# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S110 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 110 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS “1. In declaring that the church is Christ's mission, the affirmations by no means present the mission of the church as one which confuses an ethic of love with the speaking of the Gospel (Rom. 10:17): “2. The affirmations were designed to remind us that those who proclaim the message of God's love in Christ should also witness to Christ in Christian actions (Matt. 5:16); “3. The affirmations offer no license for unionism or separatism but rather emphasize our responsibility to minister also to other Christians in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12): “4. The affirmations. in emphasizing the ‘Church's Mission to the Whole Man. do not thereby imply any improper conclusions regarding man’s state of existence between death and resurrec- tion... : the affirmations rather stress that our loving concern for man be for his body and mind. which God has created and redeemed. (Matt. 4:23)" Trinity Lutheran Church Lowden, Iowa Everett Kruckenberg, Secretary Earl W. Elowsky, Pastor 3-158 To Repudiate CTCR Interpretation of Mission Affirmations WHEREAS. The Mission Affirmations have been repeatedly affirmed by previous conventions: and WHEREAS, They are not in need of limiting theological guide- lines set forth by presidentiaily appointed commissions: there- fore be it Resolved. That the Synod in convention once again affirm the Mission Affirmations and repudiate the limiting theological interpretation placed upon it by the Commission on Theology and Church Relations. Our Redeemer Lutheran Church Lake City, Fla. James Bachman, Pastor 3-159 To Declare ‘New Morality” to Be Anti-Christian WHEREAS. An increasing number of churchmen are advocat- ing a “new morality,” which claims that there are no unchanging laws for a Christian to obey (A Christian Handbook. pp. 123— 150, available from Christian News. Box 168. New Haven, Mo.): and WHEREAS. Even some Lutherans have made some public statements that appear to be in accord with some of the anti- Christian views expressed by the advocates of the new morality: 1. Dr. Martin Marty, an LCMS clergyman who is being defended by the officials of his English District, says in the 1967 Playboy: “T could conceive, from the pastoral point of view, the legitimacy of something like adultery in extreme situations.” Dr. Marty has refused to retract the anti-Christian statements he made in Playboy panel discussion. He has acknowledged that Playboy has quoted him correctly. Several columns of the Play- boy panel are photographed in A Christian Handbook. p. 748. 2. The English District has refused to take any action against one of its congregations which wants the LCMS to allow unre- pentant homosexuals to become ordained pastors (see “To Accept Homophiles in the Church,” p.78. 1973 Convention Workbook. Memorial 2-106A): and WHEREAS, Adultery is repeatedly condemned in God’s Word: and WHEREAS. God's Word clearly identifies homophile behavior as immoral and condemns it (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:24-27 (Convention Proceedings. 1973, p. 110); therefore be it Resolved. That the LCMS, while recognizing that salvation is not by the Law and that no man can fulfill the Law perfectly, declare that God’s Moral Law recorded in Holy Scripture is an unchanging absolute standard: and be it further Resolved. That the LCMS declare that premarital and extra- marital sexual intercourse and homosexuality are sinful and contrary to God's Law; and be it further Resolved. That Dr. Martin Marty be asked to resign from the LCMS as long as he continues to refuse to retract the sinful statements he made in Playboy (see A Christian Handbook. pp. 740—748 for further information on Marty’s anti-Scriptural theology): and be it finally Resolred. That the English District be required to take action against any of its congregations that support the ordina- tion to the holy ministry of unrepentant homosexuals. Trinity Lutheran Church New Haven, Mo. Orville Meyer, Secretary 3-160 To Seek Retraction of False Doctrine in Mission: Life WHEREAS, A few of the courses in the Mission:Life curricu- lum are teaching some of the same false doctrines and destruc- tive views of historical criticism which the Fact-Finding Com- mittee found were being taught by the former faculty majority at Concordia Seminary, St.Louis, now at ‘‘Semirex" (for documentation of false doctrine in Mission:Life see Memorial 2-89 in the 1973 Convention Workbook. pp.73—74, and A Chris- tian Handbook. 765—772, 780 —784): and WHEREAS. Some of the Mission:Life editors and writers are supporting the anti-Scriptural theology of Seminex and some of the destructive theories of historical-criticism: and WHEREAS, None of the Mission:Life editors and writers responsible for the anti-Scriptural theology in Mission:Life have ever admitted or retracted any false doctrine in Mission:Life; therefore be it Resolved. That the LCMS ask all writers and editors for the Mission:Life curriculum to sign A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Principles: and be it further Resolved, That the editors and writers responsible for the false doctrine in Mission:Life’s Journey to Freedom and God's Peculiar People be asked to acknowledge and retract their false doctrine: and be it further Resolved. That all editors and writers of LCMS Sunday school and Bible class material who refuse to subscribe to the inerrancy of the Bible and A Statement of Scriptural and Con- fessional Principles be asked to resign: and be it finally Resolved. That Hymns 12 and 25 be eliminated from Hymns for Now I used in some Mission:Life courses. Trinity Lutheran Church New Haven, Mo. Orville Meyer. Secretary 3-161A To Correct Doctrinal Aberrations in ‘From Out of the Desert” or Remove from the Market WHEREAS, The new study course “From Out of the Desert,” published by Concordia Publishing House, contains doctrinal aberrations and false impressions (i.e., it sets forth the anti- Scriptural notion that the god of non-Christian religions is the only true god that exists: or the notion that Allah really exists: or the notion that it doesn’t make much difference whether you worship God, Allah, or some other being; or the notion that Christ is not the only way to heaven); and WHEREAS, Scripture makes it clear that Christ is the only way to heaven (Acts 4:12); and WHEREAS, The Large Catechism, one of the historic confes- sions of the Lutheran Church which all Lutherans are supposed to accept, declares: ‘All outside of Christianity, whether heathen, Turks, Jews... know not what His mind towards them is and cannot expect any love or blessing from Him; therefore they abide in eternal wrath and damnation”; and