LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1998, Page 195

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THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS 195

Confessions (what there is of it) is not only weak but misleading”;
and

WHEREAS, The final statement of the decision reads, “The Com-
mission on Doctrinal Review cannot commend the book, The Goal
of the Gospel to the church;” and

WHEREAS, The Commission on Doctrinal Review did not deem
it necessary to revoke the certification of the book, The Goal of the
Gospel in spite of their finding; therefore be it

Resolved, That Synod in convention direct the Commission on
Doctrinal Review to revoke its certification and to remove it from
the shelves of CPH and advise all boards, commissions, congrega-
tions, and its university system not to use The Goal of the Gospel as
resource material.

Zion
Annandale, MN

3-141

To Declare Jesus Christ Is Only Way to Heaven;
Christianity Is Only True and Saving Faith

WuereaS, Many denominations and church leaders today main-
tain that Jesus Christ is not the only way to heaven and that Chris-
tianity is just one of many “true” religions; and

WHEREAS, Surveys show that even many church members today
believe that as long as a person lives a good life he will get to
heaven regardless of what he believes; and

WuErEAS, Many Protestant leaders and the Pope now pray with
non-Christians and thereby give the impression that all religions
worship the true God; and

Wuereas, Jesus Christ said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me”; and

WHEREAS, The Athanasian Creed says: “Whosoever will be
saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic
faith. Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled,
without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. And the catholic faith is
this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity ...”
“This is the catholic faith which except a man believe faithfully
and firmly, he cannot be saved”; and

WHEREAS, The Large Catechism, one of the Lutheran Confes-
sions all true Lutherans accept, says: “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, there-
fore they abide in eternal wrath and damnation” (Large Catechism,
Concordia Triglotta, p. 697); and

WHEREAS, Martin Luther insisted that the heathen who die with-
out saving faith in Christ are damned; and

Wuereas, “A Statement of Scriptural and Confessional Princi-
ples” of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod says: “We believe
that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that all who die
without faith in Him are eternally damned”; therefore be it

Resolved, That The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod declare
at its 1998 convention that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven
and that Christianity is the only true and saving faith; and be it fur-
ther

Resolved, That the 1998 convention of the LCMS remind all the
members of LCMS congregations to live and act as if they truly
believed Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven by supporting true
Christian mission work and by personally witnessing to non-Chris-
tians.

Trinity, New Haven, MO; Immanuel, Clovis, NM;
Washington Circuit, Missouri District

3-142

To Reaffirm Justification by Faith Alone
in Merits of Jesus Christ

WHEREAS, Surveys have shown that many Americans, includ-
ing church members, maintain that man must work, at least in part,
his own way to heaven; and

WHEREAS, A survey of 3,000 Lutheran youth revealed that the
majority of Lutheran youth do not accept the teaching of justifica-
tion by grace through faith; and

WHEREAS, The 1997 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America approved a joint international
Lutheran-Roman Catholic document on the Doctrine of Justifica-
tion; and

WuerEAS, Liberal Lutherans and Roman Catholics often pro-
mote universalism, the notion that non-Christians can get to heaven
without saving faith in Christ; and

WHEREAS, The Roman Catholic Church still affirms the canons
and decrees of the Council of Trent, which condemns the scriptural
doctrine of justification by faith alone; and

WHEREAS, When Pope John Paul II in 1995 visited the cathe-
dral in Trent on the 450th anniversary of the Council of Trent he
declared that “Its conclusions maintain all their value.” Session VI,
Canon 12 of the Council of Trent, which the Pope and Vatican II
reaffirmed, says: “If anyone saith that justifying faith is nothing
else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for
Christ’s sake, or that this confidence alone is that whereby we are
justified let him be anathema”, and

WHEREAS, What the canons and decrees of the Council of Trent
condemn is precisely what the Bible and the Lutheran Confessions
teach about justification by faith alone in the merits of Christ;
therefore be it

Resolved, That the 1998 convention of the LCMS reaffirm the
scriptural doctrine of justification by faith alone and reject the joint
Lutheran-Roman Catholic document on justification which ELCA
has accepted.

Trinity, New Haven, MO; Immanuel, Clovis, NM;
Washington Circuit, Missouri District

3-143

To Declare Millennialism Contrary to Bible

Wuereas, As the year 2000 approaches many are predicting
that Jesus Christ will return and establish an earthly kingdom,
reigning from a throne in Jerusalem for a thousand years; and

WHEREAS, The Bible teaches that the Christians and not some
particular race or nationality are God’s chosen people (1 Peter 2:9);
and

WHEREAS, Article XVII of the Augsburg Confession teaches
that millennialism is an anti-scriptural opinion; and

WHEREAS, Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John
18:36); and

WuereaS, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Brief
Statement says: Of the Millennium, “42. With the Augsburg Con-
fession (Art. XVII) we reject every type of Millennialism, or Chil-
iasm, the opinions that Christ will return visibly to this earth a thou-
sand years before the end of the world and establish a dominion of
the Church over the world, or that before the end of the world the
Church is to enjoy a season of special prosperity, or that before the
general resurrection on Judgment Day a number of departed Chris-
tians or martyrs are to be raised again to reign in glory in this
world; or that before the end of the world a universal conversion
of the Jewish nation (of Israel according to the flesh) will take
place”; therefore be it

Resolved, That as the year 2000 approaches, the 1998 conven-
tion of the LCMS, the final LCMS convention in the 20th century,
declares that the whole of millennialism is contrary to the Bible