# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1950_S1151
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

f
B

ssa

604 INTERSYNODICAL AND DOCTRINAL MATTERS

p. 303, 11: “That in the meantime it be understood that no pulpit-, altar_
or prayer-fellowship has been established between us and the American
Lutheran Church.”

Letter of Pres. J. W. Behnken to the clergy, April 30, 1946, pp. 9—19-
“But there are some points [in “A Statement”) with which we were
not then and are not now in agreement. This holds true also of the
“deplorations” and also of the accompanying letter... we voiced our
disagreement with some of the points in “A Statement” as well as with
the accompanying letter and insisted that these be corrected or with.

rawn.”)

stantiated charges against Synod and its members past and present,
without proof presented that all processes of orderly Christian
admonition and discipline had been exhausted, and embody mis-
representations of teaching and practice within Synod.

(E. g., “Statement,” Deplorations 2, 4, 5, 8, 9; “Accompanying Letter,”
paragraph 5; Speaking the Truth in Love, p.11: “Fears, suspicions,
tyrannized consciences, perversions of Scripture, the binding of souls
through human interpretations — how can a Church so afflicted with the
manifestations of legalism do her work in a manner befitting her oppor-
tunities ... ? ; p.16: “The over-all picture is that of a body infested
for many years with a legalistic spirit.”; p.17: “There is an entire, yes,
a complete and absolute ignoring of the doctrine of the Una Sancta
(the One Holy Christian Church)”; p. 18: “Every call for repentance
from President H. C. Schwan’s time to our own has been (largely)
ignored”; p. 20: “Finally, one of the most pernicious effects of a legalistic
judging.of brethren is the premium which it places ‘on theological
illiteracy. The thorough student is bound to get himself into trouble,
My correspondence shows that this is a Synod-wide condition”; p. 21:
“To what extent some theologians will use their learning and ingenuity
to arrive at certain desired interpretations is evidenced in a recent tract
issued against the ‘Statement.’ ”)

Because the “Statement” documents present such principles
and charges as here set forth, Trinity Congregation rejects these
papers as containing antiscriptural, unproved, and slanderous alle-
gations, and earnestly petitions the Centennial Convention, for the
sake of the preservation and defense of the truth of God’s Word
and of true unity in teaching and spirit within Synod:

1. To adopt the five declarations requested by ten appointees

of the President of Synod in an overture submitted under
date of February 25, 1947;

2. To declare its rejection of the “Statement” documents for
the reasons adduced above;

3. To direct the Presidency of Synod to solicit from the sig-
natories of the “Statement” papers an unequivocal with-
drawal of the documents for the reason stated;

4. To take action in the 1947 convention on the petitions here
made, in harmony with the declaration of the Preface to the
Book of Concord (Trigl., p. 25): “We will also take pains,
if either controversies already composed should be renewed,
or new controversies concerning religion should arise, to
remove and settle them betimes, for the purpose of avoiding
offense, without long and dangerous digressions.”

Trinity Luraeran Cuurcn, Oak Park, ILL.
E. L. Krerr, Secretary