# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S184
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

184 CHURCH RELATIONS

to be called to serve that congregation under her con-
stitution. The problem is, is there such a guarantee that
every pastor of The ALC shares the theological position
of our local congregations?

2. The second question arises from the opposite point
of view. Can a circuit counselor and or President of
a District freely recommend a choice of pastors from
our Synod to serve under the theology and practice of
congregations in The ALC? On the surface it seems
that such a guarantee exists.

3. Regardless of how much more or less the lodge
practice enters into the picture, under the ‘First Table
of the Law” of God (see Book of Concord of 1580) all
lodges are to be condemned as idolatrous. and affiliation
with such lodges is idolatry. Obvious idolatry can have
no membership in a Christian community. Can we
guarantee, in either direction, that the “First Table of
the Law” (all of it) will by the grace of God. through
saving faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, be firmly
upheld by all pastors and congregations of both synods?

4. Can a circuit counselor faithfully serve the con-
gregations in our circuits under our synodical and local
congregational constitutions when the following known
doctrinal errors and practices are being upheld in The
ALC?

My congregation took a daring step in August and
September of 1968 (dialog was doing us no good) to
make an effort to determine, on the basis of only
a sampling of doctrine, to learn to what degree of faith-
fulness the pastors of The ALC stood on the mutual
public confessions of our churches. Sadly, we learned
the following. Among 51 pastors of The ALC, South
Pacific District (157 were officially asked). the following
questions were asked and the following answers given:

Questionnaire to All ALC Pastors in the South
Pacific Conference of The ALC by Grace
Lutheran Church, Lancaster, California

At your general convention (Oct. 21, 19€6) you
unanimously endorsed the following statement under
“United Testimony on Faith and Life,” Section III of
Part I, Point C, page 5:

His (that is, man’s) best efforts to formulate a theology

in terms of propositions and statements will fall short.

To assume that the church can arrive at human concepts

or expressions that are in every respect correct is as much

a symptom of pride as to assume that the church or its

members can achieve sinlessness in their daily lives.

To this we pose the following questions:

YES NO
Percentages

1. Do you believe and teach that this state-

ment agrees with your Constitution, Ar-

ticle IV (Confession of Faith), Sections

1 and 2? 80 *20
2. Do you believe and teach that this state-

ment is existential in character and sub-

stance and therefore disannuls your

“Confessions of Faith’ Sections 1 through

4 where you subscribe to “propositions

and statements’ (Section 4) “because

they are the presentation and explanation

of the pure doctrine of the Word of

God?” *10 90
3. Do you believe and teach that the above

statement agrees with the introduction to

the Formula of Concord — “Summary

Content, Rule, and Standard,” Section 1? 70 *20
4. Do you believe and teach the literal ac-

ceptance of the Genesis record of crea-

tion? (Heb. 11:3) *90 40
5. Do you believe and teach the virgin birth
of Christ? (Luke 1:27) *80 20

6. Do you believe that your church's prac-
tice in unionism agrees with the clear
statement of St.Paul in Rom. 16:17-18
and Gal. 1:8-9? 60 *20
. Do you believe and teach the Article V,
Minnesota Thesis (the lodge question), of
your Constitution consistently ? *30 70

1

8. Do you regularly admonish lodge mem-
bers (anti-Christian) you may have in
your congregation according to your Con-
stitution? *20 80

9. Have you ever brought disciplinary action
against lodge members who refused to
give up the lodge? *i0 90

10. Do you practice “open Communion” in
your congregation? 60 *40

11. Do you practice or implement in your
ministry Article 28 of the Augsburg Con-
fession? *80 0

12. Do you believe that the word “Gospel” in
Article 7 of the Augsburg Confession
means the entire counsel of God? (Matt.

28: 20) *60 30

13. Do you believe and teach that original sin
is the complete (total) depravity of the
human nature of man? *60 40

14. Do you believe that man is in any degree
capable of pleasing God outside of con-
version?

15. As you study our LCMS Constitution and
Confession of Faith and Practice, could
you conscientiously have altar and pulpit
fellowship with us? 90 10

16. Do you believe that sufficient study with
a view toward absolute doctrinal unity
has been made to warrant a declaration
of altar and pulpit fellowship between us? &0 *20

* indicates our position
Proposals

1. Because of the above facts (dangerous to reveal
if not true), I propose that we would not be faithful
to our Lord Jesus Christ and His unbreakable Word
to expose any of our congregations to pastoral leader-