LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1965, Page 202

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

202 UNPUBLISHED REPORTS AND OVERTURES

missible for a pastor or professor in The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod to deny the Mosaic author-
ship of the Pentateuch, the unity of Isaiah, that there
are three self-subsisting persons in the Holy Trinity,
and that man has an immortal soul.

also:
(2) What Is Troubling the Lutherans?

Wuereas, The Church League of America has pub-
lished four parts of a series entitled “What Is Troubling
the Lutherans?”; and

Wuereas, This series has caused considerable dis-
turbance in Lutheran circles throughout the world and
particularly among Missouri Synod Lutherans; and

Wuereas, A number of Missouri Synod Lutherans
have withheld funds from the Synod because of infor-
mation contained in this series; and

Wuereas, President John W. Behnken has written:
“Another thing that disturbs me greatly is the ‘News
and Views’ copy sent out recently. If this issue of
‘News and Views’ were factual, our Synod would be in
a very sad plight. We are making a special study of
this issue, and I shall report the results to you. Mean-
while I plead for wholehearted support of our church’s
program. ...

“I do not favor sidestepping issues, but I am sure
that you realize that it will take time to review this
issue of ‘News and Views’ properly. It was written
very shrewdly. Some of the charges have long been
given proper attention; others are now receiving atten-
tion. Some matters are taken out of their context. In
some areas ‘News and Views’ is completely wrong. You
will receive more information.”

Wuereas, The only further information we are aware
of concerning “News and Views” was a few brief para-
graphs included in Dr. L. B. Meyer’s evaluation of the
State of the Church conference; and

Wuereas, Part IV includes almost twice as much
material as Part III and will undoubtedly create even
more confusion in our Synod unless some official reply
is published to this series on the Lutherans; therefore
be it

Resolved, That the Synod elect a competent pastor,
a teacher, and a layman to prepare an official evaluation
of this series.

also:

(3) False Doctrine Must Be Acknowledged
and Retracted

Wuereas, The following statements from the essays
of a professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, indicate
that these writings contain false doctrine:

THE PROFESSOR GOD’S WORD

1. “In this paper I propose to defend “The Scripture can-
the paradox that the Book of not be broken.”
God’s truth contains errors.” (John 10:35)

(“The Inerrancy of Scripture,”
p. 1)

2. “H. H. Rowley, therefore, may
be quite right in saying, ‘Moses
was less than a monotheist, but
he was more than a henotheist.’”
(“God Is One,” The Lutheran
Quarterly, August 1960, pp. 230
to 36)

3. “He wrote it [Genesis1—3] as
a tale, as a poetic piece, to set
forth the truth of that which he
believed to have happened, using
materials available to him from
the story tellers or written docu-
ments. This is to say, these ac-
counts propose to speak of real
events describing man’s creation
and fall as well as the making of
his world, but in language that
is largely symbolical, or mythical,
and is to be so understood.”
(“The Inerrancy of Scripture”)

4, “The Scriptures are not a revela-
tion, but a medium of revelation,
whereby we today are brought
into contact with God’s redeem-
ing acts in their claim on us.”
(“The Bible as Record, Medium
and Witness,” p. 21)

5. “We need to keep in mind that
it is a modern heresy to identify
truth with fact.” (“The Inerrancy
of Scripture”)

6. “Where there is no body, there
is no soul, for soul is not life in
the abstract, but the vital force
of the body of flesh.” (“The Pau-
line View of Man,” presented at
Valparaiso University on July 27,
1961, at the Lutheran Social Work
Institute)

and

“Hear, O Israel: The
Lord our God is one

Lord.” (Deuteron-
omy 6:3)
“And He [Christ]

answered and said
unto them, Have ye
not read, that He
which made them at
the beginning made
them male and fe-
male” (Matthew 19:
4). Christ accepted
the literal-historical
view of Genesis.

“But God hath re-
vealed them unto us
by His Spirit. ...
Which things also we
speak, not in the
words which man’s
wisdom teacheth but
which the Holy
Ghost teacheth.” (1
Cor. 2:10, 13)

“But the woman,
fearing and trem-
bling . . . told Him
all the truth.” (Mark
5:33; cf. John 4:18)

“Verily I say unto
thee, Today _ shalt
thou be with Me in
paradise.” (Luke 23:
43; cf. Phil. 1:23)

Wuereas, In spite of the fact that it has been re-

ported that this professor has made some retractions,
he has written to me under date of Dec. 22, 1961, that
none of his essays ever contained false doctrine and
that he has retracted nothing; therefore be it

Resolved, That the 1962 Cleveland convention of The
Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod request this pro-
fessor to acknowledge and retract the false doctrine
contained in his essays.

also:

(4) To Refuse to Authorize Publication
of Religious Books Using Revised Standard Version
Translations, etc.

Wuereas, The 1959 San Francisco convention refused
to authorize the publishing of a Catechism which would
use the text of the Revised Standard Version; and

Wuereas, The Nov. 1, 1961, Lutheran Layman re-
ported: “Concordia Publishing House has issued a new,
56-page booklet listing the 703 Bible passages found
in A Short Explanation of Dr. Martin Luther’s Small
Catechism in the language of the Revised Standard
Version”; and