of sin.