# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2019_S447
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

447

WHEREAS, A public statement made by LCMS members with
non-Christians must avoid any indication that we acknowledge the
same God as they; and
WHEREAS, Two members of the LCMS, President Matthew
Harrison and Dr. Gregory Seltz, joined with a Muslim in signing the
December 17, 2017 open letter of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops entitled, “Created Male and Female,” in which the
signers state, “We come together to join our voices…” and then
proceed to confess “as leaders of various communities of faith” that
“God” created man and woman, thereby giving the false confession
that we in some way acknowledge the same “God” as a denier of
the Holy Trinity, (“We acknowledge and affirm that all human
beings are created by God and thereby have an inherent dignity. We
also believe that God created each person male or female; therefore,
sexual difference is not an accident or a flaw—it is a gift from God
that helps draw us closer to each other and to God. What God has
created is good. ‘God created mankind in his image; in the image of
God he created them; male and female he created them’ [Gen.
1:27])”; and
WHEREAS, Scripture clearly teaches that Christ’s body and blood
is bodily present in the Sacrament; and
WHEREAS, The Lutheran Confessions give us the proper,
biblical, and clear confession of the Bible concerning the Lord’s
Supper in unambiguous terminology and specific antitheses; and
WHEREAS, A public statement signed by LCMS members with
Protestants must avoid any indication that we agree with them on
the doctrine of Baptism or the Lord’s Supper; and
WHEREAS, At least three members of the LCMS, Dr. Robert
Kolb, Dr. Erik Herrmann, and Dr. Gilbert Meilaender, joined with
many Protestants in publicly signing a “Reforming Catholic
Confession,” a “Mere Protestant” statement, which sets forth the
Reformed view of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and describes
them as “tangible expressions of the gospel insofar as they vividly
depict our dying, rising, and incorporation into Jesus’ body,” and
fails both to confess the true and real bodily presence of Christ in
the Supper and to condemn the rejection of this true bodily
presence; and
WHEREAS, These signatures of public documents are contrary to
the ordination vows of Lutheran pastors in the LCMS and their
voluntary subscription of the Lutheran Confessions; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Pastors’ Conference of the Wyoming District
of the LCMS call on President Harrison, Dr. Seltz, Dr. Kolb, Dr.
Herrmann, and Dr. Meilaender to repent and publicly withdraw
their names from these public documents, and be it further
Resolved, That the Pastors’ Conference of the Wyoming District
of the LCMS formally memorialize Synod in its 2019 convention
to direct the Commission on Theology and Church Relations to
address the signing of public interfaith and interdenominational
statements by members of Synod.
Pastors’ Conference
Wyoming District

2019 Convention Workbook