Another 95 Theses

 1: Having differentiated itself early on from the strictly hierarchical OALC, the church resists allowing any single or central authority to speak for “God’s Kingdom,” limiting the problems of individual ego and power that plague so many other religious organizations.

 2: Despite some cultlike characteristics, the church is not a cult; even when strong leaders have wielded a great deal of personal influence, they ultimately were servants and not masters, and every aspect of the church’s doctrine and practice has some basis in earlier forms of Christianity.

 7: The church practices what it preaches about a “level-headed flock,” fostering an attitude of genuine humility, accountability, and timidity in its preachers and elders, consistent with Luther’s teaching and the beautiful sentiments of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1–2.

58: With little scriptural support, the church puts so much emphasis on the congregation “mother” as to make it a fourth member of the Godhead, turning the church into an object of its own worship.

78: In the 1970s and early 1980s, as the supposedly inerrant “mother” stood idly by, the church conducted hundreds of abusive “caretaking meetings” where members were sat in front of the congregation, interrogated and rebuked, and often “bound” in what the church considered an unsaved condition.

92: Despite carefully worded public statements, the church is unable to sincerely accept blame and apologize for anything because of its claim of inerrancy; there is nothing for the “pillar and ground of truth” to be genuinely sorry about.

93: When approached about significant child sexual abuse problems in the SRK, the response by the SRK leadership was marked by hesitancy, dangerous normalizing of abuse as sin, and personal attacks on those raising concerns; the public communications of both the SRK and LLC were inconsistent with private teachings and discussions, and evaded their institutional responsibility.