# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1973_S81 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 81 Similar: 2-115B St. Paul Lutheran Church, Rochelle, Ill, Theodore Weiss, Pastor; Mark Junge, Secretary. 2-115C St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Mellen, Wis., Ken Lind- quist; Donald Kulbachi, Secretary. 2-115D Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church, Mellen, Wis., Donald Koosmann, President; Robert Kretzschmar, Secretary. 2-116A To Withdraw from Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. Wuereas, The Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. has lob- bied for various political causes in Washington, D.C.; and Wuereas, A LCUSA division has published and widely distributed Who Can This Be? a study document which attacks the vicarious satisfaction and deity of Christ: and Wuereas, No top official of LCUSA has publicly declared that Who Can This Be? contains false doctrine which must be retracted; and Wuereas, LCUSA has left the door open for the ordina- tion of women to the holy ministry; and WuereEas, Conferences sponsored by LCUSA have at- tacked the inspiration and inerrancy of Holy Scripture; and Wuereas LCUSA costs the LCMS more than one-half million dollars each year; therefore be it Resolved. That we respectfully ask the LCMS to with- draw from LCUSA. TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH New Haven, Mo. Larry Scheer, Secretary Identical or Similar: 2-116B Trinity Lutheran Church, Hobart, Ind., Clifford Fackler, President; Eugene Weller, Secretary. 2-116C St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Delhi, Ontario, Carl Priester, President; John S. Obeda, Pastor. 2-116D Trinity Lutheran Church, Ironwood, Mich., Leonard Korpi, President; R. W. Heikkinen, Pastor. 2-117 To Withdraw Immediately from LCUSA Wuereas, Christ gave us the Great Commission in Matt. 28:19. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost”; and Wuereas, In the publication of the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. entitled Who Can This Be? the clear Biblical picture of Jesus is completely distorted (p.17) with such heretical statements about Jesus as: So the gospels clearly give us a picture of one who, like the rest of us, Was groping through each new situation to find some clear indication of what the Father's will might be. ... Per- haps it is a mistake to say that Jesus possessed within himself any particular capacity to respond to the Father that is not common to us... . Jesus at that moment had no divine preview of the necessity of the cross. He shrank from death as we shrink from death in all its lonely terror. Likely he was even unaware of the resurrection that lay beyond the criminal’s death. The above statements obviously destroy the effectiveness of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ; and Whereas, LCUSA continues to work primarily in the so- cial, economic, and political fields, and continuously offends vast numbers of LCMS members by implying that LCUSA speaks for them — although, all the while, LCUSA denies that it is doing this; and WuereaS. LCUSA has made a study on the “Ordination of Women” that directly and specifically contradicts clear Biblical passages and is in direct conflict with the Commis- sion on Theology and Church Relations of the LCMS, who also made an exhaustive study of the question, completely disagreeing with the conclusions found by LCUSA,; and Wuereas, We believe the hundreds of thousands of dollars given to LCUSA each year could be spent in a much more God-pleasing way; therefore be it Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod withdraw immediately from the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. Mount Hope LUTHERAN CHURCH Casper, Wyo. F. D. Stewart, President Richard Means, Secretary Rev. J. B. Brown, Pastor 2-118A To Withdraw from Membership in LCUSA Wuereas, Participation of the LCMS in the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. has long been the subject of question and criticism (Proceedings. LCMS Milwaukee Convention, 1971, Res. 3-18. p. 184): and Wuereas, The Milwaukee convention of the LCMS ques- tioned the effectiveness of LCUSA in terms of budgeting, planning, programming, and doctrinal differences (Proceed- ings. LCMS Milwaukee Convention, 1971, Res. 3-14, 16, 18, pp. 133—134): and Wuereas, LCUSA has taken upon itself to enter into the doctrinal controversy in the LCMS by publicizing a strong attack against President J. A. O. Preus by Dean William Lazareth of Gettysburg (Pa.) Seminary, LCA (the June 23, 1972, News Bureau of LCUSA quoted by Dr. Lazareth as “Terming Dr. Preus’ Statement a biblicistic and confession- alistic perversion of the truth of the Gospel entrusted to evangelical Lutherans. ...” and again by quoting Dr. Laz- areth as agreeing with the faculty of the Missouri Synod seminary that the Dr. Preus’s Statement was “unnecessary, inadequate theologically, and alien to the spirit of Lutheran confessional theology”): and Wuereas, Such publication of bias attacks on the Presi- dent of the Synod by an organization which should remain neutral in such internal synodical problems of any of the member bodies is both shocking and unethical, and abso- lutely uncalled for: therefore be it Resolved, That The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod declare that membership in the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. represents a gross misuse and poor investment of funds contributed by the congregations of the Synod; and be it further Resolved. That the LCMS terminate its membership in LCUSA effective as of Jan. 1, 1974. St. Joun’s Ev, LUTHERAN CHURCH Millvale, Pittsburgh, Pa. Bernard Peel, Secretary Horace Garton, Pastor Identical or Similar: 2-118B Zion Lutheran Church. Auburn, Iowa, Lester Sievers, Chairman pro tem; Harvey Lesle. Secretary. 2-118C Bethel Lutheran Church. Glenshaw. Pa., Robert Hertzog, Executive Director; Robert V. Neeb, Pastor. 2-119 To Withdraw from LCUSA Whereas. The Lutheran Council in the U.S.A. was to be primarily an agency through which various Lutheran bodies could work cooperatively in those areas which did not in-