Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1954, Page 84

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84 Proceedings of the Forty-Third Convention,

the effects of Communism that a lack of belief in God is not just
a negative quantity. It is an aggressive power for the destruction
of everything contained in the expression “civil righteousness.”
A belief in God is therefore the very cornerstone of this righteous-
ness. Jefferson understood that when he wrote into the Declara-
tion of Independence the words that “men are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights... .”

Such a belief in God need not of itself stand in contradiction
to the revelation of grace. The Law, of which civil righteousness
is a part, can still serve as a “schoolmaster” that brings to Christ.
To deny this is to misunderstand the relationship of Law to Gospel
and to be oblivious to the fact that the church not only preaches the
Gospel but also has an interest in the Law. Its very presence in
a community is, especially to the non-Christian, a reminder of
moral responsibility. We even speak of the usus politicus of the
Law. The Scout interest in the existence of God is a concern for
the same iustitia civilis which is of concern to the church. Hence
a congregation has every right to be interested in the use it can
make of the Boy Scouts of America for the training of its youth.

Objections have also been raised to the word honor as it occurs
in the Scout pledge. It has been said that this word stands in con-
tradiction to the content and demands of the Christian faith. How-
ever, it need not do so. There is among the Ten an Eighth Com-
mandment, whose purpose is just that of protecting the honor of
the individual person. When I give a promise on my honor that
expression includes the very things listed in Luther’s explanation
to the Eighth Commandment.

Having said all this, we do not want to suggest that all diffi-
culties in Scout work have been overcome. Anyone who fights sin
will get his hands and his heart dirty at times. Individual pastors
and congregations have at times made errors in judgment and mis-
takes in.practice. They have confessed them to our heavenly Father.
“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”

Il. The Military Chaplaincy

And now, in the second part of our discussion, we come to the
matter of the Military Chaplaincy. Much has been written and
said on this subject; and it is not our purpose to repeat all the
arguments pro and con. That has been done too often already.
My approach will be a personal one and has its source in more
than a dozen years of service as a chaplain. This is a matter on
which I speak from personal experience and, I might add, with
very deep feeling.

"I should like, first of all, to urge that the Military Chaplaincy
presents the church with an unparalleled opportunity to carry out
its primary mission of going into all the world and making dis-
ciples of all nations, “preaching the Word in season and out of
season.” In this connection, perhaps, it is best to repeat the plea
of the Apostle Peter, as recorded in Acts 11. There were, as you
know, those who criticized him for having gone to the home of
Cornelius. After all, the centurion was a Gentile! The Apostle
countered this criticism with a description of what had actually
taken place on his visit with Cornelius. He concluded with the
remark, “Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift as He
gave ‘unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was