The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1931, Sheet 73

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER

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the Trivandrum Conference, each conference named
after the town which forms the center of its district.
The General Conference is a gathering of the mis-
sionaries from all three ‘districts for the purpose of
discussing the work of the mission. The 19th Gen-
eral Conference was held in Nagercoil, Travancore,
November 12—22, 1930.

This conference was unique in the history of
our India Missions. A marvelous change has taken
place in the last decade. Ten years ago, due to
conditions obtaining during the World War, our
entire mission-field was manned by only four men.
To-day there are forty-five man and five woman
missionaries in India. So we witnessed the largest
gathering of missionaries ever assembled in our
mission. At this conference we were also privileged
to have with us the Visitation Committee, the offi-
cial representatives of the Board of Foreign Mis-
sions of our Synod: Prof. M. S. Sommer of Con-
cordia Seminary, St. Louis, chairman of the Board
of Foreign Missions, and Rev. H. M. Zorn of Indi-
anapolis, also a member of the board.

The conference sessions were opened Wednes-
day, November 12, at 9 a. o., with an English Com-
munion service. Professor Sommer preached the
opening sermon, and Rev. H. M. Zorn preached at
the English service on Sunday, November 16.

Two essays were heard during the conference.
The first one, a doctrinal paper, was read by Pro-
fessor Sommer. He chose as the subject of his
essay “Is the Doctrine of Jesus concerning Justi-
fication by Faith Alone Identical with That of
St. Paul?” The second essay was delivered by Rev.
HI. M. Zorn. It was entitled “The Sword of the
Spirit” and was a practical essay. It dwelt on the
missionaries’ one and only weapon of offense and
defense against the power of the devil. As it
touched on timely and practical problems in the

lives of missionaries, it called forth a lively dis-

cussion from the floor of the conference.

The business of the conference was ably dis-
patched under the guidance of the chairman, Rey.
M. G. Kuolt. Many and important matters were
laid before the conference and the Visitation Com-
mittee for consideration. The caste problem, a typ-
ical problem of India, has vexed our mission for the
past five years. At this conference a definite policy
in regard to dealing with the caste system was
unanimously adopted.

With the growth of our mission the problem of
higher education is becoming more important.
Here also the conference had to provide for the
future. To attain its goal, namely, the building

up of an independent, indigenous Lutheran Church
in India, it at this time decided to lay especial
emphasis on the education and training of Indian
religious workers.

Matters to which the Board of Foreign Missions
wished to call our attention were presented by Pro-
fessor Sommer. The conference closed with a brief
service on Saturday, November 22.

Rosert M. Zorn, Trivandrum, Travancore.

India’s Greatest Need: A Savior
from Sin.

I was sitting in a second-class compartment of
the Trivandrum Express. I found that a high-caste
Hindu was my traveling companion. After we had
traveled a few miles, we were engaged in a conver-
sation, and it soon turned to religion. Said the
Hindu: “I have often marveled at the many par-
allels that can be found between the Christian and
the Hindu religions. The Hindu religion, for ex-
ample, forbids sin not only by deed, but also by
word and thought. And the Christian religion does
likewise. I have made a point of it to pick out such
parallels, and I find a great many of them.” “Yes,”
I answered, “there are some parallels in the doc-
trines of what man should do and what he should
not do. However, there is one thing in the Chris-
tian religion which does not find its parallel in Hin-
duism, and that is that the Bible of the Christians
speaks of the necessity of a Savior of sinners for all
mankind and tells us that this Savior came and re-
deemed all men. You speak of a trinity, just as
we do. But you know only of a creator, a preserver
and a—destroyer. I have been unable to find any
parallel to the Christian doctrine of a Savior. If
there is one, I would be very glad to have you point
it out to me.”

He: “I am not a theologically trained man and
can hardly discuss such questions with great effec-
tiveness.” 2

I: “But you surely have some religious knowl-
edge. You surely know that you are a sinner like
all men.”

He (pointing to his body): “This is the very
embodiment of sin. It is full of sin.”

I: “Yes, that is correct. You are a great sinner,
just as I and all other people are. And this sin.
separates us from our God, does it not?”

He: “Yes, it takes grace to unite God and sinful
man. Without grace sinful man cannot approach
the holy God.”