# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1941_S295
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Intersynodical and Doctrinal Matters 293

cerning the Declaration of the American Lutheran
hurch in Reference to the Doctrine of the
oo Holy Scriptures

(Memorial 605)

. John’s Lutheran Congregation of Okabena, Minn., believes
e American Lutheran Church officially differs with our
on the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, and we herewith
espectfully petition Synod assembled in convention at Fort Wayne,
o. declare the acceptance of the A.L.C. Declaration by our
d in 1938 to be without force and effect.
1is action is urged for the following reasons:
Saragraph 2 of our Brief Statement correctly shows how the
ytures are to be understood and rightly rejects the man-made
ed “totality of Scripture.”
We believe that the A. L. C. attempts to maintain such a totality
< tipture according to which the Holy Scriptures are to be un-
3 stood when in its Declaration it states: “. .. The books of the
ble: constitute an organic whole without contradiction. . .
known that the former Ohio and Iowa synods taught the
of such a whole, totality, or analogy of Scripture or of faith.
r negotiations with the pastors of the A. L. C. in Southwestern
Ainnesota our pastors in this section resolved in 1940 that the old
ifferences still exist between these two groups. The pamphlet
the Interest of Lutheran Unity, officially released and widely
ibuted by the A.L.C. in 1940, maintains this error, which is
ejected by Paragraph 2 of our Brief Statement, as may be seen
y'‘the following quotations. Page 38: “The interpretation of the
ripture-texts dealing with non-fundamentals must not run
ounter to the analogy of the Scriptures. ... It is the entire Bible
hat must be consulted in the process.” Page 48: The meaning
and application of certain Scripture-passages depends upon “the
ght which the whole of Scripture throws upon them.” Page 75:
ccording to Rule 4, as given, for Scripture explanation, the sum
* total of the clear passages is the guardian of truth in such a way
“that all explanation of obscure passages must agree with this sum
total. To prove this last point, reference is made to a statement
f the Formula of Concord (I, 2; Trigl., 779), which proof has
always been, and is now, in our Church rejected as a proof for
the use of such a whole of Scripture.
Adopted April 6, 1941 .
St. Joun’s LuTHERAN CONGREGATION,
OKABENA, MINN.

Watter AHRENS, Secretary

”»