LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1975, Page 110

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

110 THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS

“1. In declaring that the church is Christ's mission, the affirmations
by no means present the mission of the church as one which confuses
an ethic of love with the speaking of the Gospel (Rom. 10:17):

“2. The affirmations were designed to remind us that those who
proclaim the message of God's love in Christ should also witness to
Christ in Christian actions (Matt. 5:16);

“3. The affirmations offer no license for unionism or separatism
but rather emphasize our responsibility to minister also to other
Christians in the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12):

“4. The affirmations. in emphasizing the ‘Church's Mission to
the Whole Man. do not thereby imply any improper conclusions
regarding man’s state of existence between death and resurrec-
tion... : the affirmations rather stress that our loving concern for
man be for his body and mind. which God has created and redeemed.
(Matt. 4:23)"

Trinity Lutheran Church
Lowden, Iowa

Everett Kruckenberg, Secretary
Earl W. Elowsky, Pastor

3-158

To Repudiate CTCR Interpretation
of Mission Affirmations

WHEREAS. The Mission Affirmations have been repeatedly
affirmed by previous conventions: and

WHEREAS, They are not in need of limiting theological guide-
lines set forth by presidentiaily appointed commissions: there-
fore be it

Resolved. That the Synod in convention once again affirm the
Mission Affirmations and repudiate the limiting theological
interpretation placed upon it by the Commission on Theology
and Church Relations.

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church
Lake City, Fla.
James Bachman, Pastor

3-159

To Declare ‘New Morality”
to Be Anti-Christian

WHEREAS. An increasing number of churchmen are advocat-
ing a “new morality,” which claims that there are no unchanging
laws for a Christian to obey (A Christian Handbook. pp. 123—
150, available from Christian News. Box 168. New Haven, Mo.):
and

WHEREAS. Even some Lutherans have made some public
statements that appear to be in accord with some of the anti-
Christian views expressed by the advocates of the new morality:

1. Dr. Martin Marty, an LCMS clergyman who is being
defended by the officials of his English District, says in the 1967
Playboy: “T could conceive, from the pastoral point of view, the
legitimacy of something like adultery in extreme situations.”
Dr. Marty has refused to retract the anti-Christian statements
he made in Playboy panel discussion. He has acknowledged that
Playboy has quoted him correctly. Several columns of the Play-
boy panel are photographed in A Christian Handbook. p. 748.

2. The English District has refused to take any action against
one of its congregations which wants the LCMS to allow unre-
pentant homosexuals to become ordained pastors (see “To
Accept Homophiles in the Church,” p.78. 1973 Convention
Workbook. Memorial 2-106A): and

WHEREAS, Adultery is repeatedly condemned in God’s Word:
and

WHEREAS. God's Word clearly identifies homophile behavior
as immoral and condemns it (Lev. 18:22; 20:13; Rom. 1:24-27
(Convention Proceedings. 1973, p. 110); therefore be it

Resolved. That the LCMS, while recognizing that salvation is
not by the Law and that no man can fulfill the Law perfectly,
declare that God’s Moral Law recorded in Holy Scripture is an
unchanging absolute standard: and be it further

Resolved. That the LCMS declare that premarital and extra-

marital sexual intercourse and homosexuality are sinful and
contrary to God's Law; and be it further

Resolved. That Dr. Martin Marty be asked to resign from the
LCMS as long as he continues to refuse to retract the sinful
statements he made in Playboy (see A Christian Handbook.
pp. 740—748 for further information on Marty’s anti-Scriptural
theology): and be it finally

Resolred. That the English District be required to take
action against any of its congregations that support the ordina-
tion to the holy ministry of unrepentant homosexuals.

Trinity Lutheran Church
New Haven, Mo.
Orville Meyer, Secretary

3-160

To Seek Retraction of False Doctrine
in Mission: Life

WHEREAS, A few of the courses in the Mission:Life curricu-
lum are teaching some of the same false doctrines and destruc-
tive views of historical criticism which the Fact-Finding Com-
mittee found were being taught by the former faculty majority
at Concordia Seminary, St.Louis, now at ‘‘Semirex" (for
documentation of false doctrine in Mission:Life see Memorial

2-89 in the 1973 Convention Workbook. pp.73—74, and A Chris-
tian Handbook. 765—772, 780 —784): and

WHEREAS. Some of the Mission:Life editors and writers are

supporting the anti-Scriptural theology of Seminex and some
of the destructive theories of historical-criticism: and

WHEREAS, None of the Mission:Life editors and writers
responsible for the anti-Scriptural theology in Mission:Life have
ever admitted or retracted any false doctrine in Mission:Life;
therefore be it

Resolved. That the LCMS ask all writers and editors for the
Mission:Life curriculum to sign A Statement of Scriptural and
Confessional Principles: and be it further

Resolved, That the editors and writers responsible for the
false doctrine in Mission:Life’s Journey to Freedom and God's
Peculiar People be asked to acknowledge and retract their
false doctrine: and be it further

Resolved. That all editors and writers of LCMS Sunday
school and Bible class material who refuse to subscribe to the
inerrancy of the Bible and A Statement of Scriptural and Con-
fessional Principles be asked to resign: and be it finally

Resolved. That Hymns 12 and 25 be eliminated from Hymns
for Now I used in some Mission:Life courses.

Trinity Lutheran Church
New Haven, Mo.
Orville Meyer. Secretary

3-161A

To Correct Doctrinal Aberrations
in ‘From Out of the Desert” or
Remove from the Market

WHEREAS, The new study course “From Out of the Desert,”
published by Concordia Publishing House, contains doctrinal
aberrations and false impressions (i.e., it sets forth the anti-
Scriptural notion that the god of non-Christian religions is the
only true god that exists: or the notion that Allah really exists:
or the notion that it doesn’t make much difference whether you
worship God, Allah, or some other being; or the notion that
Christ is not the only way to heaven); and

WHEREAS, Scripture makes it clear that Christ is the only
way to heaven (Acts 4:12); and

WHEREAS, The Large Catechism, one of the historic confes-
sions of the Lutheran Church which all Lutherans are supposed
to accept, declares: ‘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; therefore
they abide in eternal wrath and damnation”; and