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LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 2016, Page 475

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

FLOOR COMMITTEE REPORTS AND OVERTURES ASSIGNMENTS

15. Reformation
REPORTS
R1, R1.1, R1.2, R11, R12, R14, R59
OVERTURES
15-01

To Encourage the Study of the Ninety-Five Theses
and Augsburg Confession
Whereas, Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses on the
church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517; and
Whereas, It was not his intent to create a new church but to stimulate debate about errors that had crept into the historic Christian
Church in an effort to bring about reform; and
Whereas, On June 25, 1530, a defense of Luther’s historic
Christian teaching was presented to Emperor Charles V in the document that became known as the Augsburg Confession; and
Whereas, The Augsburg Confession made use of both Scripture
and quotations from Church Fathers to show the historic teachings;
and
Whereas, The Augsburg Confession also clearly stated which
teachings were to be rejected as contrary to the Scriptures; and
Whereas, It has now become common in our age for people to
say “Rome doesn’t teach that anymore” or “We don’t have to believe
that now”; and
Whereas, Statements such as the Joint Declaration on the
Doctrine of Justification have also misled people into thinking that
the differences between Rome and the historic Christian Church are
disappearing; and
Whereas, The Catholic Church has made its official teaching
position clearly known through the publication of its Catechism of the
Catholic Church [English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church for the United States of America, copyright © 1994, United
States Catholic Conference, Inc.—Libreria Editrice Vaticana]; and
Whereas, Among the erroneous teachings of Rome still being
taught are the following, given as examples:
(a) The Assumption of Mary (on Nov. 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared that Mary “was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory” at
the end of her earthly life);
(b) The infallibility of the Church (of Rome, of course) when the
pope speaks about matters of faith and morals (officially adopted at the
First Vatican Council, 1869−1870);
(c) The immaculate conception, which is not that Jesus was conceived without sin but that Mary was conceived without sin (decreed by
Pope Pius IX in his 1854 decree Ineffabilis Deus);
(d) The practice of penance (the 1983 Code of Canon Law states
that “a priest alone is the minister of the sacraments of penance,” which
is defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church as “a whole consisting of three actions of the penitent and the priest’s absolution,” the three
actions being “repentance, confession, or disclosure of sins to the priest,
and the intention to make reparation and do works of reparation”);
(e) The use of indulgences (the Catholic catechism goes on to state
that “through indulgences the faithful can obtain remission of temporal
punishment resulting from sin for themselves and also for the souls in
Purgatory”);
(f) Penance and indulgences depend on the existence of Purgatory,
a place where people go after death to pay for their sins before going to
heaven (Purgatory being defined at the First Council of Lyon in 1254);
and

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Whereas, These and other false teachings continue to deceive
people and lead them astray from the truth that Christ died for our
sins, paying for them in full, once for all (Heb. 7:26−27); and
Whereas, The Scriptures say that we should continue “speaking
the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15); and
Whereas, They further say that we should “preach the word;
be ready in season and out of season [when it is popular and when
it is not]; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and
teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound
teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves
teachers suited to their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Tim. 4:2−4); and
Whereas, The issues addressed by the Augsburg Confession are
as important today as they were then; therefore be it
Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod recognize
the 500th anniversary of the Reformation by directing the preparation and publication of new studies of the Ninety-Five Theses and
of the Augsburg Confession, studies designed to help the laity better
understand the issues involved in those documents; and be it further
Resolved, That the LCMS continue to speak out unhesitatingly
against any false teachings that threaten the unity of the Church, the
Body of Christ; and be it finally
Resolved, That these efforts take place especially during the next
decade as we celebrate the two significant anniversaries, first, of the
Ninety-Five Theses and, second, of the Augsburg Confession.
Circuit 16
South Wisconsin District
15-02

To Endorse Preach the Word Project as
Celebration of 500th Anniversary of Reformation
Whereas, October 31, 2017, marks the 500th anniversary of
the Reformation, when Dr. Martin Luther posted on the door of the
Castle Church the Ninety-Five Theses, his invitation to debate how
one receives the blessings of Jesus Christ; and
Whereas, Dr. Luther writes of preachers and proper preaching,
“The first and only duty of the bishops, however, is to see that the
people learn the gospel and the love of Christ. For on no occasion has
Christ ordered that indulgences should be preached, but he forcefully
commanded the gospel to be preached,” (Luther’s Works 48:47); and
Whereas, Dr. Luther writes, “The true treasure of the church is
the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God” (Luther’s Works
31:31, Ninety-Five Theses), and St. Paul writes, “So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17),
and, again, “I charge you ... preach the word,” (2 Tim. 4:1, 2); and
Whereas, In honor of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation
and beneath the theme “It’s Still All about Jesus,” the President’s
Office has initiated the Preach the Word Project, which invites pastors to improve their craft of preaching the pure, sweet Gospel and
the laity their hearing of it; and
Whereas, Both seminaries of our Synod endeavor to prepare
men to preach the Word of Christ crucified and risen for the salvation of people to the fullest of each man’s ability and with competent
skills but also seek to engender an understanding that preaching is to
involve lifelong development of those skills; and
Whereas, Our seminaries likewise energetically support the
Synod’s increasing emphasis on continuing education for all pastors; therefore be it
2016 Convention Workbook