# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1947_S539
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS 589

d for Young People’s Work, thereby approving their state~-
énts and also the Manual Scouting in the Lutheran Church for
4in the congregations of our Synod; and
‘: Wuereas, The Boy Scouts are not a purely secular organization,
ut must be regarded as one having also a moral, even a religious
program, in view of the following statements: “The Scout Move-
‘ment firmly insists that every man (and every boy) to come into
his largest self and largest usefulness must have an active part
in things religious and spiritual. Belief in God? Of course.
Obedience to His basic Ten Commandments and His larger com-
mand to brotherhood? Of course—-But more than these. The
real man keeps himself in conscious harmony with God and with
* God’s other creatures, his fellowmen, and in active participation
with the Church” (Handbook for Boys, page 108), and,
: “Every educational system implies a philosophy; every institu-
* tion has its own spirit, or better, its soul, by which it lives and
’ expresses itself. The soul of Scouting, its vital principle and its
* _ living expression is the Scout Promise and the Scout Law” (Scout-
z. ing in the Lutheran Church, page 6); and
7 Wuergeas, The Boy Scouts through their Scout oath (“IT will
* do my duty to God”) demand recognition of a God without spe-
,. cifying whether it is the only true God, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, and thereby encourage reverence of any God, and religious
= indifference; and
,..  Wes&reas, The motivation for doing one’s duty to God (“on
. my honor”) is not Scriptural (“the life which I now live I live
by the faith of the Son of God,” Gal. 2:20); and
Wuereas, According to the Scout program the means for de-

velopment of character is not the Gospel (Rom. 8:7; Rom.1:16),
. but the Law (the Scout oath and Law); and

Wuereas, The Scout Law (“a Scout is trustworthy, a Scout is
obedient, etc.”) is not the language of a Christian, but is un-
Scriptural and tends to self-righteousness; and

Wuereas, The statement of Scoutism: “The Church is the
divinely appointed agency through which men are helped to keep
close to God,” is a perversion of the Biblical doctrine of the Church,
recognizing any and all churches, regardless of what they may
teach; and

Wuereas, Every Lutheran boy who is a member of the Boy
: Scouts identifies himself with the erroneous views set forth in
: their official publication and helps to propagate them; and
4 Wuergas, The statement in the manual Scouting in the Lu-
F  theran Church: “Scouting activities must be carried on in such

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