Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 188
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 188

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

188 CHURCH RELATIONS

tain sound at this time, our world, our Synod, and our
individual congregations will be the losers spiritually,
doctrinally; and all of us appear before God as betray-
ers of the truth once delivered to the saints.

To this statement of our beliefs regarding Resolution
3-23 and its impending passage at Denver, Colo., in
July 1969, we append our personal signatures.

First TRINITY Ev. LUTHERAN CONGREGATION
Pittsburgh, Pa.
Lorenz BLANKENBUEHLER, Pastor

(3-239)

To Repudiate Res. 3-23 as Confessionally
Unsound and to Declare All Actions
Based Thereon Void

Wuereas, The first whereas of Resolution 3-23 of the
New York convention shows only a consensus between
certain representatives of The Lutheran Church — Mis-
souri Synod and of The American Lutheran Church in
doctrine, and not between the church bodies them-
selves; and

WHEREAS, The same whereas makes use of a totally
new and unwarranted interpretation of Art. VII of the
Augsburg Confession, intimating that all that is re-
quired for church fellowship is agreement as to what
the Gospel is and administration of the sacraments ac-
cording to the letter of God’s Word, while the Apology
of the Augsburg Confession uses the word Gospel as
synonymous with Doctrine (Apology, Art. VII, VIII:
Triglot, p. 229), and this is the sense in which Art. VII
of the Augsburg Confession has been taken by the
fathers of the Missouri Synod; and

Wuereas, The Formula of Concord states:

Thus (According to this doctrine) the churches will not
condemn one another because of dissimilarity of cere-
monies when, in Christian liberty, one has less or more
of them, provided they are otherwise agreed with one
another in the doctrine and all its articles, also in the
right use of the holy Sacraments (Thorough Declaration,
Art. X; Triglot, p. 1063) ;

and

WuereEAS, The sainted Dr. Walther stated: “The
Evangelical Lutheran Church rejects every fraternal
or ecclesiastical fellowship with such as reject its Con-
fession, either in whole or in part” (The True Visible
Church, C. F. W. Walther, tr. J. T. Mueller, Concordia
Publishing House, St. Louis, 1961, p. 128): and

Whereas, Dr. Martin Luther said:

Now some wiseacres begin to patch, for they want to
mend things and settle the discord. They suggest that
both sides should give way and yield. We will let them go
and try to accomplish what they can; nor do we begrudge
them their labor. But if they will convert the devil and
make him one with Christ, they will be the first (to ac-
complish that). I regard such patchwork as does Jesus
the son of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus 22:7: “It is as one that
glueth a potsherd together.” There have been many cob-
blers who tried to do that, but they labored in vain and
lost both thread and stitch. ... In matters pertaining to
faith and Christ’s kingdom, He desires no mending or
patching so as to bend His scepter and make it crooked.
Those who attempt it only make matters worse so that
they lose it entirely; for this scepter should and must

remain whole and straight (Ps. 45:7), without any breaks
or gaps, as the rule and norm, according to which we
must believe and live. (Second Exposition of Psalm 110
[1538}, v. 2; SL V, 977);

therefore be it

Resolved, That Resolution 3-23 of the New York
convention be repudiated and denied as a confessionally
unsound resolution; and be it further

Resolved, That any and all actions taken on the basis
of this “patchwork” be declared null and void.
Rev. C. L, RHOADES
Chicago, Ill.
(3-240)

To Reject Fellowship as a Matter
of Conscience

Wuereas, Trinity Lutheran Church of Erie, Pa., has
been preaching the message of salvation for 88 years:
and

WuereEAS, Trinity has been the only Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod church in this city for all
these years: and

Wuereas, We are surrounded by 25 or more Lu-
theran Church in America congregations, who are not
in agreement in teaching and particularly in practice
in matters of unionism, lodgery, etc.; and

Wuereas, Our Synod proposes fellowship with The
American Lutheran Church, which has voted fellowship
with the Lutheran Church in America, which fellowship
we find impossible; therefore

Trinity Lutheran Church strongly protests such
a fellowship with The American Lutheran Church. We
believe there can be no true unity or fellowship under
the above circumstances. We urge that such fellowship
be rejected and oppose it as a matter of conscience.

TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
Erie, Pa.

C. V. CUNNINGHAM, President
Evucene E, BERNHARD, Secretary

(3-241)
To Protest Against Fellowship at This Time

SINcE, We feel that the documents on grace, Scrip-
ture, and the church do not cover all of the important
issues at hand in the matter of pulpit and altar fellow-
ship (refer to the essays adopted by the commissioners
of The American Lutheran Church and The Lutheran
Church — Missouri Synod); and

Since, There have been doctrinally divisive items
of the past which are not mentioned now (such as pre-
destination and conversion, man’s will, the doctrine of
the Antichrist, open Communion, open questions, Jesus
and the doctrine of the Word, etc.) and which we feel
should be mentioned before altar and pulpit fellowship
is declared; and

Since, We find items of doctrine and practice in The
American Lutheran Church which are still offensive
and divisive of altar and pulpit fellowship (such as the