# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S54
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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54 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

tempore” and apply it to all doctrinal resolutions which orig-
inate in the committee on theological matters (floor com-
mittee 2): and be it further

Resolved, That the normal period during which we honor
“norma pro tempore” as valid and appropriate expressions of
the eternal Word of God be no more than 30 years after their

latest reaffirmation by synodical resolution: and be it further

Resolved, That doctrinal formulations expressed by syn-
odical resolutions without substantial reaffirmation within 30
years be considered to have expired without ceremony or
repudiation; and be it further

Resolved, That a consistory be appointed by the President
of the Synod to receive evidence that the prevailing cultural
context differs materially from that to which the Synod ad-
dressed itself in its Parliamentary action. and shali make a
judgment as to whether significant variables in the passing
scene have indeed changed the situation materially, and if
so shall declare the “norma pro tempore” to have expired
before the 30-year period has elapsed: and be it further

Resolved, That the consistory be composed of five men
holding no other synodical office, for 5-year staggered terms;
and be it further

Resolved, That the consistory recognize the persistence of
certain modern falsehoods by selecting doctrinal statements
which the Synod has been obliged to reassert over a period
of more than 30 years and recommend their inclusion in the
“norma normata”: and be it further

Resolved, That the Consistory recommend more detailed
procedures for expanding our confessional base; and be it
finally

Resolved. That we reject both the concepts of “doctrinal
development” and of “sectarian peculiarity” as distortions
of our unlimited appropriation of revealed truth to our cur-

rent needs,
Hore Lutueran Cuyurcy

San Leandro, Calif.
Caroline Uhlig, Secretary

2-22

To Petition Synod to Change Procedures
for Handling Doctrinal Matters

WHEREAS, An overture was presented to the 1971 conven-
tion of the Synod (2-13, 1971 Workbook) which asked for an
addition to the Bylaws of the Synod for the purpose of im-
proving the procedures by which the Synod handles matters
of doctrine and conscience at its conventions; and

Wuergas, The substance of this overture was not dealt
with by a resolution of the convention (see Res, 2-21, 1971
Convention Proceedings): and

Wuereas, President J. A. O. Preus publicly expressed dis-
satisfaction with the present procedures by which the Synod
adopts statements of a doctrinal nature when he spoke at
the Synod’s 1971 Regional Meeting in Los Angeles; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the Colorado District in convention as-
sembled urge the 1973 convention of the Synod to give care-
ful and particular attention to the insertion of the following
statement into section 1.27 d of the Bylaws:

d. Documents setting forth doctrinal positions
or overtures requesting the Synod to adopt doc-
trinal affirmations shall be handled in accordance
with the following procedure: Convention commit-
tees, when the Synod is in session, or the President
of the Synod, when the Synod is not in convention,
shall refer the matter to the appropriate commis-
sion or special committee of the Synod. Such com-
mittee shall study the issue so referred to it and
shall present a report with its findings and recom-
mendations to the Synod no later than three
months prior to the next convention of the Synod,

he report and recommendations shall be pub-
lished in the workbook of the next convention, The
matter shall be assigned to the appropriate floor
committee and according to the usual procedure

either be accepted (with or without amendment by
the convention for the Synod’s reference and guid-
ance) or be respectfully declined.

Cotorapo District
Ralph A. Phipps, Secretary

2-23

To Establish a Commission on Dissent

Wuereas. The Synod has grappled with stubborn prob-
lems for many years without being able to arrive at easy
and clear-cut Solutions, among which we cite continued
confusion over the following:

A. The exact meaning of “honor and uphold doctrinal
resolutions” especially when members of the Synod question
the correctness of certain resolutions;

B. The interplay of a resolution's bindingness with the
discussion required to confirm its correspondence with the
Scriptures;

C. The method of rescinding doctrinal resolutions, de-
claring them to be null and void, when and if there should
be a consensus that they are in conflict with the Scrip-
tures;

D. The relation between doctrinal discipline and legalistic
or autocratic methods:

E. The necessity for censorship as opposed to the moral
obligation to speak out on doctrinal issues;

F. The sense in which the Synod is a Spiritual organiza-
tion with the authority to issue divine calls, as opposed to
the sense in which it is a human organization, able to hire
and dismiss employees at will:

G. The fact that the Holy Spirit may speak through a
vocal minority just as truly as through a solid majority; and

Wuereas, It would be advantageous to the Synod to reach
agreement on certain aspects of these problems whether or
not controversy can be terminated in other areas: and

Whereas, It is evident that the Synod does not exist by
divine institution but exists as a creature of congregations
which are theniselves by divine institution: and that al-
though the Synod is committed at their request to standards
which are thoroughly Scriptural, nevertheless, the policies
and procedures which it adopts for practical purposes can-
not automatically be construed as extensions of Article II

necessarily justified by appeals to specific proof texts); and

WHEREAS, Membership in the Synod is voluntary rather
than obligatory and cannot properly be interpreted as a pre-
condition for membership in the kingdom of heaven, so that
it does not make sense to describe its methods as inherently
legalistic as opposed to evangelical, or to insist that exclusion
from this human organization must be on moral rather than
on practical grounds, or that dismissal must take place ac-
cording to the method outlined in Matthew 18 rather than by
sound administrative measures; therefore be it

Resolved. That the Synod declare that no member of the
Synod may appeal to his “Christian” rights and privileges
as a justification for opposing the policies of the organization
or the administrative decisions of its officers in such a way
as to frustrate the purposes for which the Synod exists, in-
cluding its objective of preserving the unity of its faith; and
be it further

Resolved. That a “Commission on Dissent” be established
to have the following functions:

A. To serve as an agency that provides political stability
to the Synod by: reducing the climate of propaganda and
counter-propaganda, with “every man doing what is right
in his own eyes” by virtue of his status as a child of God,
or with contrary voices claiming to represent the true posi-
tion of the Synod:

B. To receive charges that individuals are teaching con-
trary to the public doctrine of the Synod as expressed in its
theological resolutions, especially when such alleged teach-
ings are being disseminated beyond the borders of a single
District. If they are confined to a given District the com-