Lutherans Informed about Lodges (LIL)

 
BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS
(BPOE)

 


 

 

 

From the LCMS Commission on Organizations (COO) Report regarding the Elk’s Lodge:

 

“Lodge officials would assert that ‘Elkdom is not a religion.’ Yet the rituals of the Order apply a religious test to the candidate for membership, and undergird the objectives and foundational principles of the Order with prayers, sacred music and biblical allusions. In spite of a pledge to require nothing that conflicts with a man's religious beliefs, the Lodge will not waive portions of the ritual that compromise a Christian’s public confession of the central teaching of the Christian faith—salvation and the hope of eternal life only through faith in Jesus Christ.”

 

Click below for the complete report.

LCMS Commission on Organizations (COO) Report regarding the Elk’s lodge.

 

 


 

 

 

From LCMS Pastor Marcus Zill:

 

“It is possible for confessing Christians to be members of many organizations without compromising their Christian witness.  There are, however, some organizations with noble purposes and commendable programs that nevertheless require their members to subscribe to a religious understanding and practice that compromises a Christian’s confession of faith.  The Elks Lodge, for instance, has many commendable features.  The reputation of the local lodge is good and the Elks perform many works of benevolence at both the national and local level.  However, their required rituals, oaths, and obligations are nonetheless, contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ!”  

 

Click below for Pastor's Zill’s evaluations of lodges in general and the Elks in particular.

A Lutheran Catechism on Lodge Membership with Specific Reference to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks

 


 

“Is it a sin to belong to the Elks Lodge?”

Click HERE to see the “Ask the Pastor” answer by Rev. Walter Snyder.