LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1983, Page 40

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40) MISSIONS, EVANGELISM, AND SOCIAL MINISTRY

wartare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the casting down

of imaginations”:
and

WHEREAS, There still will be people living on this earth when
our Lord Jesus returns in judgment on the Last Day (1 Thess.
4:17) and even the gates of hell will not prevail against the
church (Matt. 16:18): and

WHEREAS, The Communists cannot be trusted to keep
treaties and have often said they will one day conquer the
world: and

WHEREAS, Peace may be kept through strength in the hands
of the just (Mark 3:27: Luke 11: 21. 22: James 4:7: Luke 22:36;
Joel 3:10. and

WHEREAS, History has shown that one of the best deterrents
to the threat of war is an adequate defense. General John W.
Vessey. Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. a member of
the LCMS who is not in favor of nuclear war and greatly
desires peace. says that the peacemaking mission for those in
military service is “to be vigilant and ready to the point where
our potential enemies will see that engaging in a war with us
would be a fruitless exercise’ (Christian News, Jan. 24. 1983):
therefore be it

Resolved, That, while the LCMS does not tell its members
how to vote on the nuclear freeze issue, the LCMS refuse to join
those churches backing a nuclear freeze and unilateral dis-
armament: and be it further

Resolved, That the LCMS declare that the “just war” theory
is still valid in a nuclear age: and be it further

Resolved, That the LCMS. along with Art. XXVIII of The
Augsburg Confession, declare that it is not the business of the
church to meddle in the affairs of government but rather to
preach the Word of God and administer the sacraments: and be
it finally

Resolved. That the LCMS declare that God is omnipotent
and that nothing can threaten His sovereignty over the world.
Trinity Lutheran Church

New Haven, Mo.

Orville Meyer. Secretary

1-45

To Address the Problem of the Church
and Nuclear Defense

WHEREAS, Various church leaders, both Roman Catholic
and Protestant, are taking it upon themselves to press for
highly specific political policies and measures regarding
national defense, nuclear weapons, and disarmament; and

WHEREAS, These political policies and measures are repre-
sented as proper and necessary expressions of Christian ethics,
or worse, of ‘tthe Gospel’; and

WHEREAS, This practice does a serious disservice to both
church and state by confusing Law and Gospel, the civil and
the spiritual, fashionable ideologies and eternal verities; and

WHEREAS, ‘The Gospel does not legislate for the civil estate
but is the forgiveness of sins and the beginning of eternal life in
the hearts of believers” (Apology XVI. 6): and

WHEREAS, Unlike abortion, the proper and just use of police
and military force by lawful civil authority is not in itself
contrary to the revealed will and Word of God (Rom. 13); and

WHEREAS, Responsible judgments about the global complex-
ities of foreign and defense policies require exact information
in fields in which church leaders enjoy no special competence,
e.g., history, geography, diplomacy, intelligence, science,
technology: and

WHEREAS, The moral justification of nuclear weapons turns
on arguments about whether particular weapons systems do or
do not assure nuclear parity or superiority, or whether relative
nuclear strength will tend to promote or prevent the outbreak of
nuclear war—questions which cannot be answered on theo-
logical grounds, but which must be settled on other grounds
altogether; therefore be it

Resolved, That the LCMS in principle oppose ecclesiastical

pronouncements claiming a divine warrant which in fact they
do not and cannot have: and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod urge its membership to become
thoroughly acquainted with Luther's Biblical doctrine of the
two kingdoms, as that is confessed in Article XVI of the
Augsburg Confession and of its Apology; and be it finally

Resolved. That the Synod remind especially the public
teachers of the church of their duty faithfully to exhort
everyone according to his or her station and opportunity in life
to see the exercise of civic responsibility as a vital part of the
Christian's duty to serve his or her neighbor and do so
according to the Second Table of the Law, among the guiding
precepts of which are these:

a. Christians are responsible before God to use their politi-
cal power and influence to seek not personal advantage but
justice for all. compassion for the helpless, and an end to
cruelty and oppression.

b. Physical life and material goods are not the ultimate
values, and their loss not the ultimate tragedy.

c. The temporal, earthly attachments of Christians are to
be disciplined by their heavenly and eternal loyalties (2 Cor.
4:16-18: Heb. 13:14), and political causes and convictions dare
not become demonic obsessions.

d. Political agreements or disagreements neither create nor
destroy the unity of the church, which rests rather on agree-
ment in the pure doctrine of the Gospel and in the right
administration of the sacraments (AC VII, FC SD X, 31).

e. Political principles and public morality rest properly not
on attempts to legislate the Bible or “Christian principles,’ but
on considerations of natural law (Rom. 2:14-15), appealed to
also by the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

f. Christians are not to despise and dishonor the family and
the state, which have God's command and institution, in the
name of “foolish monastic theories’’ about various utopias
which do not (Apol. XVI, d, 13).

g. “When commands of the civil authority cannot be obeyed
without sin, we must obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)"
(AC XVI, 7).

Faculty

Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Ind.

Norbert H. Mueller. Secretary

1-46

To Affirm Our Concern
Regarding Nuclear Arms Proliferation

WHEREAS, As Christians we are stewards of the earth as well
as the Gospel; and

WHEREAS, There is increasing individual as well as inter-
national concern about the risk of nuclear war; and

WHEREAS, There exists a quantity of nuclear armaments
capable of destroying the earth a multitude of times: and

WHEREAS, There continues to be an increasingly enormous
diversion of valuable resources in a futile attempt to manage
an ever-escalating potential of nuclear destruction; thererfore
be it

Resolved, That the 26th Convention of the Southeastern
District encourage its constituent congregations to give this
matter immediate attention through study and prayer; and be
it further

Resolved, That the 26th Convention of the Southeastern
District immediately petition The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod, through its appropriate officers and boards, toinitiatea
formal study of this issue so as to produce theologically sound
and ethically and morally responsible materials for further
study and assistance to individuals, congregations, and
church leaders; and be it further

Resolved, That the Synod be petitioned to earnestly seek
ways by which its leadership can work with other religious