C.F.W. Walther
24th July 2005, 03:38 PM
I'm not trying to beat a dead horse but the question keeps comming up whether we at LCMS are still evanelical. Here's an aritcle by Dr Kurt Marquart:
LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSOURI SYNOD MAY CEASE TO BE A TRUE EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
Placing human regulations above God's word
"Unless these tragic lapses into medieval legalism are corrected and reversed, our Synod (The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod ed.) will cease to be an evangelical church," writes Dr. Kurt Marquart, a professor at the LCMS's Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in the June, 2005 Reporter.
Marquart and other conservatives in the LCMS have been complaining that the LCMS is beginning to follow the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other denominations who have long placed human regulations above God's Word. Most LCMS pastors, like pastors of other denominations, have not been informing laymen about what has I been going on theologically within their denominations.
Dr. Wallace Schulz, who was removed by liberals from his position as Lutheran Hour speaker and Second Vice President of the LCMS, has similarly deplored the placing of man's word above God's Word in the LCMS. He wrote in an official report:
"Through the erroneous dependence on man made documents, some leaders of the LCMS have now forced our beloved Synod into the greatest crisis in its history." Schultz's entire report is in Crisis in Christendom - Seminex Ablaze, a 510 page book published by Christian News, $16.95. Schulz says that LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick, who has been defending liberals in the LCMS, is responsible for much of the divisiveness in the LCMS.
Marquart writes in the June Reporter:
A new pattern? The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations' "guide to district presidents dealing with 'state of confession' protests" (May '05) regrettably shows a new pattern in our Synod that puts human regulations ahead of God's Word. God forbids giving the Holy Supper to an impenitent public errorist Yet someone who obeys this prohibition faithfully is to be treated in the same way as one who, contrary to God's Word, practices "open communion".
Then there is the notion of "ecclesiastical supervisor" invented by the Synod's Commission on Constitutional Matters (COM). A pastor cannot be disciplined for participating in a joint service with official representatives of pagan religions if his "ecclesiastical supervisor" pretends that it is not a joint service! Further, the 2004 syncdical Handbook attributes papal infallibility to the CCM and the CTCR by stating that dispute-resolution panels "must follow" their opinions.
The Reformation understood that only God's Word can bind Christian consciences. Accordingly, the founders of our Synod refused to mix human regulations with God's Word, but made only that Word binding and decisive. The Lord Himself said, "they worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men" (Matt 15:9). Unless these tragic lapses into medieval legalism are corrected and reversed, our Synod will cease to be an evangelical church.
Rev. Kurt E. Marquart
Concordia Theological Seminary FortWayne,Ind.
LUTHERAN CHURCH MISSOURI SYNOD MAY CEASE TO BE A TRUE EVANGELICAL CHURCH.
Placing human regulations above God's word
"Unless these tragic lapses into medieval legalism are corrected and reversed, our Synod (The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod ed.) will cease to be an evangelical church," writes Dr. Kurt Marquart, a professor at the LCMS's Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in the June, 2005 Reporter.
Marquart and other conservatives in the LCMS have been complaining that the LCMS is beginning to follow the liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and other denominations who have long placed human regulations above God's Word. Most LCMS pastors, like pastors of other denominations, have not been informing laymen about what has I been going on theologically within their denominations.
Dr. Wallace Schulz, who was removed by liberals from his position as Lutheran Hour speaker and Second Vice President of the LCMS, has similarly deplored the placing of man's word above God's Word in the LCMS. He wrote in an official report:
"Through the erroneous dependence on man made documents, some leaders of the LCMS have now forced our beloved Synod into the greatest crisis in its history." Schultz's entire report is in Crisis in Christendom - Seminex Ablaze, a 510 page book published by Christian News, $16.95. Schulz says that LCMS President Jerry Kieschnick, who has been defending liberals in the LCMS, is responsible for much of the divisiveness in the LCMS.
Marquart writes in the June Reporter:
A new pattern? The LCMS Commission on Theology and Church Relations' "guide to district presidents dealing with 'state of confession' protests" (May '05) regrettably shows a new pattern in our Synod that puts human regulations ahead of God's Word. God forbids giving the Holy Supper to an impenitent public errorist Yet someone who obeys this prohibition faithfully is to be treated in the same way as one who, contrary to God's Word, practices "open communion".
Then there is the notion of "ecclesiastical supervisor" invented by the Synod's Commission on Constitutional Matters (COM). A pastor cannot be disciplined for participating in a joint service with official representatives of pagan religions if his "ecclesiastical supervisor" pretends that it is not a joint service! Further, the 2004 syncdical Handbook attributes papal infallibility to the CCM and the CTCR by stating that dispute-resolution panels "must follow" their opinions.
The Reformation understood that only God's Word can bind Christian consciences. Accordingly, the founders of our Synod refused to mix human regulations with God's Word, but made only that Word binding and decisive. The Lord Himself said, "they worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men" (Matt 15:9). Unless these tragic lapses into medieval legalism are corrected and reversed, our Synod will cease to be an evangelical church.
Rev. Kurt E. Marquart
Concordia Theological Seminary FortWayne,Ind.